CCJ1217

DECEMBER 2017

CCJ's TECH TOOLBOX COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE

Third-party firms can help lower audit risk page 78

DAWN OF THE ELD ERA

Mandate looms, but is everyone ready? page 34

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR TRUCKING PROFESSIONALS

What's next in trucking technology? page 45

CCJ's TOP 250 PRIVATE FLEETS See how famous brands stack up

page 62

You recognize big change when you see it. The new Volvo VNL looks fast even before it starts rolling.

On the road, turbo compounding and streamlined aerodynamics help to save up to 7.5 % more fuel.

Inside, drivers will notice remarkably enhanced work and living spaces. A new 70-inch sleeper featuring a reclining bunk and telescopic ladder. A game-changing, one-of-a-kind steering wheel, a high-end infotainment system and the most ergonomic seats on the road—just a few of the innovations deďŹ ning the shape of trucks to come.

For a more complete picture, check out the Top 10 Stories at NewVNL.volvotrucks.us

INTRODUCING THE NEW VOLVO VNL

The shape of trucks to come

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ALAN HARRIS, Maintenance Supervisor, J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.

Leading fleet companies demand great looking paint and long-lasting coating solutions—backed by an exceptional level of service and support. Visit ppgcommercialcoatings.com to learn more.

©2017 PPG Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

The PPG Logo is a registered trademark and We protect and beautify the world is a trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.

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LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

FMCSA wants to proceed with split sleeper study

T

he U.S. Department of Transportation is moving forward with a plan to institute a pilot program to study the feasibility of altering the hours-of-service regulations to allow truckers to split their off-duty sleeper berth time into segments rather than having to take 10 straight hours off duty or use the limited 8-2 split. The agency also announced that 240 drivers have been selected to participate in the program.

FMCSA plans to file its research plan with the White House Office of Management and Budget, which must approve the study before the agency proceeds. The move is the latest step toward potential revision of the HOS regulations to provide more flexibility to The 200 or so truckers the agency plans to study truck operators. will be able to split their off-duty time into additional segments such as 5-5, 6-4 or 7-3.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in June issued a proposal for the three-month split sleeper study in which the 240 drivers will be able to split their 10-hour off-duty period into segments such as 5-5, 6-4 or 7-3.

Otherwise, drivers will operate as they normally would.

Researchers will seek to determine whether such splits adversely affect operator fatigue levels or crash instances. The agency has partnered with Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute and Washington State University to conduct the study.

The study seeks to gather data from electronic logging devices, monitoring systems such as video recorders, roadside inspections, wrist actigraphy (studying total sleep time and wakefulness), in-cab psychomotor vigilance tests, subjective sleepiness ratings as noted by drivers and sleep logs.

Researchers then will study the data and make conclusions regarding the positive or negative outcomes Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-newsof drivers using letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, split sleeper a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, berth options. analysis, blogs and market condition articles.

– James Jaillet

Driver shortage trumps ELDs, hours, parking as top fleet concern

T

he availability of qualified truck drivers now ranks as the top concern for trucking

companies, displacing the electronic logging device mandate, which dropped to No. 2 in this year’s American Transportation Research Institute survey.

This is the first time since 2006 that the driver shortage has ranked atop ATRI’s annual “Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry,” which is based on a survey of carriers and other industry personnel. More than 1,500 stakeholders, including drivers, responded to this year’s survey.

Hours-of-service regulations, which ranked No. 1 in 2015’s survey, took the third spot this year. Rounding out the top 10: No. 4, Truck parking No. 5, Driver retention No. 6, Compliance Safety Accountability No. 7, Regulations No. 8, Driver distraction No. 9, Infrastructure and congestion No. 10, Driver health and wellness Of the respondents, 21 percent said the driver shortage was their top concern.

Strategies to tackle the problem, says ATRI, include partnering with states and the federal government to “develop a graduated CDL program to attract safe, younger drivers” and to “formalize a national truck driver recruitment program.”

– James Jaillet Carriers’ top three concerns in the 2017 survey were the driver shortage, the ELD mandate and the inflexibility of hours-of-service regulations.

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JOURNAL NEWS

FMCSA nom Martinez supports ELD mandate

T

he Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Nov. 8 unanimously voted to approve the confirmation of Raymond P. Martinez to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under PresiRaymond P. Martinez, dent Trump. Martinez now must be confirmed President Trump’s pick to by the full Senate via a majority vote to assume run FMCSA, said he wants to examine how the ELD the post of FMCSA administrator. mandate could affect small business truckers.

The week before the Senate committee’s vote, Martinez testified in a confirmation hearing before the panel that he does not have plans to delay the agency’s Dec. 18 deadline for compliance with the electronic logging device mandate should he be confirmed.

However, Martinez did say he would like to examine how the rule could affect small business truckers. “I have heard this rule could cause serious hardship to some small independent truckers, particularly those in the agriculture sector,” he said. “I want to meet with those involved who oppose the rule to learn more about those concerns.”

Martinez was asked only a handful of questions, two of which pertained to the ELD mandate. “Our goal is not to cripple commerce, but to make our roadways safer,” Martinez said in response to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who asked Martinez if he’d consider delaying the Dec. 18 deadline given the estimated $2-billion price tag associated with industry-wide compliance.

Martinez said he believes “regulatory reform should be an ongoing process” but that “it’s my understanding with regards to ELDs that they are legally required” ahead of the December deadline.

“In the past, it was paper-based,” he said in response to another question from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), “which meant [logs were] very susceptible to fraudulent entries and altered entries.”

Martinez also said he intends to make the agency more datadriven, particularly when it comes to targeting high-risk carriers within the Compliance Safety Accountability program. CSA’s BASIC ratings were pulled from public view by Congress in 2015, and the National Academies of Science this year issued a report to Congress and FMCSA with recommendations on how the agency can reform the program to make it more equitable to carriers and accurate in its assessment of safety risk.

Martinez told senators he intends to review the report and “make appropriate changes [and] evaluate how best we can move forward” with the program. “We need to be using sound science,” he said.

“The key thing is whether the data we use to compile these assessments is accurate, reliable and fair. If the data is unreliable, we lose credibility with stakeholders and the entities we regulate, and we do a disservice to the public.”

– James Jaillet 10

commercial carrier journal

| december 2017

New drugs that drivers will be tested for include hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone.

Four opioids added to drug testing panel for truckers

T

he U.S. Department of Transportation is amending its drug testing panel to add four commonly abused opioids to meet new Health and Human Services drug testing guidelines. A final rule was published Nov. 13 in the Federal Register, and the new testing standards will go into effect Jan. 1.

New drugs that drivers will be tested for include hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone; the drugs usually are taken as pills. According to the Centers for Disease Control, opioid abuse has seen a dramatic increase in recent years.

Also, DOT will remove methylenedioxyethylamphetamine from the existing drug testing panel and add methylenedioxyamphetamine.

The rulemaking also clarifies that only urine testing is allowed for DOT drug tests. Point-of-collection urine testing or instant tests are not allowed, as the tests have to be screened and confirmed at HHS labs.

DOT also states in the rulemaking it is aware that HHS is looking into allowing oral fluid testing and hair testing under its guidelines, but until those methods of testing are added, DOT cannot recognize them. The agency adds that if HHS does add other testing methods to its guidelines, it will follow with its own rulemaking to conform.

– Matt Cole

JOURNAL NEWS

INBRIEF 12/17 • The National Transportation Safety Board determined the truck driver, bus driver and California Department of Transportation all were at fault in an October 2016 crash in Palm Springs, Calif., involving a tractor-trailer and a tour bus that resulted in 13 deaths and 31 injuries. NTSB also determined the trucker had untreated obstructive sleep apnea and the bus driver had untreated diabetes and was fatigued at the time of the crash.

decrease in thefts and a 4-percent increase in value. The most-stolen products were building and industrial goods. Texas led all states, accounting for 24 percent of all cargo thefts.

• C.R. England (CCJ Top 250, No. 20) drivers who have passed the commercial driver’s license skills test but not yet returned to their home state to obtain their CDL can continue to operate as team drivers rather than having a CDL holder always in the front seat. FMCSA

posted the regulatory exemption for the Salt Lake City-based refrigerated hauler last month in the Federal Register.

• Covenant Transport Services (CCJ Top 250, No. 39) was announced as the new corporate umbrella name for Covenant Transport and Covenant Transport Solutions, both of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Southern Refrigerated Transport of Texarkana, Ark.; and Star Transportation of Nashville, Tenn.

• Nearly 1,700 trucks were placed out-ofservice for brake-related and other violations during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Day on Sept. 7. In total, inspectors in the United States and Canada inspected 7,698 commercial vehicles during the one-day event, and 22 percent were placed out-of-service for violations; 14 percent (1,064) had brake-related violations.

• Truck drivers contracted to haul for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command can continue to use 30 minutes or more of attendance time to meet the 30-minute rest break requirement through Oct. 21, 2023, following a five-year extension of the exemption by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

• The California Department of Motor Vehicles last month released a revised version of proposed regulations that would establish a path for testing and public use of driverless vehicles. A public comment period ended Oct. 25. The revised regulations would allow testing of autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the steering wheel and public use of vehicles equipped with autonomous technology.

• The Truckload Carriers Association and the Motor Carrier Insurance Education Foundation announced a new certification program, the Motor Carrier Insurance Risk Management Program, an eight-part online course than instructs participants on making better insurance purchasing decisions and improving their practices to see measurable results. Those who complete the program earn the designation of Certified Motor Carrier Risk Specialist. Go to http://tla.sclivelearningcenter.com/index.aspx.

• Cargo theft incidents were up 24 percent in the third quarter when compared to the second quarter, according to cargo theft recording firm SensiGuard. The average loss value was $117,137, a 17-percent quarterover-quarter decline. When compared to 2016’s third quarter, 2017 saw an 18-percent commercial carrier journal

| december 2017 11

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JOURNAL NEWS

Carrier registration process for 2018 fiscal year delayed

T

he carrier registration process for the 2018 fiscal year has been delayed indefinitely, according to a notice posted to the Unified Carrier Registration board’s website in late October.

The governing UCR board of directors recommended that all states

delay the enforcement period of 2018 registration compliance until 90 days after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration publishes a final rule setting the 2018 registration period and an updated registration fee structure.

Registration is supposed to begin each

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year on Oct. 1, but a Federal Register notice issued by FMCSA in September announced that the annual registration period had been delayed until Nov. 1.

The same notice announced that fees for the 2018 fiscal year would be reduced from 2017’s fee structure.

However, FMCSA’s failure to complete the formal rulemaking process regarding 2018 registration and fees prompted a further registration delay.

“We regret this inconvenience and appreciate your patience,” the UCR board told state administrators in an Oct. 27 letter. “Until further notice, please do not accept any carrier fees for the 2018 registration year. If received prior to the final rulemaking, please return to the entity that paid the fee.”

A lawsuit filed in late September by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition claimed the UCR board violated federal open meetings acts by failing to notify the public of a Sept. 14 meeting, during which the board determined the 2018 fee structure and the delayed Nov. 1 registration start period.

A court agreed with SBTC but said it lacked the authority to rescind the decisions made by the board at the Sept. 14 – James Jaillet meeting.

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commercial carrier journal

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SBTC’s lawsuit charged that “any action taken by the UCR Plan Board at the Sept.

14 meeting … is invalid and [should be] set aside” due to the lack of required public notice.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS, AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS

BY JASON CANNON

OEM teamwork Truck, trailer makers must collaborate to further fuel efficiency

I

n late October, a federal appeals court paused implementing portions of tightened greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for trailers that were set to take effect last month.

Most new trailers on the highway were facing a graduating mandate – commonly referred to as Greenhouse Gas Phase 2 – that would have called for an efficiency improvement of 1 to 13 percent through 2027, and all of it would have to come through aerodynamic add-ons and, eventually, a likely redesign of the trailer itself.

We’ll eventually run out of things to hang on a trailer, right?

Mike Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, has been a resource for just about every article I’ve ever written on aerodynamics.

MORE AERODYNAMICS: He’s probably told me We’ll eventually run out of half a dozen times that things to hang on a trailer. there is no “one-size-fits-all” NEW BUSINESS MODEL: magic bullet when it comes Would truck OEMs consider to trailer aerodynamics, building their own trailers? but the U.S. Environmental COLLABORATION KEY: Protection Agency was on There’s not much low-hanging the cusp of basically manaerodynamic fruit left to pick. dating one.

I’m an occasional guest on KC Phillips’ SiriusXM Radio show, “Road Dog Live.” A while back, before these regulations where shelved, a caller posed an interesting question: Would truck OEMs ever consider building their own trailers?

I’d never considered that possibility and never approached a truck OEM with that question. But with the across-theboard push toward vertical integration, I think the question makes sense.

My answer to him was, and still is, no.

There is no meaningful parts commonality between the truck and trailer, so a truck OEM would have to almost completely invent the parts acquisition and assembly process, while negotiating rates for materials that they can’t 16

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scale with truck assembly.

That’s an investment of millions of dollars that I just don’t think any of the major North American truck makers are itching to make.

However, as EPA revisits its Phase 2 regulations for trailers – and they will revisit them – I think you may see closer collaboration between the trailer and truck guys in the Most of the fleets that benefit years ahead. from skirts and tails already have them, and they’re going to spec According to the Truck them going forward.

Trailer Manufacturing Association’s argument, the sticking point with Phase 2’s governance of trailer efficiency is that since a trailer isn’t a self-propelled vehicle, it doesn’t fall under the Clean Air Act. But at some point, the least aerodynamic thing in the combination unit must help the truck out. That’s when I think you’ll begin to see model-optimized trailer designs that fit more closely within the truck’s aerodynamic footprint.

We’ve seen such a design collaboration with the SuperTruck project, where aggressive aero and custom fitting was a critical part of the program’s success. Those dividends paid off, as each participating OEM obliterated the goals set by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I don’t think there’s a lot of low-hanging aerodynamic fruit left to pick. To reach next-level efficiency goals, the pieces of the process are going to need to be engineered and designed to complement each other.

