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July 1, 2015 

Allen Lund Company Newsletter

Emergent Issues in Distribution and Transportation

In This Issue
Advances in Truck Technology

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Jenn Cole, Editor  
Allen Lund Company
Grand Rapids Office
(800) 641-5863 

Advances in Truck Technology

 

From autonomous trucks, to carbon fiber trailers right on down to truck platooning, the future of truck transportation is a wide open and new frontier. As we come to grips with the ever changing technological advancements we see just about every week we need to broaden our ideas of what it means to move freight by an over the road truck and what it means to operate these new breeds of vehicles.

 

Recently it was reported in Landline Magazine in an article written by OOIDA Staff Reporter Reed Black that the first two licenses were issued in the state of Nevada to test autonomous trucks on U.S. public highways. In short, these trucks are self driving to a point. There is, as designed now, always an operator in the truck but through a series of cameras and sensors the truck is computer controlled along the highway. The driver (or operator) is free to move about the cab conducting other tasks and monitoring the operation of the vehicle. If the truck starts to get into heavy traffic or needs to exit the highway the operator is alerted and they can manually take over and drive the truck. How this will affect driver's hours of service rules is unknown at this point, as is the idea of truck platooning these autonomous trucks.

 

Another innovation that will change how trucks are made and used will be carbon fiber trailers. These trailers are being experimented with now and promise to reduce the weight of the trailer to allow for more freight to be loaded or for greater fuel efficiency due to its lighter weight. The streamlined side panels made of one solid piece versus smaller aluminum panels which, with their seams and rivets, ever so slightly increase drag and cause more fuel to be used. Right now the cost could be prohibitive and the small issue of once the 53 foot continuous side panel gets damaged how can it be repaired or replaced needs to be answered. Only time will tell how that issue will be addressed because as anyone who has driven or loaded trucks will tell you, eventually someone will damage one of these panels, and there is also the issue of material cost.

  

This whole thing brings up more questions than we have answers to right now but that will need to be addressed before we see this taking place on a highway near us. For starters, what would happen if the digital link between platooning trucks somehow goes down enroute? Would the trucks slow to a stop, go careening off the highway or worse? Are drivers legally responsible when an autonomous truck causes an accident? Other issues that would need to be addressed legislatively or by a rule change would be state tailgating laws, drivers hours of service rules, and could the drivers in the non-lead trucks take rest hours while this whole thing is moving? No doubt though that these ideas are going to change the truck market and how we think about trucks and their operators as we go down the road.

 

 

 

Joe Creedon
Manager, Kansas Office

Joe Creedon joined the Allen Lund Company in 2009 as manager of the Kansas City office. With 20 years of experience, Creedon brings an extensive knowledge base in all aspects of freight transportation including import and export, intermodal, and warehousing.
 

About Allen Lund Company: Specializing as a national third-party transportation broker with nationwide offices and 400 employees, the Allen Lund Company works with shippers and carriers across the nation to transport dry, refrigerated (specializing in produce), and flatbed freight; additionally, the Allen Lund Company has an international division, which is licensed by the FMC as an OTI-NVOCC #019872NF, and a logistics and software division, ALC Logistics.  

 

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