Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/599934
CHANGING LANES Trucking's future now: equipment and technology The trucks of the future will be bigger and smaller, smarter, connected, green, fuel-efficient and safe. And they will be profitable. But above all else, they will be vital cogs in a global super-economy powered by logistics. Trucking today is an industry on the edge of breathtaking and unprecedented challenges. Indeed, the changes already have begun as fleets break in new telematics programs, wrestle with wireless communication systems and electronic logging devices, experiment with new fuels and propulsion systems and adapt to ultra- fast electronic control modules – all of this while nervously eyeing the horizon as new regulations, size and weight changes and autonomous vehicles take shape. When it comes to making any of these new technologies work reliably and profitably, all arrows point to the fleet manager. Perhaps the most exciting – but worrisome – thing about the next several decades of technological change is the pace at which it will happen. There will be little breathing room from one breakthrough to the next, and it's likely that fleet managers often will find themselves working to integrate several new, and major, technologies into their vehicles at the same time. The stakes will be high: All projections point to booming freight volumes combined with relentless pressure for ever-faster logistics. Great rewards await the fleets and maintenance managers willing to tackle the coming technology boom. Will you be among the next generation of trucking pioneers? Can autonomous trucks stay the course? By Jack Roberts Trucks will be where the future literally meets the road. And while the idea of autonomous vehicles may seem far- fetched, technology forecaster Paul Saffo says they are already here. "We already have robotic cars driving around all over Silicon Valley," Saffo says. "Lower-speed Google robotic cars are actually being used to pick up and drop off passengers today. These things are going to start appearing on our highways for use by real human beings – not just engineers testing them – before 2020." When it comes to autonomous trucks, OEMs must make a strong case for vehicle automation given the $30,000 to $50,000 upcharge for the technology and the fact that they still require a driver for some time, says Sandeep Kar, global vice president of automotive and transportation research for Frost & Sullivan. Still, it is not a question of how autonomous trucks will enter the market, but when. "Our forecast is that by 2025, we expect 8,000 autonomous trucks to be sold globally," Kar says. "About 3,000 of those trucks will be operating in North America." Vehicle automation will be introduced 14 DECEMBER 2015 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM Industry Insider