JASON CANNON is Equipment Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jcannon@randallreilly.com or call (205) 248-1175.

WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS?

Scan the barcode to sign up for the CCJ Equipment Weekly e-mail newsletter or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK.

Workhorse pushing toward electric van, drone delivery

W

orkhorse Group Inc. last month said it is moving forward on agreements to test and operate its new N-Gen electric van that features a lightweight composite body and an anticipated range of 100 miles on a single charge, with an optional gasoline range extender that adds an additional 75 miles. Workhorse said in early on-road testing, the N-Gen has demonstrated a 60-65 MPGe efficiency.

The N-Gen’s ultra-low single-step-up 19-inch floor and 105-inch roof height help maximize cargo space. Standard van options include all-wheel drive, automatic braking and lane centering and a 26-foot turning radius. Additional configurations, including 700-cubic-foot and 1,000-cubic-foot models, are expected late next year.

The van platform also will feature an optional integrated HorseFly Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Package Delivery System. The carbon-fiber high-efficiency octocopter drone launches from the van’s roof and delivers a package to its destination within the driver’s line of sight.

Workhorse said the patent-pending truck and drone system can carry a package weighing up to 10 pounds with a cost of approximately 3 cents per mile. The built-in Workhorse Workhorse’s N-Gen Metron telematics system tracks electric van features a all van and drone parameters lightweight composite in real time to optimize perforbody and an anticipated range of 100 miles on a mance and efficiency.

– Jason Cannon single charge.

A possible market entry for the series version of the Vision One could be feasible within four years in markets such as the United States, Japan and Europe.

Fuso showcases prototype Vision One heavy-duty electric on-highway truck

F

uso, a division of Daimler Trucks, unveiled its all-electric Vision One Class 8 concept truck at the Tokyo Motor Show.

It features a gross vehicle weight of 51,150 pounds and a range of up to 220 miles on a single charge when fitted with 300-kilowatt-hour batteries. Vision One’s 11-ton payload is two tons fewer than its diesel counterpart.

A potential application for the Vision One heavy-duty truck is regional intra-city distribution, said Marc Llistosella, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. president and chief executive officer.

“For the transportation of our goods, trucks cannot be substituted,” Llistosella said. “But we can change the way how these trucks are powered. The replacing of combustion-engine trucks for city delivery with electric powertrains would have a substantial effect [on] air quality, and not to forget, we are surrounded by noise.”

With its eCanter truck, Fuso was the first truck maker to have a production-model medium-duty all-electric truck available for purchase.

– Jason Cannon

Peterbilt to celebrate one-millionth truck with giveaway contest

P

eterbilt will celebrate its one-millionth truck rolling off the assembly line in mid-January by awarding the commemorative rig to the winner of the company’s SuperFan Search contest.

Through Dec. 22, drivers can submit their stories, videos and photos that show their passion that makes them a Peterbilt SuperFan. Five finalists will be selected and recognized at the 2018 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. One of the five finalists will be recognized as the top SuperFan and receive the keys to the one-millionth Peterbilt – a Model 567 Heritage, fully customized to celebrate the milestone.

“The Peterbilt brand is built on loyalty, which is the lifeblood of our business,” said Kyle Quinn, general manager of

Peterbilt Motors Co. “We want to reward that loyalty, and the one-millionth truck milestone will be the perfect opportunity.

We have the best and most loyal customers and fans in the industry, and I’m excited to see and hear their stories.”

Submissions can be made at Peterbilt.com/SuperfanSearch.

– Jason Cannon Peterbilt is giving away a Model 567 Heritage to celebrate its onemillionth truck, which will roll off the assembly line in mid-January.

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december 2017

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INBRIEF

ROTELLA ROUNDUP

The 411on10W-30

By Dan Arcy, Shell Lubricants

Many fleets are switching to 10W-30 engine oils from traditional 15W-40 oils.

The reason is fuel economy.

Thinner viscosities mean the engine doesn’t have to work as hard and uses less fuel. Think of it like swimming through honey vs. water. Honey is thicker than water, so more energy is used to move through it. The same goes for an engine’s moving parts. A 15W-40 oil requires more energy to move through it whereas 10W-30 oil produces less drag on your engine.

• Freightliner announced that its new Cascadia will be offered in a 60-inch raised-roof sleeper model in both 116- and 126-inch BBC platforms, offering a shorter wheelbase and reduced weight for a lighter and more maneuverable truck. The new configuration is available with the company’s Aero or AeroX aerodynamic packages. The Cascadia also is available with 48-, 60- and 72-inch mid-roof XT sleeper cabs in both BBC platforms.

• Nikola Motor Co. named Bosch and PowerCell AB as the primary fuel-cell suppliers for its Class 8 hydrogen-electric truck. The fuel cell is anticipated to output more than 300 kilowatt-hours continuously and has been designed to handle the entire lease period of one million miles per truck.

But can a 10W-30 protect as well as a 15W- 40? You bet. It comes down to quality additives and composition of base oil. In fact, Shell ROTELLA® T5 10W-30 can protect as well or better than industry-standard 15W-40 oils. Give it a shot in your fleet.

To learn more go to ROTELLA.com/products

• More than 400 model-year 2018 trailers using Meritor axles and suspensions are being recalled because the caliper bolts did not meet torque specifications, which could result in the caliper detaching and cause a loss of braking ability. Wabash National is recalling 314 vans, and Great Dane is recalling 90 Everest reefers.

The affected axles and suspensions were assembled between Jan. 1 and Aug. 4 at Meritor’s plant in Frankfort, Kentucky. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall number is 17V-615.

• Ryder System Inc. implemented Lytx’s DriveCam product into 4,400 vehicles supporting its Supply Chain Solutions and Dedicated Transportation Solutions business divisions.

DriveCam combines data and video activated by abrupt lane changes and harsh braking with real-time driver feedback and coaching. Ryder said it incorporated DriveCam after a six-month pilot at various fleet locations.

• Mack Trucks entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Lytx regarding its DriveCam system and Video Services technology, which continuously records external events regardless of a trigger situation. Mack said it is considering incorporating the systems into its LR and TerraPro refuse models. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and further details regarding the offerings under the agreement have not yet been announced.

• Western Star now offers 3rd Eye backup cameras and radar option packages on its vehicles.

The 3rd Eye products provide records and transmit data on driver behavior, chassis and body systems, vehicle surroundings and live video in real time, all while providing operators added visibility to help them avoid accidents and property damage.

Comments, questions or ideas?

Email us at RotellaRoundup@JWT.com

18

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• TruNorth Warranty Plans of North America, a provider of commercial asset-related warranty programs and services for dealers, fleets, owner-operators and commercial finance

| december 2017 6/15/17 1:49 PM

companies, debuted a mobile app designed to place warranty claims and servicing at customers’ fingertips and provide them with relevant information and communication at each stage of the claims process.

• Strick Trailers expanded its manufacturing facility in Monroe, Ind., by adding a 44,000-square-foot production line for its custom trailer business. Jim Gazdick, vice president of operations, said the expansion allows the company to increase its flexibility and manufacturing capabilities to more efficiently respond to specific customer needs and build more low-volume specialized trailers with shorter lead times. The expansion created more than 30 new jobs.

• Stemco, a manufacturer of heavy-duty components, announced a new aftermarket five-year wheel end warranty for its integrated Platinum Performance System. Previously only available as a three-year package, both three- and five-year warranties extend PPS wheel end coverage with unlimited mileage for tractors and trailers.

• Stemco acquired Commercial Vehicle Components Co., a manufacturer of air disc brakes and medium-duty hydraulic disc brake pads; terms were not announced. The CVC business will become part of Stemco’s brake products group, and CVC’s products will be marketed as Lunar and Lunar HP air disc brakes.

• Stemco was awarded standard position by Wabash National to supply its Guardian HP Wheel Seals and Stemco Hub Caps for the trailer maker’s dry and refrigerated vans.

• Accuride Corp. consolidated its Gunite and KIC businesses into a single business unit, Accuride Wheel End Solutions, while its products and technologies will continue to be marketed under the KIC and Gunite brands. Accuride itself also reorganized into two separate coordinated business units for commercial vehicle wheels: Accuride Wheels North America and Accuride Wheels Europe and Asia.

• Truck-Lite’s Road Ready wireless smart trailer system now is available on Wabash National’s dry and refrigerated van trailers. The system includes a solar-powered master control unit, a military-grade solar panel and a quick-charging battery. The MCU continually monitors and transmits data from customizable Road Ready sensors to an intuitive user interface without requiring tractor power. The data can be managed via application programming interfaces and be integrated with fleet telematics systems.

• Isuzu Commercial Truck of America has made its IsuzuCV.com website available in Spanish as well as English. Users easily can see each page in Spanish by clicking the link next to the Isuzu logo at the top left of the page.

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Petro-Canada calls new lubricant rollout 'a complete success'

F

ollowing what Petro-Canada Lubricants representatives referred to as a “year of transition,” the rollout of the company’s new Duron lineup of heavy-duty diesel engine oils marks “a big milestone in the industry and for Petro-Canada,” said Barnaby Ngai, the company’s marketing manager.

“This was the biggest specification overhaul in the industry’s history,” Ngai said at a press event held in late October at Petro-Canada headquarters near Toronto. “From our perspective, it was definitely one of the largest projects in recent memory.”

The new Duron products, developed as part of the industry’s transition to the new CK-4 and FA-4 generation of lubricants, is made up of four ascending tiers: In the CK-4 category, Duron High Performance (HP), Duron Super High Performance (SHP) and Duron Ultra High Performance (UHP); and in the FA-4 cat-

Petro-Canada’s new four-tier Duron lineup, from left: Duron HP, Duron SHP, Duron UHP and Duron Advanced.

egory, Duron Advanced. Ngai said the new line’s deployment has been “a complete success,” with Petro-Canada having converted all of its customers to the new oils.

The next-generation engine oils have seen millions of miles of testing and are designed for modern engines to lower fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases. Both CK-4 and FA-4 are formulated to last longer and extend oil drain intervals by providing better shear stability, standing up to oxidation and reducing aeration.

While the CK-4 lubricants are meant to replace the prior CJ-4 category outright and are backward-compatible with nearly all engines on the market, FA-4 products are designed to work mostly with 2017 and newer engines, though manufacturers have the ultimate say in recommending which lubricants to use in their engines. FA-4 oils have a lower viscosity and are designed to boost fuel economy by causing less friction between engine components while providing the same level of engine protection as thicker oils.

In addition to bringing a refreshed Duron lineup to market, Petro-Canada rebranded the lubricants with redesigned labels, new names and new colors to help buyers identify the proper product for their equipment. The FA-4 products received a special distinct yellow branding. “We wanted it to stand out like a sore thumb,” Ngai said. “That’s entirely on purpose.” – James Jaillet

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Daimler debuts two cabovers for Mexican market

I

n response to the Mexican trucking industry’s interest in bringing cabover-engine tractor options to its market, Daimler Trucks North America last month introduced two new Freightliner cabover models designed specifically for Mexico. DTNA unveiled the tractors at the 2017 Expo Transporte ANPACT show in Guadalajara.

The two new tractors, a Class 8 unit named the 2528 and a Class 6 unit numbered 1217, join Daimler’s Freightliner 360 portfolio for the Mexican market.

Daimler said the addition of the two new models steers it toward its goal to “conquer the Mexican market” by targeting the country’s cabover demand.

“In response to the characteristics and needs of the Mexican transport industry, it is now possible for us to bring to this market the new generation of 360 trucks that constitutes an innovative family of products to meet the most specific needs of our customers’ businesses,” said Flavio Rivera, president and chief executive officer of Daimler Trucks Mexico.

Both vehicles offer strong maneuverability, a reinforced steel cabin, spacious interiors, high corrosion resistance, a proprietary powertrain, an ergonomic design and a versatile chassis that allows for many different configurations, the company said.

The cabovers also are the first Freightliner vehicles with Euro V selective catalytic reduction engines to be brought to market in Mexico — a

Daimler Trucks North America introduced the Class 8 Freightliner 360 2528 at a media and customer event in Guadalajara, Mexico.

DTNA said it hopes to capture the emerging cabover market in Mexico with its two new tractor offerings.

country where making inroads with vehicles equipped with modern emissions-reduction technology has been a challenge for truck makers.

The Class 8 360 2528 is equipped with a Mercedes-Benz engine with 280 hp and a Mercedes-Benz G131 manual transmission. The 2528 can haul 17 tons and has rear and front stabilization bars, an ergonomic dashboard, an

“We hope to help transform this country’s commercial vehicle industry in the areas of safety, driver-centric design and reliability.”

– Roger Nielsen, DTNA president and CEO

engine and exhaust braking system, an optional sleeper cab configuration and a fuel-efficiency diagnostics system. An extended cab is available.

The Class 6 360 1217 comes with a Mitsubishi engine with 170 hp and a Mercedes-Benz G85 transmission with seven gears. The 1217 offers eight tons of payload, an adjustable telescopic steering wheel, electric windows and locks, air conditioning and standard fog lamps for added visibility. It will be available with three different axle distances.

“We hope to help transform this country’s commercial vehicle industry in the areas of safety, driver-centric design and reliability,” said Roger Nielsen, DTNA president and CEO. – James Jaillet

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in focus: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING If an automatic emergency braking system determines a crash is imminent, it first alerts the driver that action is needed.

Safety systems aid drivers, don’t replace them

BY JASON CANNON

L

ast year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reached an agreement with most prominent U.S. automakers that will make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on all new vehicles by the 2022 model year.

“We’ve really got a lot of OEMs on the tractor side that already have made collision mitigation systems standard on their vehicles,” says Fred Andersky, Bendix’s director of government affairs. “To an extent, this may be the first time the trucking industry might actually be ahead of the automotive industry in terms of making a technology standard.”

