Continental and Aurora Innovation on Thursday announced the formation of an exclusive partnership to deliver the first commercially scalable generation of Aurora’s flagship integrated hardware and software system, the Aurora Driver. The organizations have agreed to jointly design, develop, validate, deliver and service the scalable autonomous system for the trucking industry. Continental will leverage its experience in systems development for safer, more reliable automotive solutions to industrialize the Aurora Driver and deliver the entire hardware set as well as a new fallback system. The fallback system is designed to ensure a driverless truck can continue the driving task until it reaches a safe position in the event of a failure of the primary autonomy system. Continental will be responsible for the autonomous driving system kits which will leverage a wide spectrum of Continental’s extensive automotive product portfolio from sensors, automated driving control units (ADCU), high performance computers (HPC), telematics units, and more, to the complete fallback system which covers the full chain of effects. Continental will integrate these hardware components into pods which will be supplied to Aurora’s vehicle manufacturing partners, advancing the product offering for autonomous trucking customers. Additionally, Continental will manage the complete lifecycle of its supplied autonomous hardware kits for the Aurora Driver, from the manufacturing line to decommissioning. The start of production is expected in 2027, following the expected launch of Aurora Horizon, Aurora’s subscription trucking service underpinned by the Aurora Driver, next year. "In this exclusive partnership, we bundle our systems competence with Aurora’s industry-leading autonomous technology for our common goal to jointly realize the first commercially scalable autonomous trucking systems," said Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer, "a crucial step towards autonomous mobility.” Hardware-as-a-serviceContinental and Aurora have also agreed on a hardware-as-a-service business relationship (based on mileage driven), to deliver safe, reliable, uptime-optimized and commercially scalable autonomous driving systems to customers through the Aurora Horizon platform. Aurora Horizon was developed to offer a safer, more reliable, predictable, and cost-efficient driver service to supplement human driver supply. Using this service, carriers and fleet operators, the companies say, will be able to better utilize the potential of their vehicle fleets, scale business on demand and help address today’s driver shortage. Continental and Aurora plan to provide this scalable solution to Aurora's vehicle manufacturing partners. Continental parts are expected to be produced and assembled in its newly built manufacturing facility in New Braunfels, Texas, as well as others across the company’s global footprint. https://ift.tt/GXjZdVW
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Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, April 27, 2023: Werner to test Cummins’ 15-liter nat-gas engine, deploys two BEVs in SoCalWerner Enterprises (CCJTop 250, No. 13) announced multiple initiatives to enhance its sustainability efforts. The company announced Tuesday it will join Walmart as one of the first fleets to test and validate the 2023 X15N Cummins natural gas engine in its fleet. Werner is one of the few carriers that have started testing the newest engine technology with natural gas, with a goal to achieve a 55% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035. “As a top five truckload carrier in North America, we are committed to implementing sustainability initiatives creating long-lasting and industry-wide impacts,” said Werner’s Chairman, President and CEO Derek Leathers. “These vehicles can greatly reduce emissions when running renewable natural gas and we are eager and willing to help validate this new technology.” The new 15-liter Cummins engine is built on a global Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) platform by Cummins and will be tested in the market through the Peterbilt Model 579. Cummins anticipates production of the X15N in 2024. “Testing the new X15N with Werner Enterprises is a natural step in our ever-evolving relationship with one of the nation’s largest truckload fleets as we continue to work together on new technologies,” said Puneet Jhawar, General Manager – Global Spark Ignited and Fuel Delivery System Business. “We are excited to put Cummins’ next generation natural gas-powertrain through the rigor of Werner’s structured testing and validation process to deliver a world-class product for our full production start in early 2024.” Additionally, Werner announced Wednesday its first two Freightliner eCascadia battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are officially transporting freight in Southern California. Charge duration times will vary depending on the type of charge and the number of trucks charging at the same time. To accommodate these requirements, Werner’s testing includes evaluating and building out a charging infrastructure at its full-service terminal in Fontana, California. [Related: Walmart set to deploy first