May 18, 2016 Vol. 13 No. 10

Last week there was a media frenzy surrounding the announcement of the Nikola One class-8 tractor running mostly on electricity, plus a turbine generator running on natural gas. With 2000 hp out of electric motors at each wheel, it still boasts a 1200-mile range, or 1930 km. A running prototype is due by year’s end.

This week, another frenzy, and once again it’s about coming technology. And very cool technology at that — an aftermarket kit that turns your Kenworth or Mack into a self-driver for something like US$30,000. It’s from a startup company called Otto, launched by former Google engineers, that ran real-world tests last weekend on public Nevada highways. It even rated a longish piece in the New York Times yesterday.

The only possible response to these two launches is to say a slightly incredulous ‘wow!’.

I certainly didn’t see the aftermarket offering up a retrofittable self-driving kit. But the thing is, neither of these breakthrough technologies feels impossible. Certainly not the relatively inexpensive Otto gear.

I’ll get to those two in a bit, with more detail. But first let me put your feet back on the ground and talk about something you can buy today, or at least very soon.

How about a new Western Star ‘Transformer’? Really. But not the popular movie-based truck, rather a heavy beast that can switch itself from watering truck to dump in 10 minutes.

LAST WEEK WESTERN STAR ANNOUNCED its new Extreme Duty (XD) Offroad package and the launch of the MBT-40 Transformer chassis.

The  XD package is engineered specifically for extremely rugged environments — think oilfields and mines — and is available for the moment on both the 4900 and 6900 models. It will find its way to the databook for other models “in the future”.

The 6900XD Offroad MBT-40, dubbed the Multi-Body Transformer for its ability to change quickly from one fully functional in-cab-controlled body to another, is the first XD Offroad series offering from Western Star and a new concept for offroad equipment markets.