An AEB system works on trucks equipped with either disc or drum brakes and alerts the driver that corrective action is needed to avoid a rear-end crash. If the driver’s reaction is insufficient, the always-on AEB system can apply the brakes automatically to help prevent or reduce the severity of impact.

“The system provides a reaction time that is superior to what most humans 22

commercial carrier journal

can,” says Jon Morrison, president of Wabco, Americas. “From a view of a constant scanning of the horizon and being able to react very quickly, that is a benefit.”

In Bendix’s Wingman Fusion, a radar and camera system work together to provide information to the engine control unit.

“The radar sees the metallic object in front of us, and the camera confirms that it’s a vehicle,” Andersky says. “The algorithms in the ECU sit back and make a decision in terms of ‘What do we need to do?’ ” If the driver doesn’t react – or reacts to a degree the system determines is unlikely to avoid impact – the system can cut the truck’s throttle and apply the brakes on the steer, drive and trailer axles.

“If Detroit Assurance senses a partial or full braking event is about to happen, the system triggers the transmission to downshift or shift into neutral depending on whether the truck is going uphill or downhill, and what kind of load it is carrying, and how much Detroit Assurance

| december 2017

needs to decelerate to mitigate a potential collision,” says Kelly Gedert, director of product marketing for Freightliner Trucks and Detroit.

The AEB system is built on top of the truck’s stability control platform and is integrated with its anti-lock brakes, ensuring that an emergency stop doesn’t cause a rollover accident.

“Active Brake Assist and stability control work together in that stability control would, for example, prevent ABA carrying out a full braking maneuver in an icy curve,” Gedert says. “Stability control would not let ABA do something that would cause the truck to tip over.”

Andersky says AEB is a driver assist feature and not a driver replacement one, and that even when the system indicates a braking event lies ahead, the final decision lies with the driver. He says the Bendix platform will apply the brakes for about 1.2 seconds, with the goal of getting the driver’s attention so the driver can decide what needs to be done.

“If the driver keeps their foot on the accelerator, that’s telling the system that the driver has a reason for doing this,” Andersky says. “Maybe he’s building up speed to make a rapid lane change to avoid a potential collision. We return control back to the driver to let them finish the maneuver.”

“The philosophy remains to get the driver reengaged in the process,” adds Morrison. “We want to make sure if they need to have an evasive maneuver, or if they need to brake in a certain way, that they have the first chance of reacting.”

While electronic stability control is being mandated on all new heavy trucks, Morrison doesn’t see a similar mandate for collision avoidance. He says more fleets are voluntarily adopting collision mitigation technologies such as Wabco’s OnGuard platform.

“It’s not moving toward any kind of regulation anytime soon,” Morrison says.

Electric van company readies smart charging platform

C

hanje, an electric delivery truck and energy management company, announced a partnership with eMotorWerks to deliver an “Energy-as-a-Service” program to its commercial fleet customers through a smart charging platform.

Bryan Hansel, Chanje chief executive officer, said the partnership – through eMotorWerks’ line of intelligent and cloud-connected electric vehicle charging hardware and software products – offers fleet customers a “one-stop shop” of purpose-built electric trucks and energy services “without them having to worry about the installation or energy load management.”

“Our collaboration with eMotorWerks allows us to deliver dynamic charging capabilities that support drivers, utilities, operators and CFOs alike,” Hansel said. “Along with [eMotorWerks], we look forward to introducing fleets to the world of smart-grid charging.”

The fleet operating system Chanje plans to deploy with the eMotorWerks JuiceNet platform uses automated multi-tiered control algorithms and load balancing to allow multiple charging stations to operate simultaneously under peak load settings. Automated load management, Hansel said, helps Chanje fleet customers lower operating costs while also enabling utilities and grid operators to avoid excessive strain

on local electrical circuits and the grid as a whole.

Via the JuiceNet platform, Chanje fleet operators can participate in energy services programs that offer reduced rates at off-peak times, benefiting the local electric grid and lowering a fleet’s total cost of operation. The charging stations also give commercial fleet operators access to customized cloudbased JuiceNet control platforms that intelligently manage EV charging, including remote access control, automatic energy management to avoid peak pricing, electricity usage tracking and smart algorithms to maximize charging with available renewable energy from the grid.

Chanje also will introduce a customer portal to help fleet operators manage their daily energy requirements by aggregating data from the vehicle telematics and charging platform. By looking at vehicle usage analytics, fleet operators Via eMotorWerks’ JuiceNet platform, can make real-time adjustments to Chanje fleet operamanage driver and route inefficiencies tors can participate to prevent unnecessary spikes in usage in energy services and control the total cost of operation, programs that offer reduced rates Hansel said. at off-peak times.

– Jason Cannon

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technology MAKING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WORK FOR YOUR FLEET BY AARON HUFF

Going full throttle

Connected fleets capitalizing on e-commerce opportunities

A

t the Latitude business conference held Oct. 23-25 in Dana Point, Calif., transportation and service fleet executives discussed how they are using technology to keep up in the growing and highly competitive businesses of e-commerce and on-demand logistics.

Attendees at the annual event credited their use of Telogis’ mobile resource management and vehicle telematics applications to respond quickly to customer needs in the markets they serve.

On-demand rentals Customers of Flex Fleet Rental do not give much lead time for upcoming rental needs. They want service “right here, right now,” said Brian Goldhardt, vice president of sales for the Salt Lake City-based company with customers nationwide.

Flex Fleet Rental provides longerterm rentals of ½- to ¾-ton pickup trucks, and most customers do project-based work such as construcGROWING BUSINESSES: E-commerce and on-demand logistics are highly competitive.

TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE: Products allow businesses to respond quickly to customer needs.

PUTTING IT TO WORK: Attendees of Telogis’ business conference shared their success stories.

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NEHDS Logistics uses a fleet of Hino trucks for its final-mile delivery service.

tion. “You have to be prepared for today,” Goldhardt said. “It is important for us to move quickly, and Telogis helps us do that.”

Flex Fleet Rental buys Ford trucks with a factory-installed Telogis platform and uses the technology to locate its inventory quickly and deploy rental trucks to customers on demand.

Safety first E-commerce consumers are becoming more comfortable with purchasing large items such as appliances and furniture online.

Northeastern Home Delivery Service specializes in aggregating and final-mile delivery of products weighing more than 60 pounds, said Gerry Burdo, chief executive officer of the Bethel, Conn.-based business. NEHDS Logistics serves online retailers with its network of distribution centers and a fleet of 284 Hino trucks.

december 2017

INTERESTED IN TRUCKING TECHNOLOGY? Scan the barcode or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK to subscribe to the CCJ Technology Weekly e-mail newsletter.

This year, NEHDS Logistics expanded its use of Telogis when it decided to self-insure. By using daily Telogis reports, the company’s safety and compliance manager can identify and train drivers who are “in the red” for behaviors such as hard braking and speeding.

Since starting the compliance program in March, NEHDS Logistics has reduced its insurance claims 90 percent compared to the same March-October period last year.

“Telogis has really changed the way we do business,” Burdo said. “I never thought we would have a compliance group and how important that would be in reducing insurance claims.”

The customer experience The grocery industry also has been rocked by e-commerce, especially since Amazon got into the business by acquiring Whole Foods.

Grocery retailer Hy-Vee operates 245 stores in Midwestern states.

Three years ago, the Des Moines, Iowa-based company did not have an e-commerce offering, but it “saw the writing on the wall,” said Kurt Hasson, vice president of IT. “There is a lot of pressure to move quickly and maintain our market share.”

Hy-Vee built its own platforms for e-commerce and order management. Last year, the company created a dedicated e-commerce fulfillment center in Des Moines to route orders for all 20 stores in that market.

The initial goal was to automate routing and give its customers the chance to choose a delivery time that worked best for them. Hy-Vee is getting close to making this goal a reality.

The grocer now uses an application program interface from Telogis so that its order management system can communicate order details automatically to the technology provider’s RouteCloud optimization software.

RouteCloud instantly computes routes and sends the plan back to Hy-Vee’s computer systems. During checkout, Hy-Vee customers will be able to reserve a time slot for delivery. Customers will see which slots are available and be given discounts for choosing times that result in lower delivery costs based on how the delivery routes are shaping up in RouteCloud.

“This will add more value on the customer side by picking a time slot,” Hasson said. “Ultimately, it will give the routing engine a better problem to solve. Customers will feel good about getting a cheaper price.”

AARON HUFF is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal.

E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) 754-4296.

ITI develops Sentix training automation

I

nstructional Technologies Inc. debuted Sentix, a training automation platform developed as a web-based learning management system that integrates with fleet management systems of various kinds to automatically schedule, track, verify and manage training.

During a conference call with reporters, Aaron Purvis, chief technology officer, said the product will help fleet safety managers eliminate the time they spend working with spreadsheets and manually scheduling driver training. Fleets can assign training content automatically based on job titles, hire dates and triggers such as a hard-braking event or safety trend.

Sentix uses customizable web-based portals, dashboards and interfaces with transportation management, fleet telematics and other systems.

– Aaron Huff

Weather dashboard targets drivers, fleets

T

he Weather Company announced the Operations Dashboard for Ground Transportation, a customizable Software-asa-Service application designed to provide up-to-date weather and road conditions for precipitation, wind, fog, ice and pooling water. It also integrates real-time traffic flow and incident data and flags safety hazards.

Drivers and fleets can plan routes using live traffic and weather information. To simplify the planning process, the app has a Difficult Driving Index layer designed to make it easy for drivers to pinpoint the problem areas up to six hours in advance.

Drivers and dispatchers receive live alerts for current and upcoming locations, and they also can check weather and traffic during breaks.

– Aaron Huff

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technology

TMW Systems readies maintenance software for Innovative users

T

MW Systems, a provider of software, business intelligence and related applications, has a new web-based fleet maintenance management system for customers using the Innovative Ac-

cess and Access Plus transportation management platforms. The TMTRx system is offered as a Software-as-a-Service.

“TMTRx comes with a wide variety of features and reports to enable fleets to

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complete equipment inspections, repairs and other critical processes on time and on budget,” said Renaldo Adler, principal of asset maintenance for TMW Systems.

“To further streamline fleet maintenance, the solution comes fully integrated with core dispatch and accounting functions of Innovative Access and Access Plus.”

With the integration, fleets have instant visibility of repair order status of individual units to prevent dispatching equipment that is unavailable. From within the Access or Access Plus systems, users can see which units are in need of inspections, preventive maintenance services and repairs at internal or thirdparty maintenance facilities.

Custom alerts and notifications can be set up at the unit and component levels in TMTRx to enforce fleetwide maintenance policies. At the unit level, an alert could instruct a technician opening a repair order to limit repair costs to $500 for a unit scheduled for trade-in. At the component level, an alert can remind technicians to capture tread depth when installing or inspecting tires.

The TMTRx Plus package has five additional modules: • A Shop Floor Automation Module helps fleets create a paperless workflow when the technician logs into TMTRx and when supervisors assign repair orders to technicians. The module presents a worklist and automatically tracks labor throughout the workday and any parts attached to the repair.

• The Road Call Module allows fleets to manage road call breakdowns and link the call to a repair order.

• The Invoicing Module allows fleets to bill repairs performed for internal customers such as owner-operators. Driver settlement deductions can be set up using the integration with Access Plus.

• The remaining two modules allow fleets to automatically export warranty claims and parts purchase orders directly to Navistar or Volvo.

– Aaron Huff

technology

Telogis adds Workforce extension to software platform

T

elogis introduced Telogis Workforce, a new extension to its enterprise software platform designed for customers to plan and dispatch work, navigate between jobs, monitor The Workforce Planning edition is a progress, communicate with customdynamic routing and near-real-time ers, capture digital signatures, automate work order management application within Telogis Workforce. plan vs. actual reporting and use strategic insights and forecasting to help reduce operating costs and manage customer service.

“Workforce delivers a simple one-stop approach to mobile workforce management by giving customers the tools needed to help achieve operational efficiency,” said Jason Koch, senior vice president of Verizon Telematics.

The Workforce Planning edition is a dynamic routing and near-real-time work order management application within Telogis Workforce. The software is used by fleets to automate forecasting and allocate workers and assets at the right time. Users can create, run and compare scenarios based on different rule sets, constraints and resource allocation to optimize their processes.

Telogis Workforce also includes LiveETA, an app that provides real-time estimated time of arrival updates for the end customers of delivery and service companies. LiveETA can track drivers, receive updates on the latest appointment times via text and email and see changes to ETA in real time.

– Aaron Huff

Sync Connect links Telogis, 2018 Ford trucks

A

t its annual business conference, Telogis announced that Ford commercial customers will be able to use Ford Sync Connect to access the services of the Telogis Mobile Resource Management Customers who order the 2018 Ford software platform that provides vehicle F-150 with Sync Connect can link their vehicles to their existing Ford location, driver behavior, navigation, Telematics or Telogis accounts. route planning and optimization and compliance applications for companies with fleets and mobile workers.

“By accessing these services from Telogis through Sync Connect, Ford commercial customers can transform the way they monitor and optimize their fleets,” said Michael Seneski, director of Ford Commercial Solutions.

Customers who order the 2018 Ford F-150 with Sync Connect can link their vehicles to their existing Ford Telematics or Telogis accounts. This capability soon will be available in other Ford commercial vehicles, including Ford Super Duty, Transit and Transit Connect.

“It’s like turning the lights on and getting insight into every aspect of a mobile business,” said Susan Heystee, senior vice president of worldwide OEM sales at Telogis.

– Aaron Huff

INBRIEF • Help Inc., provider of PrePass weigh station bypass and toll payment services, launched Motion, an application for telematics platforms and Android and iOS tablets that uses cellbased geofencing and geolocation technology to bring weigh station bypass to locations where transponder-based systems are not available. Motion will be included with the PrePass bypass service at no added charge to existing customers. Customers may use Motion as a standalone application or pair it with their PrePass transponder.

• Bestpass toll management services now are available for expressways around Orlando through a new partnership with the Central Florida Expressway Authority, adding more than 100 miles to the Bestpass network. CFX manages seven named expressways, 64 interchanges and 301 bridges in a four-county area. CFX will extend the same discounts to Bestpass users as it does to its own E-Pass users.