Cummins 15-liter nat-gas engine] Former U.S. Xpress exec joins Armstrong Transport Group as CEOArmstrong Transport Group, a non-asset-based logistics provider, announced Wednesday that it has appointed Cameron Ramsdell as Chief Executive Officer. Ramsdell, who previously served as president of the U.S. Xpress’ over-the-road division and led its now-defunct Variant division, succeeds Brian Mann, who will continue an active role with the Armstrong as Chairman of its Board of Directors. Ramsdell will be responsible for setting strategy and accelerating the company’s top goals, including continuing to execute its strategic plan to increase market share through expanded service offerings, investing in technology and developing and retaining high-performing agents and brokers to continue the strong growth of the Armstrong network. He brings more than 15 years of logistics operations, sales and technology leadership to Armstrong, having most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at Emerge, a freight procurement platform and has extensive professional experience in the third-party logistics (“3PL”) industry. “We are thrilled to bring in Cameron as CEO to support Armstrong’s exciting next chapter of growth,” said Mann. “Cameron understands our company’s business model, the value of our agent network and the vast growth opportunities in front of us, and I believe he is the perfect person to lead our business going forward. I am such a believer in what we have built and what we are building at Armstrong and I am committed to supporting Cameron and Armstrong during the transition and beyond in any way I can.” Shippers’ conditions mostly flat in FebruaryFTR’s Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) showed little month-over-month change in February, with a small decline to 5.1 from 5.4 in January, reflecting an environment that is mostly favorable and stable for shippers. Slightly lower fuel costs and relatively weak freight demand offset stronger rates and utilization in the month, FTR said. The outlook is for market conditions to remain in a modestly favorable range for shippers through 2023 with expected gradual deterioration in 2024. “A relatively stable, slightly favorable outlook for shippers is unlikely to be moved over the next few months,” said Todd Tranausky, vice president of rail and intermodal at FTR. “But shippers need to carefully watch for signs the market will change as that could occur quickly. Shippers also need to closely watch the underlying economy for signs of change that could alter the economic calculus between shippers and their transportation providers.” The Shippers Conditions Index tracks the changes representing four major conditions in the U.S. full-load freight market – freight demand, freight rates, fleet capacity and fuel price. The individual metrics are combined into a single index that tracks the market conditions that influence the shippers’ freight transport environment. Covenant opens new driver lounge, orientation centerCovenant Logistics Group (CCJTop 250, No. 41) announced Tuesday the grand opening of its newly constructed Hogan Hall and renovated Orientation Training Center, developed exclusively to support truck driver orientations, trainings and other events. Named for Covenant’s Executive Vice President Joey Hogan, Hogan Hall offers driver accommodations with the highest-level comfort and security to drivers at Covenant’s headquarters in Chattanooga, the company said. "This building demonstrates Covenant’s total dedication to its loyal driving team, which delivers each and every day for our company and our customers,” said Covenant’s President and COO Paul Bunn. “We look forward to this new chapter of Covenant’s history beginning and are pleased to have welcomed drivers, employees and friends on site to celebrate this momentous event with us.” The culmination of a 16-month project, Covenant’s new facilities are located adjacent to one another on campus at Covenant’s headquarters. Hogan Hall is comprised of 49,000 square feet, and includes 100 dormitory-style rooms, a lounge, a computer room, a fully covered patio with picnic tables and rocking chairs, and more. The 49,000-squre-foot Orientation Training Center includes state-of-the-art learning facilities and classrooms for company orientations, trainings and other events. With more than 25 years at Covenant, Hogan served as the company’s president from 2016 to January 2023. Covenant named Hogan Hall in his honor as a tribute to his dedicated service to the organization. https://ift.tt/GXjZdVW A fleet manager's No. 1 rule is to budget time wisely to efficiently manage a fleet’s vehicles and drivers to keep operations running smoothly. Whether it’s working around driver scheduling conflicts or dealing with vehicle maintenance issues, responsibilities that require immediate attention can pile up. As a fleet grows, job tasks and volume can multiply. Things that were once relatively simple – like resolving occasional toll violations -- can become a snowball moving downhill and that snowball can become a mountain of its own. Depending on the number of vehicles and drivers you oversee, it can be easy to miss toll fees or violations as they arrive in