Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/748284
16 | Overdrive | November 2016 Logbook Automated trucking hit a milestone last month when an Otto-developed self-driving Volvo VNL delivered 51 cases of Budweiser. The truck left Fort Collins, Colorado, before dawn Oct. 13, navigated through downtown Denver and then made its delivery in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While the roads weren't crowded on the two-plus-hour drive, Otto's truck still had to deal with sharing the road. Otto was founded earlier this year and announced its intentions to retro- fit existing tractor-trailers with auton- omous capabilities. Uber acquired the company in September. The Volvo VNL used cameras, ra- dar and lidar (laser-based) sensors to see the road. Otto's system controlled the truck's acceleration, braking and steering to carry the beer exit-to-exit with no human intervention. Otto co-founder Lior Ron said the truck's driver was out of the driver's seat for the entire 120-mile trek down Interstate 25 and monitored the system from the sleeper. All the driver had to do was drive the truck onto the interstate and take over as it left the interstate to its final destination at the distributor. Ron said his company worked closely with Colorado state transpor- tation agencies in setting parameters for the test. – Jason Cannon Otto's cameras and sensors controlled the Volvo's acceleration, braking and steering while on I-25. Motor carriers in 2015 spent more than a dime less per mile in 2015 than in 2014, according to a report by the American Transportation Research Institute. And for the first time since ATRI first published its annual "Opera- tional Costs of Trucking" report, fuel spending was not carriers' most expensive per-mile line item: Driver wages took the crown in 2015. ATRI's findings come from surveys of motor carriers accounting for more than 107,000 power units across applications and regions. According to ATRI's annual report, the average marginal costs per mile for the surveyed carriers was $1.593 a mile, down 11 cents from 2014's average of $1.703 a mile. The decline stems almost exclusive- ly from cheaper per-mile fuel costs — 40.3 cents as mile in 2015 compared to 58.3 cents per mile in 2014. Driver wages, however, put upward pressure on carriers' per-mile costs, climbing to 49.9 cents a mile in 2015 from 46.2 cents a mile in 2014. – James Jaillet Carriers spent more on wages, less on fuel For the first time since ATRI began its annual survey of carrier costs, driver wages topped fuel spending as the most costly line item. SEVERAL INTERSTATE 15 access ramps in Las Vegas will be closed through late February while the Nevada Department of Transportation demolishes and rebuilds a bridge. The closures began Oct. 26 on the I-15 south and northbound ramps to U.S. Highway 95, the I-15 south and northbound ramps to Martin Luther King Boulevard and the U.S. 95 northbound ramp to Martin Luther King Boulevard. I-15 and Highway 95 both will remain open in both directions throughout the project. A TOTAL OF 200 XPO Logistics employees, including 74 drivers, voted to receive union representation from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. XPO is investigat- ing the legality of the Oct. 12 elections. The drivers, based out of Aurora, Illinois, and 126 warehouse workers at the com- pany's facility in North Haven, Connecticut, voted to join the union. Both facilities are former Con-way Freight locations. XPO purchased Con-way for $3 billion last year. TRUCK DRIVERS who park in North Carolina are being asked to participate in an American Transportation Research Institute survey to help analyze parking issues in the state. The 24-question survey is available through Nov. 18 at https://www. research.net/r/NCParkingSur- vey-2016. ROBERT LAUDEMANN pleaded guilty to offering a $1,000 bribe in February 2015 to a Utah-based third-party CDL tester for a passing score. He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Self-driving truck makes first delivery, hauls load of Budweiser