• Paragon Software Systems, a provider of vehicle routing and scheduling optimization products, added cloud-based versions of its transportation planning technologies suited for a range of platforms, including Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.

• QuikQ, a provider of fuel payment products, announced that it secured merchant agreements for its new fuel card with Love’s Travel Stops, TravelCenters of America and Pilot Flying J, as well as numerous independent truck stops.

• Wex Inc., a provider of corporate fleet payment products, partnered with Citibank, which was awarded one of two contracts for GSA SmartPay 3, to support U.S. government card and payment services for several agencies. The program runs through 2031.

• Driver iQ, a provider of background screening and driver monitoring services, now offers Truck Driving School Records, a service that allows carriers to access driving school records as part of the pre-employment screening process, allowing them to quickly and efficiently verify graduation records for CDL driver applicants without contacting the school. Also, schools that store their records with Driver iQ eliminate the need to respond to requests for student records.

• Vigillo, a provider of real-time data for analyzing driver and carrier safety performance, announced that SpeedGauge now is a data provider for its Roadside Resume driver safety, compliance and risk profile offering. SpeedGauge provides software products designed to help fleets manage and control vehicle speed by monitoring driver behaviors. commercial carrier journal

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technology

INBRIEF • Blue Dot and ALK Technologies announced a driver workflow collaboration designed to enable fleets to improve the driver experience, reduce turnover and enforce fleetwide standard operating procedures. Blue Dot’s MilesAhead Drive app uses the ALK Maps mapping platform as its foundation and overlays a driver circle-of-service workflow that manages job tasks that occur both inside and outside the cab for both planned and unplanned stops.

• HighJump, a provider of supply chain technologies, announced the integration of its Prophesy Dispatch TMS trucking software for truckload carriers, brokers and private fleets with Teletrac Navman’s Director fleet management system.

The companies say the integration creates a seamless workflow between every component of a load from the second an order is initiated to the moment it is delivered.

• Omnitracs, a provider of fleet management technologies, announced that third-party logistics provider C.H. Robinson has committed to long-term use of its Virtual Load View application to increase overall efficiency and provide continued load tracking visibility. VLV obtains position data of loads and deposits the information into a web service for C.H. Robinson to consume and analyze.

• Spireon announced that J. Grady Randolph, a flatbed fleet specializing in pre-stressed concrete, adopted its FleetLocate asset management system for its 700 trailers to identify and reallocate units not in use, avoiding the capital expense of buying new equipment. In addition, Randolph’s maintenance team can receive instant alerts when a trailer is ready for service, and drivers and dispatchers quickly can locate trailers in the yard or at a customer location.

• BlackBerryLimited announced that Titanium Transportation Group Inc. is deploying its Radar-L asset and fleet tracking offering across its fleet of flatbeds. The agreement builds upon Titanium’s first deal with BlackBerry, which was signed in December 2016 and included the use of Radar-M devices on about 1,200 trailers. Radar-L is designed for quick installation on flatbeds, chassis, containers, heavy machinery and other nonpowered assets.

• SmartDrive Systems, a provider of video-based safety platforms, announced that Sunstate Carriers, a refrigerated truckload carrier operating throughout the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest, installed its system fleetwide. Sunstate, which operates 130 power units and 150 refrigerated trailers, said it selected SmartDrive’s system because of its ease of use, customizable features and near-immediate results.

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AT&T expands communications for fleets, workers

A

With AT&T’s latest Push-To-X update, field workers can send secure texts, photos, videos, voice recordings, files and location data.

T&T added a Push-To-X feature to its Enhanced Push-To-Talk service used by businesses with workers in the field – such as service fleets, government agencies, construction firms and delivery companies – to stay in touch instantly with their employees.

AT&T EPTT is a walkie-talkie service that works on smartphones and tablets and comes with integrated dispatch functionality. With the latest Push-To-X update, field workers can send secure texts, photos, videos, voice recordings, files and location data to groups and contacts through LTE or Wi-Fi. Other new features of EPTT include: • Location-based services: For teams to coordinate more easily and to help supervisors strategically assign work to those closest to the job. New geofence alerts can help supervisors keep team members out of dangerous areas.

• Voice message fallback: To reach workers who don’t have their AT&T EPTT device on them at all times.

• Easier adoption: The upgrade includes a customizable user interface with eight assignable talk group soft keys and the one-touch operation of a radio.

• Better integration: AT&T EPTT users can connect all of their major twoway radio suppliers directly to AT&T’s push-to-talk service and integrate with AT&T field management applications such as Workforce Manager and Fleet Complete.

– Aaron Huff

Fairbanks Scales updates weighing system

F

airbanks Scales enhanced its FB6000 weighing instrument and web interface for its truck scale to reduce calibration and custom ticket formatting time over previous generations.

A technician can calibrate Fairbanks The company says the enhancements Scales’ FB6000 weighing instrument using a tablet or laptop through the include an expanded Loop ID field, ability scale platform. to update expansion cards using a USB drive or integrated web utility, and a new configurable digital power supply with diagnostics capabilities.

The Loop ID field has expanded from three to up to 15 alphanumeric characters, allowing the use of more user-friendly IDs. The FB6000 allows for expansion card updates either from the instrument’s front panel keyboard or by using the integrated web utility. Several updates to the integrated web utility have been added to calibrate by millivolts per volt.

Enhanced web load cell diagnostics now show a representation of the scale platform, the scale’s total gross weight and each individual cell with its specific stored zero counts and current zero counts.

– Aaron Huff

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technology

Teletrac Navman integrates Noregon TripVision diagnostics

T

eletrac Navman announced a new integration with Noregon that combines the mobile fleet management capabilities of Teletrac Navman Director with the vehicle health and safety diagnostics of Noregon TripVision.

The companies say the integration addresses violations in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance Safety Accountability program that center on inspection, repair and maintenance of vehicles.

“TripVision provides the actionable information needed for quick, impactful business decisions in an industry where uptime is paramount,” said Bill Hathaway, Noregon’s founder and chief executive officer.

TripVision analyzes the operational

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data aggregated through Director’s platform to grade the health and safety of each vehicle. These scores are available for all fleet vehicles in an online portal and are configurable to send alerts to fleet personnel if scores drop below a user-defined threshold.

Detailed information about each vehicle includes severity levels, the expected effect on the vehicle and expert recommendations for managing the faults, such as shutting down the engine immediately or remaining in transit and delaying repairs until the next planned service event.

“Historically, a technical or mechanical failure could only be detected during a routine maintenance check or when dashboard signals light up,” said Marco Encinas,

december 2017

The companies say the integration addresses violations in FMCSA’s CSA program that target vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance.

marketing and product manager of global platforms for Teletrac Navman. “By integrating Director with TripVision, carriers can immediately pinpoint an issue or predict an impending fault, all from a single dashboard. This level of preventive maintenance keeps vehicles on the road and out of the garage.

– Aaron Huff

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SPECIAL REPORT: ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICES

The mandate descends As ELD use becomes the law of the land and thousands of truckers still lack the devices, expect a somewhat soft start for enforcement, unavoidable violations, some poorly trained inspectors and spotty use of federal data transfer software.

BY TODD DILLS

34

commercial carrier journal

The ELD mandate’s phased-in enforcement through April 1 does not mean a delay in issuing fines or noting violations, says CVSA’s Colin Mooney.

carry well into Phase 3 of the ELD rule’s implementation. What that means is likely heavy reliance by officers at roadside on reviewing hours-of-service information on the display of the devices themselves, or in some cases obtaining a printout from the device.

Truckers using somewhat less-regulated AOBRDs today can continue using them in current form through the end of 2019, and newer ELDs make the graph-grid display of hours information a requirement. The grid is a form that inspectors are used to seeing, and Lt. Dan Wyrick of the Wyoming State Police adds that the new logs are “not the true tattletale” devices many drivers think they are.

Wyrick participated in a series of “Train The Trainer” events around the nation in October and November

| december 2017

intended to roll out the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s long-awaited eRODS (electronic record of duty status) ELD analysis software to state enforcement. ELDs are required to be able to transmit log data to a central online housing for analysis by roadside enforcement who will use the software to make that analysis.

“It only tells you there may be something that is going on” in terms of an irregular situation or potential violation, Wyrick says. It essentially assists in analysis, minimizing the officer’s contact with the drivers’ devices.

“AOBRDs today will pretty much do the same thing,” with the ability to fax or email current logs and previous seven days to officers, he says. “It remains up to the individual

Max Heine

A

s of Dec. 18, states and their federal truck enforcement partners were to begin issuing violations, citations and in some cases fines to those subject to the electronic logging mandate who aren’t using e-logs.

CarrierLists.com surveyed small fleets in its third-party carrier-procurement service for brokers and shippers. Among nearly 2,000 carriers operating one to 70 trucks, 60 percent of the fleets were not ELD-compliant. Surveys by other entities late in the year showed similar results.

Some survey respondents planned to deal with noncompliance consequences and hold off implementing until April 1, 2018. That’s when the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s out-of-service criteria calls for putting more teeth in punishment for not complying.

As for the question on many truckers’ minds – just how lenient inspectors might be in the early going – it’s likely to vary considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, officer to officer.

However, most state and federal law enforcement representatives are aware of the special cases that arise on the road, and some of them say that a standard of reasonableness is being encouraged in situations that unavoidably force truckers into violation.

And as many have remarked, the practices used with automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs, ELDs’ regulatory predecessors) will

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SPECIAL REPORT: ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICES inspector, then, to go through the inspection process on that.”

Wyrick notes a significant limitation of such data transfers in states such as Wyoming where cellular data/internet coverage is spotty. “I don’t know that our current practices [with respect to checking drivers’ AOBRD logs] will change a whole lot” even with the eRODS rollout.

For most stops, it’s likely “we’ll look at the display or print at the roadside” for many devices.

Colin Mooney, CVSA executive director, clarified what’s being delayed until April 1. “It’s not uncommon for government and the enforcement community to take a phased-in enforcement process” for the introduction of a major regulation, he says, referencing the CVSA board’s vote to delay enforcement of its ELD out-of-service criteria to April 1.

But to operators thinking the delay equates to a carte blanche enforcement delay, “documenting the violation [on an inspection report], warnings, citations” and associated fines – “all that is on the table,” Mooney warns. “If you don’t know this is coming, you’ve had your head in the sand.”

The out-of-service delay, he says, at least will give the enforcement and regulatory communities “an indication of how many noncompliant carriers we’re going to have, truly. Some have said it’s more than half of the industry,” some much less. “Those are just wild guesses, in my view. We feel [the OOS delay] is a responsible approach to a new rule implementation. We’re not here to impede commerce, and the hours of service isn’t changing. There’s no reason we can’t have a reasonable phased-in enforcement approach.”

Asked whether most state depart-

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commercial carrier journal

| december 2017

ments would be ready to roll out the new central software to analyze ELD logs by Dec. 18 given the scant six-to-seven weeks between the first Train The Trainer event and the deadline, Mooney notes “we would have liked to have had it sooner, but we’re going to be OK.” Wyrick, meanwhile, says much the same about enforcement in his state. Trainers were set to go out to “port-of-entry officers and troopers” the second full week of November to download the software to troopers’ and inspectors’ computers and school them on eRODS. Meanwhile, an FMCSA spokesman reiterated the agency’s line on the rule: full speed ahead. “FMCSA and its state and local enforcement partners likewise have been utilizing the past two years to plan and to prepare,” he says.

“The enforcement training schedule remains precisely on track.”

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SPECIAL REPORT: ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICES

Todd Dills

Drivers participated in a panel discussion on ELD-related issues convened at the Great American Trucking Show by FMCSA.

Beyond your control How enforcement will deal with the hard cases What will happen in situations where your ELD documents an unavoidable violation? This could be driving beyond limits while looking for a parking spot in a congested area or moving from a parking place during an off-duty period when forced to by local law enforcement.

State and federal law enforcement officials urge drivers to practice blunt honesty, using annotations on duty statuses and status changes to explain the situation in detail. In many cases, officer leniency is likely to prevail.

Such cases illustrate an obvious change of working under electronic logs. Before e-logs, “getting the load there on time was the first priority,” said driver Bob Stanton, part of a panel convened by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration during the Great American Trucking Show in August. Before, “you made your log look legal after” that first priority was met, he said. Now, if there’s any chance you can’t get the load there on time within the hours rules, you need to make the appropriate calculations and stay aware of the fact well beforehand.

That seemingly simple change, however, is one that brings with it a raft of complications, from new administrative and operational burdens placed on drivers and carrier dispatch to the pressing need for shipper/receiver customers’ appreciation of the new dynamics.

Others at the GATS panel presented cases, including delays at shippers and receivers that exhaust on-duty hours, where you just can’t avoid incriminating yourself with an ELD. FMCSA enforcement division specialist LaTonya Mimms noted officers will retain the discretion on whether to write a violation or not.

If the time over the limits is “no more than 15 minutes,” Mimms said, the “trooper may or may not cite a nominal hours violation,” with little consequence for safety scores. In excess of 15 minutes, however, a normal violation would be the go-to mark from the agency’s perspective.

Joe DeLorenzo, director of FMCSA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance, says when an exceedingly lengthy delay at the shipper or receiver causes the driver’s 14-hour clock to run out, proceeding to a safe haven/parking location/truckstop would not be considered 38

commercial carrier journal

| december 2017

personal conveyance. Rather, he urges drivers to make the trip and annotate the circumstances “in case somebody asks for it,” thus avoiding charges of a “false log” for incorrect personal conveyance use.

DeLorenzo also clarifies the other special short-term driving category specified in the ELD rule: yard move. Using this category will move a driver to the on-duty not-driving status, even though the vehicle is in motion. Just where it can be used hasn’t been fully understood to date throughout the industry.