the mail, and the time it takes to dispute and pay fees can keep you from focusing on your day-to-day operations. Fines and violations – and contesting them – can be a time suck. That’s why it’s so important to understand what creates those fines in the first place. There are many reasons fleets can receive fines. Some are due to drivers who use the wrong toll lanes or don’t comply with the rules governing the use of toll facilities, or simply failure to pay a toll fee on time. If you rely on paper toll bills, it’s easy to set aside bills and tell yourself, “I’ll get to it later,” and forget, or you have someone who must dedicate hours of time to paying them. It happens. But, if you don’t pay on time, you can expect another notice from the tolling authority with a late payment violation. Depending on how many vehicles are in your fleet or how far your business delivers goods, there are several other reasons you might receive toll violation: using a toll lane without a valid or deactivated transponder; using an in-state transponder for an out-of-state toll; entering an express or toll lane improperly; using a toll lane with insufficient funds in your transponder account; accessing a toll lane in a vehicle other than the registered fleet vehicle on the toll pass; using a toll lane with an unregistered vehicle or using a transponder that has not been mounted properly. While drivers shouldn’t break these general guidelines, every state has different toll rules. Knowing what can cause a toll violation in the states and locations drivers are using toll roads in is critical. If/when you receive a violation, there are things you can do to manage it and ensure it’s been rightfully issued. First, check the identification information to ensure the name and license tag number are correct. If the license tag image is blurry, it’s possible clerical errors were made, which can cause the state’s department of motor vehicles to send a toll violation notice to the wrong address. Does your company still own the truck that was cited for a violation? You likely won’t be liable for the toll charges if the truck was recently sold. If you have accounts open with tolling authorities, check to make sure your transponder or pass is still active and current. If you have a prepaid toll account, make sure there’s enough money to cover tolls. If you determine a toll violation is fair or needs to be disputed, pay the charges or file the dispute as soon as possible. Some toll violation notices give you as little as two weeks to act. The deadlines vary state-to-state, so it’s important to read the notice carefully and plan accordingly. If you ignore or forget to resolve toll violations, it can lead to additional fines or even the suspension of a vehicle. The sensors and cameras tolling authorities use to capture vehicle information aren’t always accurate. So, it’s more common than one might think, and if you don’t carefully look at your toll bills you might miss opportunities to recoup money that’s rightfully yours or remove incorrect violations. If you notice an issue with a violation, call the tolling authority’s customer service line or go online to register a dispute. When you fill out a dispute form, provide as much reasoning as to why you’re disputing the violation and include any evidence you have that can support your case. Educating your drivers on what to do when they approach toll roads in a variety of scenarios is the best way to reduce the number of toll violations your fleet receives. Drivers should be aware of all the tolled roads they may encounter along their route and whether their truck is registered with the tolling authority. To make life easier and more productive for drivers, equipping your trucks with transponders or toll passes on all trucks that pass toll sites can significantly reduce violations., not to mention the time drivers can save by using toll roads instead of re-directing their routes to bypass them. This can also alleviate back-office work in dealing with tolls if you’re proactive in keeping the correct transponders or passes in the vehicles. An even better solution many fleets are finding useful is managing toll usage and violations is through using toll management software. With providers like, Bestpass, you can easily register your trucks with all the tolling authorities that manage the toll roads your trucks use. Instead of managing each individual truck’s toll account, the software consolidates all truck and transponder information into one account and a single bill. If a truck receives a violation, it’s simple to identify which truck and the correct point of contact for the tolling authority. Resolving toll violations doesn’t need to be as tedious as it may seem. There are plenty of things you can do to prevent them from happening in the first place and to handle them when they do quickly. Jason Walker is Chief Revenue Officer of Bestpass, the leader in toll payment and management solutions for commercial fleets and owner operators. In this role, Walker oversees the sales and marketing teams and supports revenue management functions. Walker joined Bestpass in 2022 with more than 10 years of experience in the trucking industry and 25 years of