MILTON, Ont. – It’s raining, it’s dark, and you’re squinting to see the lines on the road and the signs ahead of you. We’ve all been there, but if you’ve ever cursed your inability to see road markings in the dark or bad weather, you don’t necessarily need to blame advancing age or declining sight, say engineers at 3M. Instead, you should blame the sign technology.
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.
Perspective is what prevents us from making lousy decisions and watching our stress levels rise as we try to cope with the fallout from those mistakes and misperceptions. Never before, I would argue, has perspective been as necessary as it is now. In life at large and certainly in this industry of ours.
GRAIN VALLEY, MO -- As U.S. legislation to govern autonomous passenger vehicles pushes forward, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and Teamsters Union are both weighing in with thoughts about the path toward rules for autonomous trucks.
Nike wants a runner to complete a marathon in under two hours, but the target will involve more than the company's swoosh-marked shoes. Other marathoners will take turns running in the controlled race, helping to optimize the aerodynamic conditions that can be leveraged by the record hopeful who will tuck in behind them. It's not the only sport to leverage the pulling forces of "drafting". The concept has been used everywhere from cycling's Tour de France to the ovals of NASCAR. With the help of emerging technology such as adaptive cruise control and collision mitigation systems, trucking could be on the cusp of realizing the same techniques - using automatically set following distances in a process known as platooning.
WINNIPEG, MB - Technology is often developed to make a process simpler, more efficient or safer, but staying up to date with the trucking industry's latest advancements can often leave carriers frustrated. As technology continues to rapidly develop, fleets have to educate themselves on new technological capabilities but also look deeper into what the technology will do for their company.
BRAMPTON, ON - Predicting the future is an inexact science, but several emerging trends offer glimpses of things to come. The Toronto chapter of CITT, which offers training in supply chain logistics, pulled together several industry representatives at its Fast Forward event on Thursday night to share thoughts on challenges they experience and expect.
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