DeLorenzo says fleet terminals aren’t the only places where it’s OK to use; it’s also good within facilities away from public roads such as ports, railyards, customer locations and the like. At distances of no more than three to five miles, DeLorenzo says, “it’s OK. If it starts to accumulate more than that, people are going to start asking questions.”

Yard moves, after being categorized by the driver or registered automatically in a geofenced area, must be approved by the administrator. In the case of an independent owner-operator, that makes use of the yard move a two-step process for the owner.

Self-incrimination will rise to the level of a violation only if someone decides that it does. Picky violations in special circumstances, says Capt. Brian Preston of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, are not going to get many in much trouble if they’re logged honestly. What his officers are looking for, he says, is more the intent to deceive.

With ELDs at roadside, that most often manifests as someone having unplugged the device so that it shows they “went to sleep in Oklahoma and woke up in Texas.” Preston adds that inspectors are well-trained in dealing with drivers and that “most humans just don’t lie very well.”

Lt. Dan Wyrick of Wyoming says he’s seen scenarios where drivers don’t log in for a certain time to mask movement. He’s also seen “the company cheating the system by reassigning driving time” on the back end, which will be impossible to do without driver involvement under the new ELD specification. With ELDs, unlike AOBRDs, drivers must approve any office edits.

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INNOVATORS

GREAT SOUTHERN WOOD PRESERVING Abbeville, Ala. lina, and then take a load to southeast Georgia for a different customer. Next, the truck would go to a port to pick up a load of lumber to take back to Alabama.

This four -or five-day trip might be considered a success in terms of revenue and offsetting transportation costs for Great Southern Wood. Yet the benefits were lost if the asset was not available for a 30-mile delivery from a plant to a customer store. Tendering such a load to a common carrier would cost two or three times the company’s internal fleet cost, Carter says.

Great Southern Wood Preserving layers its data to maximize fleet utilization

BY AARON HUFF

S

ince 2015, Great Southern Wood Preserving has made big strides in logistics by using intelligent systems to analyze and act quickly on data.

The nation’s largest distributor of pressure-treated pine, best known for its YellaWood lumber products, has a dealer network that spans 25 states in the Central and Eastern half of the nation. All shipments in its network are managed by the Abbeville, Ala.-based company’s Greenbush Logistics subsidiary.

The logistics company ships lumber and composite building products inbound from sawmills, manufacturers and U.S. ports to treatment plants and to warehouses, and outbound to customer locations on demand.

About 40 percent of the deliveries go to national retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, and the other 60 percent go to “mom-and-pop” lumber yards, says Mills Carter, director of analytics for Great Southern Wood.

Greenbush runs about 250 power units from 14 locations, and it supplements its fleet capacity with third-party carriers. Historically, it has transported between 30 and 40 percent of the loads in Great Southern Wood’s supply chain on its own equipment and tendered the remainder to outside carriers.

As a for-hire carrier, Greenbush has tried to maximize utilization of assets by focusing on revenue per mile and deadhead, Carter says. While this focus yielded revenue from backhauls, it did not deliver the best overall results for the company.

“We weren’t all singing from the same songbook,” he says.

Going for distance Prior to 2015, Greenbush favored loads with a longer length of haul to maximize its revenue and utilization. A fleet manager might dispatch a load of lumber from Alabama to Kentucky despite not having a backhaul from a sawmill or supplier.

The manager would find a load of steel from an external customer to North Caro-

Forecasting demand Greenbush fleet managers realized they lacked the information tools to determine which loads to dispatch on company assets and which ones to tender to common carriers.

Carter’s team developed new metrics and data visualizations using a variety of business intelligence tools to bring together data from various sources. The centerpiece of the effort is a custom Google Maps system that simplifies complex demand and costing information.

One data layer in the system is a grid that breaks down the entire network footprint into distinct geographical “bins.” Each square, or bin, on the grid is 15 miles high and 15 miles wide. The data analysis for each bin combines the ordering patterns from dealer stores.

The Abbeville, Ala.-based pressure-treated pine distributor develops new, more accurate decisionmaking metrics for its logistics subsidiary.

commercial carrier journal | december 2017

43

A Greenbush Logistics employee monitors the custom Google Maps system to make load planning decisions.

Some customers in the bin order once a month, while others order weekly.

The system also breaks down demand by day of week. The demand prediction for some bins may show that orders will come on Monday and others on Friday depending on the buying habits of consumers in each area.

Overall, the system calculates the probability of orders for a single bin and from a combination of bins in the same region within the next three days. Fleet managers can plan to ensure they will have assets available to make deliveries and pick up inbound freight from suppliers to meet demand, Carter says.

Likewise, the data visualization shows where the company does not have trucks and where it needs to lean on common carriers, he says.

Zone coverage Once the demand layer was complete, the next step was to create another data layer to simplify the load planning process for dispatchers.

Carter’s team used an activity-based costing model to break down transportation costs for every load that the fleet transported using its assets and that it tendered to common carriers. The costing model included soft costs for using third-party carriers and keeping drivers away from home for an extended period.

A common carrier may have a slightly better rate in a particular lane, but the total cost might actually be higher if the carrier is not connected to Greenbush’s 44

The “go” and “no-go” zones help load planners visually determine which loads in a region to dispatch on fleet assets (yellow) or a common carrier (green).

telematics and transportation management system from McLeod Software.

The cost analysis was put into a data layer with the supply and demand analytics to create “go” and “no-go” zones for load planning. The zones cover regions around plant locations where trucks are domiciled and are colored yellow, blue and green on the Google Maps system.

At a glance, a fleet manager knows to dispatch all loads in the “yellow” zone on company equipment and to tender all “green” zone loads to common carriers.

“Blue” is a middle zone that is up to the discretion of the load planner. Compliance with the “go” and “no-go” zones became the new metric, replacing revenue.

The zones change shape by the day of the week. On Monday and Tuesday, a fleet manager might send trucks to Georgia, and on Wednesday through Friday, the trucks could be needed in Florida based on different demand curves.

The models are rerun four times a year, and the zones are replotted, Carter says.

Greenbush has other data layers that aid with decision making. By using weather data, the company can predict the likelihood of rain for loads going to certain geographical areas. If the chance for rain is less than 10 to 15 percent, the driver will not need to tarp the load.

Reducing the number of tarped loads is a key performance indicator to improve drivers’ health and limit exposure to workers’ compensation claims, he says.

Greenbush also has real-time alerts.

Integration with the company’s Load-

commercial carrier journal | december 2017

Master system from McLeod pairs realtime data with the Google Maps system.

Managers will get an immediate email alert from LoadMaster if load assignments are made that do not comply with the “go” or “no-go” zone rules.

Saving drivers By using the data visualization tools, fleet managers can look ahead, days in advance, to make the best possible decisions for the company, Carter says.

“It’s not about keeping trucks busy, earning the most revenue or keeping deadhead to a minimum,” he says. “It’s about knowing where our trucks are going to be in the next five to 10 days and where demand is going to be in the next five to 10 days.”

Greenbush also has updated its driver pay structure from a rate per mile to a rate per load with additional mileage pay.

The pay structure incentivizes drivers for hauling loads closer to home and staying in the proper zones.

Drivers also are home more often, which has been a significant factor in reducing turnover from 55 percent in 2015 to seven percent in 2017, Carter says.

Greenbush also has saved over $1 million in transportation costs.

“That is an indication of how poorly we were doing,” he says.

CCJ INNOVATORS profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact Jeff Crissey at jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com or 800-633-5953.

Your go-to guide for understanding, selecting and using technology in your trucking business.

AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS: PROMISE, POTENTIAL PAGE 49

THE ROADBLOCKS TO AUTOMATION

THE POSSIBILITIES OF PLATOONING

PAGE 50

PAGE 51

REAL-TIME DRIVER FATIGUE MONITORING

THE EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE

PAGE 52

PAGE 53 Tech Toolbox is a CCJ Special Report brought to you by OnCommand Connection.

Š 2017 , Inc. All rights reserved.

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PART 12: The future of technology in trucking

Freightliner in 2015 unveiled its semi-autonomous Inspiration concept truck, which can operate in an autonomous mode on interstates via an advanced cruise control-like system called Highway Pilot. Drivers, once on the highway, simply push a button on the steering wheel, and the truck maintains its lane and a proper following distance from the vehicle in front of it. The system alerts drivers to intervene if conditions are not right for autonomous operation.

A look ahead: Reducing crashes with autonomy, fatigue monitoring

BY JAMES JAILLET EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

from both traditional trucking suppliers and tech startups aim to alter the industry’s landscape – and carriers’ operations – dramatically in the coming decades.

While the endgame to such technologies could be 30 or more years away,

the building blocks of autonomy promise carriers – and the supply chain at large – greater safety and efficiency, as well as the tools needed to fit into an ever-changing global economy. Other emerging technologies intend to measure and mitigate fatigued

driving to boost safety.

Factor in evolving macroeconomic trends such as an increasing reliance on e-commerce and the sharing economy, and the industry is ripe for an evolution. However, hurdles remain for these new technologies to fully

make their entrance.

In this 12th and final edition of CCJ’s Tech Toolbox series for 2017, we examine how these technologies individually and collectively could alter tomorrow’s carrier operations.

Also visit CCJTechToolbox.com to see the full year’s worth of installments, which detail how carriers can use current and coming technologies to tackle issues such as equipment maintenance, driver recruiting and retention, efficient routing and more.

– Jeff Crissey and Todd Dills contributed to this month’s report.

PART 12: The future of technology in trucking

AUTONOMY’S PROMISE

It may take decades to realize this tech’s full potential IN THE PAST THREE YEARS, few equipment-based technologies have garnered as much speculation as autonomy, particularly related to its viability within trucking, the timeline for which such technologies may come to market and the ultimate impacts it will have on the industry and its labor force.

Drivers worry they’ll be replaced by complex algorithms, highly advanced mapping systems and a bevy of cameras and sensors. However, the near-term gains for carriers won’t be in costs saved on

driver wages, says Noël Perry, a freight economist and analyst for Truckstop.com.

Rather, Perry says, the safety benefits of automating drivers’ tasks will come from crash reduction.

“That’s the public face of it,” he says. “Fleets don’t make investments unless there’s a payback. The payback of autonomy is avoidance of expensive accidents.”

The data already available for automation in the real world, such as automatic braking and lane departure warning systems,

show “a dramatic reduction in accidents, almost immediately,” says Perry, who speculates the autonomous revolution will be in full force around 2035, at which point many trucks in operation will be highly autonomous – not driverless, but capable of performing the driving job without much input if any.

“From a trucking standpoint, setting aside driver concerns, it’s very positive for the trucking industry, because it makes trucking cheaper and faster,” he says. Until then, fleets will

reap the benefits of the safety gains from increasing levels of automation and the ability to “source drivers in a whole different way than they do now.”

“It will absolutely solve the driver [shortage] problem,” says Perry, given that automation “will lower the competency requirements” of the driving job. Drivers won’t require the training or the skillsets that they traditionally have needed, given the ability of autonomous technology to not only perform driving tasks but also prevent crashes, he says.

The Innovation Truck, unveiled by supplier ZF last year, was built as an example of the capabilities of combining technologies already in existence today. The truck can operate autonomously on a highway, automatically keeping its lane, steering, accelerating and braking. It also has an advanced automated backing system that allows drivers to exit the truck and back the vehicle remotely to the dock. The European DAX XF was on display last year at the IAA international trucking trade show in Hannover, Germany. “Our focus is 2025,” says Sefan Sommer, ZF’s CEO. “We have to rethink the architecture of automobiles to have new concepts and new technologies.”

PART 12: The future of technology in trucking

“The payback of autonomy is avoidance of expensive accidents.”

– Noël Perry, freight economist and analyst for Truckstop.com

AUTONOMY’S OBSTACLES

Cybersecurity, public acceptance, governance stand in its path SOCIETAL ACCEPTANCE IS

Fred Andersky, director of customer solutions and marketing for Bendix, foresees a slower timeline for highly automated trucks, predicting Level 5 automated tractor-trailers – those that require no driver input – won’t be operating on U.S. highways until around 2050.

However, he agrees that driver assistance systems, the building blocks of fully automated vehicles, will make major inroads and provide big benefits to fleets, the industry and the public.

The focus for automation will be the influx of data that fleets and suppliers such as Bendix will reap in the coming years from existing automated and telematics systems and electronic logging devices. “That’s going to enable more types of interventions and applications,” Andersky says.

Bendix’s existing Wingman Fusion crash mitigation platform relies on sensors, cameras and radar to issue lane departure warnings, activate adaptive cruise control mode and apply brakes when it detects an impending rear-end collision.

The integration of more sensors in the coming years may lead to more capabilities for the system, such as sideswipe detection and mitigation. “Continuing that, you start adding integration of the trailer so that sensors on the trailer

communicate directly with the systems in the cab, and you can start seeing [integration of] auto-backing and auto-parking,” says Andersky, who envisions a “push a button and back to dock” application.

The next step would be integrating steering capabilities into the existing lane-keeping system. “That gets us to lane keeping, self-parking, advanced highway pilot, yard maneuvering and even more advanced collision mitigation systems that actually steer to avoid crashes.”

Andersky says these levels of driver assist systems likely will be introduced within the next five to seven years, providing fleets with a range of safety and operational benefits despite not reaching the degree of automation predicted by some.

“Once the foundation gets in place, things may move more rapidly, but getting true autonomy, I think, takes more time, because there’s a lot more than just the technology that’s required,” says Andersky.

“If you believe in autonomous [trucks], everything we’re doing today with advanced driver assist systems leads us on that path,” says Roger Nielsen, head of Daimler Trucks North America. “[The goal] is to make the driver safer and see accident-free driving.”

a key piece of the autonomous puzzle, particularly if any high-profile accidents occur and undercut public confidence in the systems’ capabilities. A truck operating in an autonomous mode that loses control could cause major and expensive havoc, says Bendix’s Fred Andersky.