experience driving results across multiple industries and SaaS companies. https://ift.tt/GXjZdVW There’s an iPhone commercial that depicts a user’s information – emails, contacts, purchases, etc. – being sold at auction to high bidders. Bob Trent, vice president of communications at PrePass Safety Alliance, used this commercial as an analogy to explain how valuable drivers’ personally identifiable information and carriers’ data can be. That information could be made available to state agencies and any potential bad actors should the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enforce the use of a unique identification device (UID) or Level VIII inspections. Both UID and Level VIII facilitate wireless roadside inspections, electronically or wirelessly transmitting information while the vehicle is in motion. And, so far, both have caused more questions to be raised than answered, Trent said in a recent PrePass webinar titled Preparing for the Arrival of Electronic Truck Inspections. The webinar addressed how new inspection technologies could affect carrier operations and what information carriers and their drivers may be required to transmit to inspectors. “There are just a large number of pertinent questions that have yet to be answered in order to reach a decision for or against moving forward in these areas,” Trent said. The FMCSA issued a UID Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in September 2022, and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance met recently in March for its Level VIII Inspection Forum to discuss how the input from the UID ANPRM could reflect into that. The FMCSA declined CVSA’s petition for a rulemaking on UID in the 2010s because of lack of clarity around the cost of implementation – outfitting trucks with the devices and establishing a system for transportation agencies to use. Proponents of UID say implementing the concept would save carriers time and money by speeding up the inspection process and reducing the amount of stops for professional drivers. But the ones behind the wheel feel it’s too intrusive. “Randall Reilly did a survey last summer, and it came back as 27% of respondents in the trucking industry would leave the industry if UID as it seemed to be described in that ANPRM became law,” Trent said. They feel that “the regulation has reached a point where it is so intrusive that I am going to go do something else. I'm not comfortable with that.” Data in the FMCSA UID ANPRM included information on the driver (hours of service, CDL compliance, medical certification); on the carrier (name, contact information, PRISM data); on the truck (pre-trip inspection date and time; GPS location, date and time; axle weight; gross vehicle weight rating; license plate number; USDOT number; unique vehicle ID; international registration plan); and advanced technologies (safety systems; driver and vehicle monitoring systems; trailer system monitoring). Trent said stakeholders, including the PrePass Safety Alliance and trucking associations, among others, had come to the conclusion that they could accept UID as long as it did not transmit personally identifiable information regarding the operators or drivers of the vehicle and did not create an undue cost burden on operators or carriers. It should function as a single point of data such as the VIN, but under the ANPRM, he said UID seems to be much closer to Level VIII. “The UID ANPRM went beyond the single point of data such as the VIN, and that conflates the two,” Trent said. “Is UID just that identifier, and roadside enforcement can do what they want with that identification? Or is it in fact part and parcel of Level VIII inspection, and has that discussion begun?” Under Level VIII, the data exchange would include descriptive location, including GPS coordinates; electronic validation of who is operating the vehicle; driver’s license class and endorsements for the vehicle being operated; commercial vehicle license status; medical examiner’s certificate and skill performance valuation certificate; and the current driver’s record of duty status. A bevy of unanswered questionsThese are some of the key discussion points that came up regarding Level VIII inspections during the forum:
Trent said it could create inequity among carriers or owner operators that can’t afford new trucks; those who can’t afford it would have to pull in for inspections, making competition for them even tougher because they wouldn’t have the time and fuel savings, not to mention accident rates go up when they’re made to exit and re-enter the interstate from a weigh station. That means the FMCSA would have to develop new, highly sophisticated technology that is interoperable with tractor and trailer manufacturers and backwards compatible if all trucks on the road are going to be included. [Related: Preparing your fleet and drivers for CVSA’s Roadcheck] But the questions go deeper than how it should be implemented to should it be implemented at all. A big concern is cybersecurity, Trent said. How would carrier and driver data be transmitted and received? If that much data is being transmitted, how will it be protected? “What is the best data protection and computer virus protection available on