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Eaton forms electric vehicle business unit
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The company we mostly know as a transmission manufacturer is set to capitalize on the growing vehicle electrification market. The Michigan-based outfit has created a new business unit called eMobility that will focus on intelligent power electronics, power systems, and advanced power distribution and circuit protection.
ZF showcases promise of autonomous vehicles
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany -- ZF has unveiled its vision of Next Generation Mobility -- anchored in pillars that include vehicle motion control, integrated safety, automated driving and electric mobility. “We approach all areas and aspects of mobility” said Wolf-Henning Scheider, who has been recently appointed CEO of ZF Friedrichchafen AG. He also thinks commercial vehicles offer the best opportunities for the development of autonomous vehicles.
Peterbilt brings ‘purposeful innovation’ to Silicon Valley
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – California’s Silicon Valley is known as a hotbed of high technology, and the Paccar Innovation Center is in the midst of it all. The 26,000-sq-ft facility is designed to house 50 employees, featuring a five-bay truck lab and fabrication area complete with a 3D printer for working on prototypes. But perhaps more important is the way the space is being used to collaborate on trucks and systems of the future – tapping into in-house expertise as well as the work of other companies in the famed valley.
Volvo Trucks N.A. partners with FedEx to test platooning vehicles in live conditions
RALEIGH, NC -- Volvo Trucks North America drove a long-held secret down North Carolina Highway 540 today. In the first successful on-highway demonstration of platooning technology between a major truck manufacturer and a transportation company, Volvo and FedEx working closely with the North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA) took three trucks on the road to showcase their advanced driver assisted technology. Volvo has kept its partnership with FedEx under wraps for about a year, using Volvo VNL 300 day cabs and a Volvo VNL 670 sleeper cab first on closed tracks in South Carolina and then for the last three months on the North Carolina Triangle Expressway -- an area designated by the NCTA as a testing place for autonomous vehicles -- to adapt its platooning technology developed in Europe for the North American market.
BYD trucks cleared for Canada
VICTORIA, B.C. – Canadians now have access to battery-electric trucks from Build Your Dreams (BYD) Canada, with Transport Canada confirming they comply with Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations and Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. BYD trucks can be imported for applications including municipal service, refuse and recycling fleets, and courier and delivery operations, the company has announced. Its buses have been available since April 2014, including units now on the road for St. Albert Transit. “This is wonderful news and something that our compliance team has been working hard to achieve,” said BYD Canada vice-president Ted Dowling.
Volvo names new president
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Peter Voorhoeve, the president and CEO of Volvo Group Australia, has been tapped to serve as president of Volvo Trucks North America, effective Sept. 1. He succeeds Goran Nyberg who left for a role with Europe's MAN Truck and Bus. Per Carlsson continues to serve as acting president until the transition.
Trucks of the Month: Crazy ’bout the Mercury
WINNIPEG, Man. -- Seaton “Red” Coleman of Big Freight Systems found his 1942 Chevrolet among ads in the American Truck Historical Society’s magazine. The former fire truck had to be imported from Minnesota for a restoration, but it would serve as the perfect homage to South East Transfer – the four-truck Manitoba fleet he convinced his dad to buy in 1948, establishing the business that would eventually carry the Big Freight name.
Deep Trouble: Repairing trucks and trailers after a flood
TORONTO, Ont. -- Water isn't kind to electronics or brakes or air systems or engines. The last thing short of a fire you could want to happen to your truck is to have it submerged in flood. Actually, a fire might be preferable -- the damage is obvious, and you'll get less argument from the insurance company about replacing it.
Quick Spin: Reviewing the Mack LR
TORONTO, Ont. --When I was just four years old, my mother liked to remind me, I once told a kids' TV show host that when I grew up I hoped to become either an astronaut or a garbageman. Talk about hedging your bets. I'll likely never make it onto orbit, but I did finally get a drive in a garbage truck. Mack's new LR model, actually, and it was worth the wait.