Also, given the likely high price tag of trucks with high levels of automation, it will take time for economies of scale to take effect and create a realistic payback opportunity for carriers, says Keith Brandis, Volvo’s director of product planning.

“The customer has to be convinced of the productivity and safety gains before they buy it,” Brandis says. “[Autonomous tech] won’t be cheap. But by working

with select customers on pilot programs, we will find the value proposition we need to hit. There are challenges today we admit we haven’t figured out yet.

That’s OK, because we will learn, and we will build the database [of information] to solve these challenges for the future.”

Another major component, says Andersky, is enhancing cybersecurity. “If you look at companies who build their reputation on securing our personal data and how they’ve been hacked and lost data, there’s no bigger prize than hacking a tanker and taking out a bridge with it,” he says. “It’s going to take a lot of time before we really get to the point where we have a level of security that can be truly guaranteed.

In addition to Uber’s autonomous retrofit system that has run two on-highway tests within the last year, two other California-based companies, Starsky Robotics and Embark, say they’re developing systems to retrofit existing tractor-trailers with autonomous capabilities. Embark hopes to deploy its system for $50,000 per truck and focus on trucker-friendly operation, says co-founder Alex Rodrigues, who says his company already has run thousands of miles of tests. Starsky Robotics wants to develop remote control technology, particularly for final-mile delivery.

PART 12: The future of technology in trucking Are we going to get to 100 percent? Probably not, but we have to get a heck of a lot closer than we are today.”

Governing bodies, whether at the federal or state level, also must act to establish a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles, says Andersky. So far, the U.S. Department of Transportation and Congress have been hesitant to act, though some states have initiated programs to allow testing of automated vehicles, including tractor-trailers, on their roadways.

Questions surrounding necessary infrastructure investments also remain, with developers of autonomous technology foreseeing at least some level of vehicle-to-infrastructure communications necessary to fully deploy automated tech.

Given congressional reluctance to secure the necessary infrastructure investment as it stands today, there’s little hope lawmakers in Washington can act on funding for connected highways for the foreseeable future, says Andersky.

Also lingering is the ethical conundrum of automated vehicles needing to make split-second decisions that could have fatal consequences. Jon Morrison, president of Wabco Americas, says vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications could mitigate instances in which a decision to avoid one crash for another would need to be made.

“The technology will be there, but it’s the transportation and infrastructure communications” that need to be shored up, Morrison says.

Volvo, an early investor in platooning technology, ran two platooning demonstrations this year. One three-truck test was held on I-110 in California near the Port of Los Angeles, and the other was a threetruck test held in Virginia in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

PLATOONING PARTNERSHIPS

Is traveling teamwork a stopgap to full autonomy?

WABCO AMERICAS’ JON MORRISON ENVISIONS CORRIDORS IN THE UNITED STATES DEDICATED to autonomous operation. “I think it goes with a broader transportation

and infrastructure approach,” he says. However, platooning operations – in which two or more trucks become a caravan using vehicle-to-vehicle communications, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and other systems – won’t need such corridors.

Platooning enables fleets to run three or more tractors in a single line on the highway, allowing a lead truck to be operated by a driver or in a semi-autonomous mode, with other tractor-trailers following behind closely. Platoons can boost fuel economy by reducing drag and allowing trucks that are following to operate in a semi-autonomous mode with little driver input. Manufacturers and suppliers such as Wabco are eyeing platooning as a more near-term platform that can provide fuel economy benefits and operational efficiencies for carriers and the supply chain at large.

Volvo also has invested in the technology, in partnership with Peloton and others, and already has demonstrated some on-highway platooning tests, including one this past summer on California’s Interstate 110 from the Port of Los Angeles. Three Volvo VNL 670 tractors hauled cargo containers in simulated real-world conditions, traveling at speeds of 55 mph and maintaining a 50-foot following distance. Volvo also partnered with USDOT for an on-highway platoon on I-66 in Virginia over the summer.

Freight economist Noël Perry forecasts platooning to be in viable operation by 2025, roughly the halfway point between now and his prediction for highly automated vehicle operations by 2035.

“I think it goes with a broader transportation and infrastructure approach.”

– Jon Morrison, president, Wabco Americas

PART 12: The future of technology in trucking

IDENTIFYING FATIGUE

Managing the problem and regulatory potential ANOTHER SET OF EMERGING

technologies aims to bolster safety and reduce crashes via monitoring driver fatigue, either in real time or during a driver’s on-duty period.

The systems are coming to market rapidly, and carriers are taking an interest in them quickly, as fatigue monitoring technologies such as wearables, smartphone-based tests and camera systems could pave the way for more personalized hoursof-service regulations and sideline drivers who are too fatigued to drive, even if they have hours remaining in their daily schedules.

Though hours-of-service regulations are the federal government’s main tool in overseeing driver fatigue levels, holes remain, with drivers saying they often become fatigued due to those same rigid “one-size-fits-all” regulatory constraints, according to polling and post-crash reports.

The advent of technologies intended to measure drivers’ fatigue levels one day might fill the voids created or left untouched by hours regulations, giving drivers, carriers and regulators more tools to help prevent fatigued driving.

The most commonly envisioned technology dedicated to detecting

Dean Newell, vice president of safety for Maverick Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 74), says his 1,700-truck fleet is testing a system that measures drivers’ fatigue levels based on sleep time and quality and cross-compares the results with data from drivers’ ELDs. The system flags drivers at risk for fatigue, prompting the carrier to intervene. “We call them up and talk to them and make sure they’re right and they’re not driving fatigued,” says Newell, who doesn’t foresee a related rulemaking from the federal government anytime soon, if ever. He says all fleets eventually will “‘need to have something in place” regarding fatigue detection and management. “Just because you have hours left doesn’t mean you’re not fatigued.”

fatigue are wearable devices, such as wristwatches or devices like Fit-bits, that can measure drivers’ sleep quality and track biometrics including heart rate and blood flow. Others would incorporate hats and caps that detect head movement, allowing carriers to see in real time whether a driver is exhibiting signs of severe fatigue and thus should not be operating.

Some systems are as simple as a smartphone-based test such as a psychomotor vigilance task test that measures drivers’ cognitive alertness levels.

PVTs, originally developed by NASA to measure the fatigue of astronauts on space missions, have been used by researchers studying driver fatigue and hours rules.

Don Osterberg, a longtime executive at Schneider National (CCJ Top 250, No. 8) and now an adviser for SmartDrive, which provides a fatigue management system, envisions a scenario in which a driver must take a PVT test at the beginning of his duty cycle to gauge how many hours he or she could work that day, in addition to leaning on other measures such as sleep quality readings.

Wearables that provide “visibility into a drivers’ sleep duration and

sleep quality [combined with] a PVT” offer “a pretty refined sense of what the driver is capable of doing that day,” he says. Video monitoring and facial mapping also could be valuable tools in detecting drivers’ fatigue levels, he says.

Though any rewrite of federal hours-of-service regulations to incorporate data from fatigue detection technology is likely years if not decades away, the private sector is proceeding with such technology, with carriers and insurers both hoping to mitigate expensive crashes.

Once all carriers are running ELDs, they’ll be able to gain insights into drivers’ anchor sleep periods and the drifting sleep patterns associated with the hours-of-service regulations, says Osterberg.

“In an industry where 4,000 truck-involved fatalities occur every year, do we have a moral obligation as transportation professionals to leverage indicators of fatigue as a way of mitigating future crash risk?” he says. “I don’t believe for a second that regulators are going to go there anytime soon. But carriers sequentially will have to demonstrate the efficacy of interventions” to DOT.

PART 12: The future of technology in trucking To prep for a future built around electrification and connectivity, Navistar is converging its connected vehicle technologies, including OnCommand Connection, with Volkswagen’s global connected vehicle platform, beginning with a common in-cab hardware device.

Navistar currently has 350,000 connected vehicles in North America, and Volkswagen has 300,000 in international markets. “This will serve as a major step toward creating a global connected platform, making it the largest global ecosystem for commercial vehicles,” says Troy Clarke, Navistar president and CEO. “It will unlock future opportunities and applications across all of our brands and clears the path for a common-cloud applications platform.”

DISRUPTIONS LOOM

E-commerce, shifting freight patterns, smaller vehicles all on the way THOUGH THE E-COMMERCE

revolution has been ongoing for nearly 20 years, its effects will continue to transform the economy and freight movement in the United States and globally. Brick-and-mortar stores, one of the key endpoints of truckbound freight over the last half century, will continue to fold in favor of home-delivered goods purchased online.

Thomas Albrecht, president of Sword and Sea Transport advisers, said in an address at the FTR Conference in September that 6,000 stores have been shuttered in 2017. Another 20 percent of brick-and-mortar stores will close in the next five or so years, he says.

These economic disruptions and changing freight patterns will spur the trucking industry to lean more heavily on less-than-truckload hauls, medium-duty straight trucks and vans, shorter routes and final-mile delivery, Albrecht says.

With an industry likely to be less reliant on line-haul operations, suppliers already are prepping for such a future, with both Great Dane and Wabash purchasing straight truck divisions in recent years.

“They’re anticipating seismic changes,” says Albrecht. “It’s pretty clear

the equipment of the future is going to involve a lot more medium-duty equipment and vehicles like Sprinter vans.”

Urbanization of the U.S. population will prompt the need for delivery centers located outside of cities, where long-haul carriers will drop freight that then will be loaded on smaller vehicles for distribution within cities and ultimately to homes.

Reefer will remain a strong segment, particularly as consumers continue to opt for fresh and home-delivered meat and produce over prepackaged foods.

Reefer fleets serving restaurant chains also will face stiff challenges, as that segment of the economy gives way to more localized food buying, fresh ingredients and meal kit deliveries.

Perry also sees a “substantial reduction in international movement of finished goods” over the next two de-

cades as low-cost labor in places such as China and Mexico is replaced by automated manufacturing at home.

The number of inventory holding points for both online and brick-andmortar retailers will “drop dramatically,” Perry says. He blames the drop on the trend of expedited delivery for consumer products and the likelihood of autonomous vehicles coming to market.

“This is another way in which the people behind the smart supply chain are taking transportation out of the economy – by substituting high-service trucking but taking ton-miles out,” he says.

The auto industry also could take a major hit due to urbanization, longer-lasting vehicles and the trend toward the sharing economy, driven by companies such as Uber. Such changes would dent flatbed freight severely, says Albrecht.

“It’s pretty clear the equipment of the future is going to involve a lot more medium-duty equipment.”

– Thomas Albrecht, president, Sword and Sea Transport advisers

n PA R T N E R S O L U T I O N S / N A V I S TA R

Technology’s role in uptime

International’s Uptime Command Center capitalizes on OnCommand® Connection data to eliminate unplanned maintenance and repairs.

A

s the world of connected vehicle technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, OnCommand® Connection’s suite of driver and fleet-owner solutions continues to be an industry-leading innovator. Its full arsenal of products and services is at the center of International Truck’s newly announced Uptime Command Center.

Victor Doran, Navistar’s vice president of customer and dealer support, answers some questions about how OnCommand Connection empowers the Uptime Command Center.

Q A

What is the Uptime Command Center?

First of all, it’s an actual place at our world headquarters – a physical space where a dedicated, cross-functional team of uptime specialists is domiciled. But it also includes a virtual team of company employees and key suppliers who aren’t necessarily on site. Their common denominator is that they are all committed to assuring 24/7 repair support for customers’ vehicles. And their mission is to

Victor Doran, vice president of customer and dealer support for Navistar, has more than 28 years of experience in the commercial-vehicle industry. Since joining Navistar in 2002, he has served as manager of both regional and national account service teams, manager of field service and director of service engineering. Doran currently leads Navistar’s Customer Service Group in working with the Quality Group to ensure alignment and deliver industryleading customer uptime.

make sure that vehicles are back on the road as soon as possible after a problem is diagnosed – no later than 48 hours in any case. OnCommand Connection is largely what makes that possible.

Q

How exactly does OnCommand Connection fit into this?

A

The Uptime Command Center is grounded in the data and other tools that come from OnCommand

Connection. These tools empower the Command Center to go several steps beyond the industry norm. The industry’s traditional approach to maintenance is reactive: wait till something breaks, then fix it. Today, that simply is not good enough. The industry is pushing ever harder to eliminate unplanned downtime.

So the goal is to get ahead of it, using every tool you’ve got. That means being proactive, predictive and collaborative.

And OnCommand Connection helps on all those fronts.

Q A

Can you spell this out in more detail?

The Uptime Command Center can be more proactive thanks to the OnCommand Connection telematics network. That network is constantly monitoring upwards of 325,000 vehicles, which together travel more than 8.8 million miles a day. By staying in tune with those vehicles and their health, OnCommand Connection has been reducing customers’ unplanned-maintenance costs by 30 percent, sometimes even more.

OnCommand Connection also helps the Uptime Command Center be more predictive. OnCommand Connection is now piloting a predictive repair program that uses OnCommand Connection Live Action Plans, a feature that employs connected data and analytics to predict when a part is going to fail before it actually does. OnCommand Connection provides the customer with alerts about what preventive actions or repairs need to take place, which parts they require and the training that’s needed to make those fixes, supported by specific action plans.

Q A

What about the collaborative aspect?

OnCommand Connection absolutely facilitates the third aspect, the collaborative aspect. That means all the team members I mentioned, including suppliers, are not only working together, but also collaborating actively with our dealer network. They’re doing this with collaborative tools like the Accelerator™ Write-Up Tool. That’s an Android mobile app that expedites customers’ service visits. It taps into vehicle data from OnCommand Connection in order to streamline the write-up and diagnostic process. And it provides clear action plans for service technicians.

Q

Are there other connectedservices tools that fit into this process?

The Uptime Command Center is a physical place where a cross-functional team of specialists uses vehicle-health reports and location data provided by OnCommand Connection to route trucks and needed parts to the closest dealer, minimizing downtime.

A

Absolutely. Using OnCommand Connection, the Uptime Command Center team puts multiple approaches together for maximum impact.