the market right now? Will it be obsolete in six months, particularly if it's high-value information? Also, that timeline gets much shorter; how long will we be able to protect that data from getting out to bad actors,” Trent asked. Drivers traditionally are conservative with their information, and requiring their data could have a bigger impact on the industry when it comes to recruitment and retention, he said. It also begs the question, what will carriers receive in return for sharing that data? If a truck drives past with a clean inspection, maybe it could be included in their Injury Severity Score and lower their scores, Trent offered. Furthermore, how would that data be used after carriers provide it to federal and state governments? “GPS location, date and time. A concern about that might be now that we're able to track trucks from point A to point B in a state, does that perhaps feed into a vehicle miles traveled tax or enforcement measures? If you got from point A to point B in this amount of time, you had to have been speeding; things like that,” Trent said. “There would need to be a very clear definition and boundaries; otherwise, once the information is turned over to the government they can share and use it, for the most part, how they want.” There’s also a potential burden on states, he said. If every truck in violation isn’t detained, will states be held liable if one of those trucks goes on to be party in a crash, he asked. He said that’s also a real concern because truck parking is already an issue. Is there available parking for out-of-service trucks if the state does detain vehicles? Ultimately, the biggest claim that must be proved is that implementing electronic inspections can improve highway safety. “What are those safety benefits of UID and Level VIII?" Trent asked. “I think it's unclear, but also the burden is not on the industry to come up with that information.” https://ift.tt/GXjZdVW Eight fleets this fall will kickoff the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) and RMI’s Run on Less – Electric Depot (RoL-E Depot), an effort that focuses on the scaling of electric trucks across a variety of market segments. Frito-Lay, based from Queens, New York, is the lone participant outside zero emissions ground zero California. That's fitting considering that of the 1,895 Class 2B-8 zero emission trucks deployed as of March 2022, 60% operate in California, according to NACFE. “Our goal with this event was to showcase fleets that are now deploying 15 or more trucks and we had hoped to have a wider geographic representation,” noted Dave Schaller, NACFE’s director of industry engagement. “The reality is that, at this point, the majority of fleets with 15 or more electric trucks are in California, but we believe they are a good representation of the benefits and challenges of deploying electric vehicles at scale... At this point in time last summer there were 11 states that did not have a single electric truck and there were five that only had one. There were another 15 that only had two to 14... So, 31 of the 50 states, when we started talking about (RoL-E Depot), simply couldn't put a depot together if they tried." The other seven fleets, each hailing from the Golden State, include OKProduce in Fresno; Penske in Ontario; Pepsi Beverages in Sacramento; Performance Team Logistics in Commerce; Schneider in South El Monte; UPS in Compton; and WattEV in Long Beach. Five of the seven California fleets operate from Southern California. Schneider holds distinction as the fleet with the largest number of electric trucks, Roeth said, doing the most miles and needing the most electricity. "This facility is something like a 4 to 5 megawatt facility going in the ground right now," he said, "and probably very quickly is going to be a 100% electric some time in 2024, so excited to to learn and and show you all what's going on with Schneider there and intermodal." Executive sponsor PepsiCo joins title sponsors Cummins and Shell, with others sponsoring individual elements of the Run as well. Among the goals of the exercise is to showcase what it takes to move from one or two electric vehicles to 15-plus, and that the transition to electric vehicles is about much more than just the trucks themselves – it is also about charging, infrastructure, grid capacity, resilience, and more and NACFE executive director Mike Roeth said RoL-E DEPOT will allow his group to share best practices for scaling electric trucks at depots. The three-week event will start Sept. 11 and will feature metrics and real-world stories on runonless.com. Added to this year’s Run will be stories on emerging depots because Roeth noted that in the vetting of the fleet depots for this Run, his group came across fleets that are on the cusp of scaling up the number of electric vehicles in their operation. "While they did not meet the criteria for this year’s Run, we still believe there are valuable lessons they can teach us,” Roeth said. https://ift.tt/GXjZdVW Penske Truck Leasing is acquiring Star Truck Rentals, a more than 150-year-old transportation services company that offers full-service leasing, commercial truck rental, contract maintenance, used truck sales and other