For example, when OnCommand Connection alerts us that a vehicle is experiencing an unplannedmaintenance event, the team springs into action. It uses vehicle-health reports and location data provided by OnCommand Connection Advanced Remote Diagnostics. Then team members complete a virtual triage of the vehicle, identifying which issues require immediate attention. They identify the closest dealer with an open service bay. They determine what parts are needed and route the parts to the dealer that will perform the work.

And they don’t stop there. For open cases, the team continues to track the vehicle, using a monitor board that measures downtime in minutes, not hours. The team also debriefs multiple times throughout the day to review the powertrain and chassis fault-code signals they’re seeing on OnCommand Connection, and to chart best courses of action.

Q A

Where did you get the idea for the Uptime Command Center?

It builds on a program we launched in August called the International® A26 Customer Uptime

Assurance Program. The intent of that program was to signal our confidence in the A26, which is our newest 12.4liter big bore engine. But that was a more limited objective. Today, the Uptime Command Center reflects our passion to deliver uptime for all our customers. And OnCommand Connection is the technology backbone that makes that possible.

Q

To take advantage of all the benefits and increased uptime that OnCommand Connection tools make possible, do truckers need to be driving an International truck?

A

The Uptime Command Center is a benefit to International customers, but all makes and models can be connected with OnCommand Connection. Its remote-diagnostics tool connects entire fleets via one central portal, is compatible with most telematics providers and is a free service that requires no additional subscription.

If a truck does not currently have a telematics device, OnCommand Connection offers its own device, compatible with all makes and models, that is available for purchase on Amazon.com as well as from the OnCommand Connection Marketplace at oncommandconnection.com.

© 2017 , Inc. All rights reserved.

All marks are trademarks of their respective owners.

NEW ONCOMMAND® CONNECTION TELEMATICS MAKES BECOMING ELD COMPLIANT AND GETTING ALL YOUR DATA IN ONE PLACE EASIER THAN EVER.

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With telematics delivered directly from OnCommand Connection you get your data and action plans in one place—no matter the size or make of your fleet. Pick up an OnCommand Connection Telematics device at TA Truck Service Centers, participating HDA Truck Pride Stores or select International® dealers.

For more information about OnCommand Connection visit OnCommandConnection.com

Class 8 has up to 500-mile range, production set for 2019

BY JASON CANNON

W

ith a style more befitting Star Wars than Smokey and the Bandit, Tesla’s electric Semi made its twice-delayed debut Nov. 17 in Hawthorne, Calif., home of Tesla Motors’ design center and Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket factory.

Promising a range of up to 500 miles at maximum weight and highway speed, the company says the Tesla Semi consumes less than two kilowatt-hours of energy per mile when fully loaded. Battery capacity wasn’t disclosed.

Considering 80 percent of on-highway routes are less than 250 miles, the truck can get to its destination and back without recharging, says Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer.

The company currently is accepting reservations for Tesla Semi for $5,000 per truck, with production set for 2019.

Last month’s reveal ended a nearly 15-month-long tease of the Class 8 prototype Musk initially confirmed was in development in July of last year.

Without a trailer in tow, Tesla Semi features a five-second 0-60 mph time versus about 15 seconds for a comparable diesel truck, Musk says. At a full load of 80,000 pounds, the electric truck can hit the 60-mph mark in 20 seconds – about a

Last month’s reveal of the Tesla Semi ended a nearly 15-month-long tease of the Class 8 prototype that CEO Elon Musk initially confirmed was in development in July of last year.

third of the time of a diesel – and climb a 5-percent grade at a steady 65 mph, he says.

Most diesel Class 8s would top out around 45 mph on the same grade.

“We wanted a vehicle that feels incredible, that accelerates like nothing else,” says Musk, who didn’t offer torque or horsepower figures for the truck.

DRIVING ENVIRONMENT

Tesla Semi’s cabin wraps around the center-mounted driver’s seat. “You’re positioned like you’re in a racecar,” Musk says.

“You have complete visibility of the road.

Tesla Semi’s cabin wraps around the centermounted driver’s seat.

The entry point is behind the center seat.

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It’s a beautiful spacious interior.”

The entry point is behind the center seat, and in the daycab configuration, the passenger seat is mounted to the rear wall on the right side.

Two touchscreen displays, borrowed from Tesla’s Model 3 passenger car, are positioned on both sides of the driver and provide easy access to navigation, blindspot monitoring and electronic logs.

Built-in connectivity integrates directly with a fleet’s management system to support routing, scheduling and remote monitoring. Each can be flashed over-the-air to update as needed.

The truck’s steps are unobstructed, allowing for easy entry and exit. The doors open in reverse, suicide-style, as the company removed the front pillar where the vent-style side windows now are located.

Grab handles run from the floor to the top of the door pillar and from the floor to the middle of the door jam, providing three easy contact points.

The inside is spacious and full standing height. The large windshield offers a massive panoramic view, and coupled with

its large side windows, Tesla Semi offers unrivaled visibility.

All lighting in the truck is LED, a conversion that was made bumper-to-bumper.

Front marker lights have been moved from the roof to a strip behind the windshield, a nod to improved aerodynamics and the removal of leak points.

The truck’s fully electric HVAC system doesn’t require idling, and the interior features deep sill and door pockets, along with overhead storage compartments and pocket storage along the rear wall.

By eliminating engine hum, Tesla also has eliminated the truck’s white noise filter – meaning every other noise stands out even more. To combat that, the company said it focused on ensuring the cab was fit tightly and sealed against creaks and rattles.

The batteries are centered under the truck to lower its center of gravity and give the Semi a more predictable feel, and the air suspension with an independent front suspension gives the truck a more comfortable ride, Musk says.

ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY

Tesla’s new high-speed Megacharger DC charging station pumps about 400 miles of range back into the truck in about 30 minutes. Chargers can be installed at origin or destination points and along heavily trafficked routes, enabling recharging during loading, unloading and driver breaks.

“400 miles is like six to seven hours of driving,” Musk says. “What this means is that when you are done with your break, you’ll be ready to go.”

Regenerative braking recovers 98 percent of kinetic energy to the battery, giving it a basically infinite brake life. Musk estimates that under most cases, drivers seldom will use the footbrake, opting to let the regenerative brake stop the tractor.

Tesla says the Semi’s battery is similar in composition to the batteries used in its energy products and are designed to sup-

Two touchscreen displays are positioned on both sides of the driver and provide easy access to navigation, blind-spot monitoring and electronic logs.

port repeated charging cycles for over a million miles. The truck’s motors – two on each rear axle – are derived from those deployed in the Model 3 and offer independent torque control.

DRIVER SAFETY

Tesla says its Semi’s all-electric architecture is designed to an extremely high safety standard, with a reinforced battery that shields it from impact and gives it a low center of gravity. The Semi’s windshield is made of impact-resistant explosion-proof glass that Musk says resists cracking.

Onboard sensors help prevent jackknifing by detecting instability and reacting with positive or negative torque to each wheel while also independently activating the truck’s brakes. “Jackknifing is impossible in this truck,” Musk says.

The surround cameras aid object detection and minimize blind spots, automatically alerting the driver to safety hazards and obstacles.

“I can drive this truck, and I have no idea how to drive a [semi],” Musk says.

One cockpit screen features views from cameras mounted under the side mirrors, eliminating the corner blind spot.

Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving platform, Enhanced Autopilot – and its suite of automatic emergency braking, automatic lane keeping, lane departure warning and event recording systems – will be standard on the platooning-enabled truck.

COST OF OWNERSHIP

Aerodynamics features heavily on the Tesla Semi, which Musk says offers a better drag coefficient than a Bugatti Chiron. Rear cab fairings further streamline aero by adjusting to the type of trailer in tow to close the gap.

With no engine, transmission, aftertreatment system or differential for upkeep, Tesla lauds the Semi’s reduced maintenance needs. However, the company says the most significant cost advantage comes from energy savings. Coupled with the low and historically less volatile nature of electricity prices – which average $0.12/kWh in the United States and can be significantly less for commercial and industrial users – Tesla says Semi owners can expect to reap upward of $200,000 in savings over a million miles on fuel costs alone.

Further, Musk guarantees the truck will not break down for one million miles. Even if a motor fails, there’s little threat to missing a delivery date, he says. “You can lose two of those four motors, and the truck will still keep going.”

The truck is connected to Tesla Mobile Service, and its telematics suite offers remote diagnostics, predictive maintenance, location tracking and communications with fleet dispatch.

Musk estimates the Tesla Semi will provide a $1.25 cost per mile versus $1.51 for diesel and that when platooning, the Semi’s cost per mile drops to 85 cents, making it cheaper than rail.

commercial carrier journal

| december 2017 59

Android Platform: Now FMCSA Self-Certified

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Tech-enabled services help fleets create efficiency, lower audit risk

BY AARON HUFF

W

hen evaluating the value chain of their businesses, fleet executives and managers are not likely to see compliance as a differentiator, even if they are good at it.

Increasingly, fleets are outsourcing some or all of their compliance processes to third parties. The choice has become easier with technology that allows third parties to operate as a virtual extension of their businesses.

This extension takes place through various service levels and agreements.

Some outsourcing firms specialize in technology that fleets use to enhance their own compliance processes. Others provide full-service compliance management where their people take over the day-to-day work. Some do both.

Driver screening Pre-employment background checks are a widely used outsourcing service because carriers need the information quickly to make hiring decisions.

Most carriers use a single vendor for employee background reports to assure continuity and consistency, says Lana Batts, co-president of DriverIQ. Federal regulations require commercial and private fleets to review safety performance records of drivers for the preceding three years. The review must include U.S. Department of Transportation-recordable accidents and previous drug and alcohol test results.

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DriverIQ’s driver monitoring report alerts fleets to any moving violations or criminal activity that occurs during employment.

Federal regulations do not require employers to check criminal records, but many do — especially larger carriers, Batts says.

Any background report – a motor vehicle report, criminal record or employment verification – is considered a consumer report and subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and carriers first must obtain the applicant’s oral or written authorization.

“Most important to the carrier is making sure the criminal record used in the employment decision is compliant with FCRA regulations,” she says. “Doing a Google search is not allowed under the FCRA.” DriverIQ’s driver monitoring report alerts fleets to any moving violations or criminal activity that occurs during employment. The report can be tailored to alert to crimes that would disqualify a

| december 2017

driver based on the carrier’s hiring criteria, such as aggravated assault, Batts says.

ELD auditing As motor carriers transition to electronic logs, managing hours-of-service data may become more difficult for less-experienced fleets that likely will have an overabundance of data to manage.

A number of firms offer logbook auditing services that recently have evolved to match electronic data from fuel purchases and other sources automatically to audit “on duty not driving” activities in Line 4 of a logbook grid.

Fleetworthy Solutions can compare fleet dispatch data, fuel receipts, tolls and GPS records to electronic log records. The company extracts this data automatically through integration with its customers’ telematics and IT systems, says Kim Brunner,

TECHNOLOGY: OUTSOURCING COMPLIANCE vice president of client services. auditors can lower a carrier’s mpg Vusion also uses real-time integrato 4 or reduce the stated mpg by 20 tions with electronic logging devices, percent in a carrier’s fuel tax report to GPS telematics and dispatch software. calculate the new tax liability.

The company provides International To protect themselves from audits, Fuel Tax Agreement and weight-milecarriers should store additional data – age tax compliance and data analytics such as calculated mileage distance by to trucking companies. Logbook jurisdiction, location of latitude and auditing was a logical extension longitude readings and routes of of its services since the company travel – for more than four years already gets fuel tax data from for IFTA and more than six for IRP, Fleetworthy Solutions is planning a number of new features and updates to its Comply web portal that gives most of its customers, says Carl says Govin. outsourcing customers a dashboard view of compliance.

Robinson, vice president.

“Decentralized companies in This service compares logbook particular look to aggregate data data to work-related events from fuel pur- a calculation of taxable miles (some toll to get one-source visibility, which we chases and GPS records and determines if roads are excluded), gross weight and provide,” he says. unloaded weight. Fleetworthy uses the the driver logged a sufficient duration of Online portals time, Robinson says. To simplify the audit integrations it has with telematics and Customer-facing web portals give outprocess, fleets can choose a minimum dispatch software systems to track the sourcing customers a dashboard view of time that certain activities such as fuel loaded and unloaded miles to prepare their compliance status. Fleetworthy is stops should take. and file the tax returns. planning a number of new features and J.J. Keller uses supporting documents “If we consume the data, we can help updates to its Comply portal, says Mithem save money,” Brunner says. to provide its clients with a driver’s log chael Precia, senior vice president of sales falsification auditing service, and the and account management. company also retains these documents for Records retention In 2015, the International Registration The dashboard currently has a series carriers, says Chad Govin, vice president Plan announced that auditors can assess a of “tiles” and reporting functions that of sales.

Fleets that use J.J. Keller’s ELD and 20 percent fee on top of a carrier’s annual show fleets where they stand on hours of Encompass cloud services can choose to vehicle registration and licensing costs if service, driver applications and “whatever retain supporting document images in the carrier has inadequate records. else they are measuring compliance on,” the system and whether to conduct audits IRP auditors can ask for up to 6.5 Precia says. themselves or outsource the work to J.J. years of vehicle licensing data, and the New products will expand the online Keller. The company also accepts HOS fee rises to 50 percent if the carrier platform to help fleets assess risk and data from other ELD providers using its assessed the 20 percent fee has inadechart a path beyond compliance, he says.

Driver DataSense service, Govin says. quate records during the second audit.

Besides using telematics data, FleetThe third time is 100 percent. worthy plans to integrate with additional Fuel and mileage taxes Robinson says the fee is something that technologies fleets use – such as customer In addition to filing quarterly IFTA auditors use mostly as a way to trigger a relationship management and accounting fuel taxes, carriers that operate response from fleets when they request packages – to consume the data and “lay through Kentucky, New Mexico, New records. “The first step is more of a algorithms on top of it.”

York and Oregon have to file milethreat,” he says.

If a fleet has a problem with driver age-based tax reports.

Whereas fleets typically retain driver turnover, it could use the portal to monOregon is increasing its vehicle logbook records for six months, the itor turnover predictors such as home mileage tax for commercial vehicles mileage and GPS data from ELD and time, income, fatigue and other data by 25 percent from 13.6 cents per mile telematics systems should be retained for sourced from various systems. “We want to 20.48 cents. Based on an average of a minimum of four years in the event of to be the one-stop shop,” he says.

7 mpg for a vehicle, this tax increase an IFTA audit, says Brunner.

Fleets use the Vusion portal to view equates to a $1.43 increase per gallon dashboards of their data analytics and IFTA has implemented a similar of diesel, Robinson says. to export state-by-state vehicle mileage audit practice to assess fees to carriers data for IRP licensing. The Web portal New York’s highway use tax involves that have inadequate records. IFTA commercial carrier journal

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december 2017

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TECHNOLOGY: OUTSOURCING COMPLIANCE

Vusion uses real-time integrations with ELDs, GPS telematics and dispatch software to provide IFTA and weight-mileage tax compliance and data analytics.

includes a scorecard that highlights areas of concern to help fleets fix issues proactively, Robinson says.

Vusion also provides fuel economy and driver utilization analytics related to logs that show which pockets of drivers are most efficient at using their available 11 hours. Fleet managers can compare these

metrics across company divisions and see how their company stacks up to industry benchmarks for their sector, such as dry van haulers.

J.J. Keller gives its Managed Service clients access to all their data through its online Client Information Center. The web portal keeps customers informed of the compliance work the company manages on their behalf, with a dashboard-style interface with links to details on specific employees, locations or records, Govin says.

Full-service compliance

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Perhaps the most important reason fleets choose to outsource compliance to a third party is to have access to additional professional resources and subject-matter experts who monitor and keep up with changing rules, interpretations and audit practices.

“When fleets choose to do this internally, they may not have the required expertise or can be at risk when this subject matter gets centralized with only one or two employees,” Govin says. “They will most likely have to manage their own audits versus the audits being managed by the outsource provider.”

Brunner and other Fleetworthy executives sees the demand for outsourcing continuing to grow as fleets grapple with the complexity of doing it themselves.

Managed Service clients have access to all their data through J.J. Keller’s online Client Information Center that keeps customers informed of the company’s compliance work.

| december 2017 2/14/17 1:50 PM

Flaps for trucks, trailers Minimizer’s Fast Flaps, initially available for vocational trucks, now can accommodate all major truck and trailer applications. The Fast Flap Mounting Bracket attaches to the frame, thanks to multiple slotted holes designed to fit most patterns commonly found on trucks and trailers.

The bracket is manufactured with carbon steel, and the holes on the bracket arm are predrilled to facilitate quick and easy flap attachment.

Minimizer, www.minimizer.com, 800-248-3855

Wiper blade line

Anco’s wiper blade line comes in 14 SKUs that fit a variety of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and features the company’s DuraKlear HD, a robust durable element designed for heavy-duty use. The wiper blades feature a heavy-duty bridge design to help improve mechanical strength and have four layers of corrosion protection: galvanized structural steel, phosphate coating, E-coat and top coat.

DRL/low-beam LED headlight

Maxxima’s Vionic 4x6 Combo DRL/Low-Beam LED headlight is a combination daytime running light and low-beam headlight. The 12/24 VDC lamp is designed to be a direct replacement for halogen lamps on vehicles equipped with OEM daytime running lights; built-in sensors are engineered to recognize the vehicle’s modulated voltage system. The 6.6-by-4.2by-3.7-inch lamp uses five LEDs with separate dedicated diodes for daytime running light and low-beam functions. It incorporates a wider beam for increased road coverage and added near-field illumination, and the lightweight low-profile design and polycarbonate lens with the company’s Maxx-Shield coating are designed for added durability.

Maxxima, www.maxxima.com, 866-629-9462

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commercial carrier journal | december 2017

They incorporate a tall wiper element and stainless-steel flexors, and saddle, hook and side-pin adaptors are included in each package to accommodate most any connection. Size ranges available are 12- to 22-inch, accommodating two different narrow saddle sizes; and 18to 28-inch, accommodating three different wide saddle sizes.

Federal-Mogul Motorparts, www.fmmotorparts.com, 248-354-7700

PRODUCTS

LEDs with shapes, patterns

Optronics’ latest family of four-inch round and oval LED stop, tail, turn and back-up lamps uses the company’s Light Guide technology to channel light and create shapes and patterns. The 12-diode lamps have a smoothly lit horizontal X-shaped feature in the center that is surrounded by a more traditional LED pattern. The lights come in flange- and grommet-mount versions.

Optronics International, www.optronicsinc.com, 800-364-5483

Digital tanker thermometer

INVE Z A E DR AL

US PATENTED

R

Anytrek’s ThermoTrack online digital tanker thermometer includes a GPS tracker and a 4G/LTE modem and provides hourly updates on cargo temperatures and location. Designed to be a screw-in replacement for analogue thermometers, ThermoTrack is self-contained and can run on its internal batteries for up to 12 months, with reporting every 60 minutes to Anytrek’s secure cloud-based servers. Real-time battery levels are displayed on the portal, and low battery warnings are sent as a mobile alert and also appear on the web portal.

Anytrek, www.anytrek.com, 844-872-6987

L I O

NE&WED

V

V

IMPRO

REPLACES YOUR DRAIN PLUG TURN THE LEVER TO DRAIN OIL

REMOVABLE HOSE END

THE EASIEST OIL CHANGE Optional Hose Connections

STRAIGHT LEVER CLOSED

ATTACH THE REMOVABLE HOSE END

Aftertreatment service kit Nexiq’s Aftertreatment Service Kit is compiled to remove particulates and soot that impede or obstruct the honeycomb filter within the front face of the diesel oxidation catalyst. The kit includes a 13-inch aftertreatment adapter, retaining collar, retaining straps and blowgun assembly.

Nexiq Technologies, www.nexiq.com, 800-639-6774

LEVER CLOSED

LEVER OPEN

CONNECT A HOSE

OPEN THE LEVER TO DRAIN OIL

L-SHAPED

Available at Participating NAPA Auto & Truck Parts stores nationwide and all Traction and Global Parts locations

www.EZoildrain.com

(425) 999-1200

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PRODUCTS

Box truck-van reefer unit Carrier Transicold’s 35X direct-drive unit provides refrigeration for perishable and frozen cargoes in small- to medium-sized box trucks and large delivery vans in the 12- to 14-foot range. The unit provides refrigeration capacity of 10,500 Btus at 35 degrees Fahrenheit (100 F ambient). It includes an exterior-mounted condenser unit, a compressor that mounts to the truck engine and a narrow-profile SlimLine evaporator that fits tightly to the ceiling of the cargo area. As a split system, the 35X provides flexible mounting options for the condenser, either to the nose of a box truck or roof of a van. The unit’s Cab Command 2 digital controller provides setpoint configuration, diagnostics capabilities and automatic defrost cycles.

Carrier Transicold, www.transicold.carrier.com, 800-227-7437

Solar-powered TRU

ENow’s Rayfrigeration zero-emissions transport refrigeration unit is designed to support medium-temperature applications. The TRU employs two forms of energy storage: eutectic medium cold plates and a high-capacity auxiliary battery system. The plates and batteries initially are charged when the vehicle is plugged in overnight. When the truck is operated on a delivery route, power is provided by solar photovoltaic panels mounted on the truck’s roof. The 1,800-watt solar system eliminates fuel and maintenance costs, increases battery life and reduces battery replacement costs due to consistent charge maintenance. eNow, www.enowenergy.com, 401-732-7080

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commercial carrier journal | december 2017

TOTAL FLEET SHOPPER US Trademark Reg. No. 5179055 and 5193900

Original Fumoto F-Series

Join the conversation.

Like /CCJMagazine

New Fumoto SX-Series

Follow @CCJNow

Connect CCJ MagazineCommercial Carrier Journal

Patent Pending

FUMOTO® Simply Effortless

360°

NO OIL PAN LEFT BEHIND

THERE’S A VALVE FOR JUST ABOUT EVERY ENGINE ON THE ROAD.

Subscribe /CCJDigital

fumotousa.com

1-800-918-3406

U.S.A. MANUFACTURER OF INNOVATIVE TOOLS & EQUIPMENT PROUDLY

PNEUMATIC HYDRAULIC OIL TANK SWEEPER® #9046H

REMOVES WATER AND DEBRIS FROM CONTAMINATED HYDRAULIC OIL • Operating PSI: 0-100 • Flow rate 26 gpm • Pneumatic diaphragm pump • Includes filters, hoses and tank access wands Also Available: #9046F Pneumatic Fuel Tank Sweeper®

FLEET TANK SWEEPER®

#9049M

(120V AC)

Lightweight, Portable Transfer System for Tank Applications • Cleans and transfers diesel fuel • Special wands for accessing the bottom of the fuel tank • 22 gpm

845-679-4500

www.ipatools.com

INDUSTRIAL FUEL CLEANER AND TRANSFER SYSTEM (12V DC)

#DTP20C

Battery-Powered, Mobile Filtration System • Provides a safe and efficient method for transferring and filtering diesel fuel

Battery Not Included

ALL THESE PRODUCTS ARE PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA

#9070 DIESEL EXHAUST FLUID (DEF) TRANSFER SYSTEM (120V AC) A Complete Turnkey Solution for Safely Transferring Diesel Exhaust Fluid Also Available: #9072 12V DC Model

#9080 DIESEL FUEL INJECTION CLEANER AND PRIMER Safe & Portable Clean Fuel Delivery System • Performs fast, airless priming • Holds fuel delivery pressure at 7-9 psi • 5-gallon internal tank • Battery powered

Battery Not Included

24-HOUR REPAIR/REPLACE WARRANTY • ©2017 INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS OF AMERICA® INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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9/15/17 9:24 AM

TOTAL FLEET SHOPPER

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8/14/17 1:22 PM

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10/28/09 11:31 AM

Business Solutions for Trucking Professionals Subscribe to CCJ at CCJdigital.com

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december 2017

AD INDEX Ancra International . . . . . . . . . . . . . ancracargo .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Minimizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . minimizer .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, IBC

Carriers Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . carriersedge .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

National Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nationalseating .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

CCJ Innovators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-633-5953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

No Spill Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nospillsystems .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Citgo Lubricants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . citgolubes .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

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Direct Equipment Supply Co . . . . . . 800-992-1478 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

O’Reilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . firstcallonline .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Eberspacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eberspaecher-na .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 ExxonMobil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . mobildelvac .com/newoils . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 EZ Oil Drain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ezoildrain .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Fleetmatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetmatics .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

PeopleNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . peoplenetonline .com/eld . . . . . . . . . . 60-61 Peterbilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-473-8372 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC Peterbilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . peterbiltredoval .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Petro TA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ta-petro .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Fleetmatics-Telogis . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetmatics .com/eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FC PPG Commercial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ppgcommercialcoatings .com . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Fleetmatics-Telogis . . . . . . . . . . . . . telogis .com/eldnow . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 & 17 Prepass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . prepass .com/ccj-eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Freightliner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . freightliner .com/amenities . . . . . . . . . 40-41 Prestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . prestonecommand .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Fumoto Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . fumotousa .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 GoNMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844-763-7250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 Howes Lubricator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . howeslube .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Instructional Technologies . . . . . . . instructiontech .net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . oncommandconnection .com . . .46-47, 56 International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . internationaltrucks .com/a26 . . . . . . . 24-25

ProMiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-324-8588 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shell .us/lubricants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 19 Total Specialties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . totalspecialties .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 TSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tsissg .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 VDO RoadLog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vdoroadlog .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

International Partner Solutions . . internationaltrucks .com . . . . . . . . . . . 54-55

Vipar Heavy Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vipar .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

IPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ipatools .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Vipar Truck Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . truckforceservice .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

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Volvo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . newvnl .volvotrucks .us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC-1

J .J . Keller & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . jjkeller .com/eldspecialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Wreaths Across America . . . . . . . . . wreathsacrossamerica .org . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Mack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . macktrucks .com/newanthem . . . . . . . . . .15

ZamZow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . zamzow-tarp .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 commercial carrier journal | december 2017

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PREVENTABLE or NOT?

Foggy morning breakdown for Doe

P

eering through an early-morning shroud of fog on the rural nearly-vacant two-lane Holstein Highway, tractor-trailer driver John Doe was rolling along at the posted speed limit of 55 mph while swapping entertaining CB tales of sadistic dispatchers with trucker Milly Moohouse, whose unit was about five miles ahead. To enhance his attention to the driving task, Doe extracted a green Gummy Bear and popped it into his mouth. “Hey, Milly … yuck, yuck … did I ever tell yah about the time that …

Holy Catfish!!!”

Tractor-trailer driver John Suddenly, there was an ominous silence Doe was obeying the speed on Channel 19 while Doe, dropping his limit on a foggy two-lane highway when a pickup truck mike and attempting to force the brake driver pulled out in front of treadle through the floor, applied a twohim, causing a collision. Was fisted death grip to his steering wheel. this a preventable accident?

The cause of his distress was Graham Grumbly, the visually impaired driver of a battered pickup truck who’d initially obeyed a stop sign on a side road but, apparently oblivious, had decided to pull onto Holstein Highway and into the path of the 18-wheeler!

Unfortunately, Doe’s panic stop did nothing but flat-spot several tires before his tractor rammed the side of Grumbly’s pickup. Luckily, Grumbly sustained no serious injuries. Later, Doe contested the preventable-accident warning letter from his safety director, claiming that his tractor’s low beams had been on, that he hadn’t been speeding and that the other driver’s stupidity was to blame.

Asked to resolve the dispute, the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee upheld the preventable ruling. While Doe admitted to seeing the pickup’s lights at the stop sign, he’d made no effort to slow down and/or sound his air horn in anticipation of the other driver blindly pulling onto the foggy highway.

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commercial carrier journal | december 2017