services. Terms of the deal announced Wednesday were not disclosed. Star is Penske's second acquisition this year. The company in March absorbed Kris-Way Truck Leasing, a transportation services company offering full-service leasing, commercial truck rental, contract maintenance and dedicated contract carriage, and its approximately 150 associates and over 900 vehicles from seven locations throughout Maine and New Hampshire. Star Truck Rentals operates more than 1,900 vehicles from 18 locations throughout Michigan and Indiana and serves a diverse customer base across the food and beverage, manufacturing and consumer goods and services industries. Originally founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as Star Baggage Company in the mid-1800s, he company hauled freight via horse-drawn carts to and from Grand Rapids’ railway depot. Brothers Harry, Peter and Andrew Bylenga in 1916 bought the budding freight-handling business and changed the name to Star Transfer Line. In 1946, Star Transfer Line rented its first trucks and changed its name to Star Truck Rentals Incorporated. The company is now in its fifth generation. Prior to its acquisition, Star Truck Rentals was one of the oldest family-owned transportation companies in U.S. Lauding its "impressive scale in the region" and "excellent reputation," Penske Truck Leasing President Art Vallely said he looked forward to integrating Star into the Penske brand "and leveraging the best both companies have to offer to serve new and existing customers in the region." "We are excited to join Penske," said Star Truck Rentals President Tom Bylenga. "Penske and Star share a similar culture and approach towards supporting customers and developing associates. Joining with Penske will offer new opportunities for growth across an expanded network." https://ift.tt/GXjZdVW Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, April 26, 2023: FMCSA shuts down New York-based driver after DUI, fatal crashA New York-based truck driver has been effectively shut down by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for his involvement in a crash that killed four people and injuries to others. According to an imminent hazard order, Saul Aquiles Carrera was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide by intoxication, among other things, following a March 26 crash in which he collided with another vehicle that was disabled on the side of the highway. The crash occurred on I-81 near Kingsport, Tennessee. According to FMCSA, Carrera’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.16 -- four times the legal limit for CDL holders -- and beer cans were found in and around the cab of the truck he was driving. Following the crash, Carrera was charged with four counts of vehicular homicide by intoxication, driving under the influence, reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and failure to exercise due care. Additionally, days earlier on March 12, FMCSA said Carrera was cited for recklessly driving, failure to or improper signal, following another vehicle too closely, and improperly on the left side of the road, resulting in an arrest by Kentucky State Police in Carrollton, Kentucky. Carrera is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle until he has completed all remedial actions outlined in the order. Canadian transport group buys Nikola BEV, FCEV trucks for demo projectNikola Corporation announced Tuesday the expansion of its presence in Alberta, Canada, with the sale of a Nikola Tre battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and a Nikola Tre hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) to the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA). AMTA is combining this purchase with refueling support, via access to Nikola’s innovative hydrogen mobile fueler. AMTA will incorporate the new heavy-duty vehicles into its Hydrogen Commercial Vehicle Demonstrations Project, which launched in February and offers Alberta carriers the opportunity to use and test Class 8 vehicles that operate with hydrogen fuel within their unique operations. The trials will look at the performance of hydrogen-fueled vehicles on Alberta roads, payloads, and weather conditions, while addressing challenges around fuel cell reliability, infrastructure, and vehicle cost and maintenance. This week’s anticipated delivery of the Nikola Tre BEV, and the expected delivery of the Nikola Tre FCEV by the end of 2023, are critical first steps in selling hundreds of trucks in Alberta, Nikola said, which is a major new market for the company. NHTSA underride committee to hold first meetingThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s newly formed Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) will hold its first meeting next month. The purpose of the ACUP is to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes and fatalities relating to underride crashes. The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 25, from 12:30-4:30 p.m. Eastern. Preregistration is required to attend the online meeting. A link permitting access to the meeting will be distributed to registrants within 24 hours of the meeting start time. Those interested in attending can register here at least one week in advance of the meeting. Registration is not yet available. The agenda for the meeting covers the committee’s purpose and guidelines, committee member introductions, and selection of the committee chairperson. [Related: NHTSA pressing forward with trailer side underride guard requirement] Arrive Logistics expands with two new officesThird-party logistics provider Arrive Logistics has announced the opening of its two newest offices, located in Phoenix, Arizona, and Columbus, Ohio. The offices represent Arrive’s fourth and fifth newly opened locations within the last year, which also include offices in San Antonio, Tampa, and Guadalajara that opened in 2022, bringing its total footprint to seven offices. Fueling the expansion is Arrive’s plan to strategically grow headcount in key departments, including sales, product development, data science and business operations. “Maintaining the scalability and success of Arrive will only accelerate as we focus on what is most important to our partners: quality service, pricing, and relationships,” said Matt Pyatt, Arrive Logistics CEO and co-founder. “Our continued investments in these key areas allow us to maintain growth that outperforms our peers and serves to benefit our customers, carriers and employees.” https://ift.tt/orP4sGp Tighter emissions regulations may be signaling the eventual demise of diesel, but in the meantime, demand for technicians who can work on the nation’s leading workhorse powertrain remains very strong. Wyoming-based WyoTech continues to see a big demand not only for diesel techs but for the other trades as well. “The need for technicians and skilled trades is huge right now,” said WyoTech President Jim Mathis. “I don't care if you're a plumber, electrician, mechanic or technician, people need tradespeople.” WyoTech had a record turnout of companies at their February job fair looking to hire their graduates to fill jobs in diesel, automotive and collision. Ninety-six companies conducted a total of 907 interviews. Demand is highest for WyoTech’s diesel and automotive techs who are ready for a hot job market in less than a year. “There is no better sense of accomplishment for the team at WyoTech than seeing our graduates get hired by these great organizations after as little as nine months of training," said Ashley Chitwood, WyoTech’s vice president of marketing. [Related: Tech pay on the rise] Chris Barton, campus director at New Village Institute in Pennsylvania, said it, too, is continuing to see big demand for diesel techs. “The demand for techs continues to be extremely high and is predicted to steadily increase with retirements and industry expansion in all vehicle sectors. We haven’t talked to an employer yet that doesn’t have need,” Barton said. “Generally, the need is proportional to the size of the company. Small, independent, single-location-type shops generally need at least two to three techs. Larger organizations with multiple locations and a more regional or national footprint have needs that reach into the thousands.” With such big demand, it’s not uncommon to see shops recruiting directly from high schools, Mathis said. OEMs are also stepping up recruiting efforts. Earlier this month, Lincoln Technical Institute announced a partnership with Peterbilt Motors Company to offer a specialized diesel training program at Lincoln’s historic Nashville, Tennessee, campus. Peterbilt dealerships will cover the cost of the 12-week training program. Demand for diesel techs at Lincoln’s campus in Indianapolis also remains strong. “Demand is massive. It’s far more than what we can possibly meet,” said Lincoln Tech Indianapolis campus President Brent Jenkins. "There's not a lot of schools that teach diesel. Companies are trying to pull people straight out of high school into the workforce. Some of them have had minimal skills they picked up on the farm or with a family member.” Jenkins said demand in diesel transportation is so high that some service centers will recruit fresh faces that show some mechanical aptitude even though they’ve had no experience working on diesel powertrains. “They're so desperate that it may not be the ideal candidate, but they'll settle at this point because the demand far outweighs not just what Lincoln Tech can provide, but all the tech schools,” Jenkins said. “We just can't keep up.” Mathis is feeling more optimistic about student recruitment thanks in part to trade advocacy groups like the Mike Rowe Works Foundation and others that have been helping to attract more talent by educating others about attractive wages and low upfront costs for votech education and apprenticeships versus a four-year college degree. Mathis pointed to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, which found that college enrollment has dropped roughly 15% in the past 10 years while apprenticeships, including entry-level diesel tech jobs, have grown by more than 50%. “Tides are changing slow, but sure,” Mathis said. https://ift.tt/orP4sGp I am constantly amazed at how various alternative power groups feel they are being marginalized by media coverage of competitors’ technologies. Here is a hypothetical example to put this in perspective: it’s like a spaghetti manufacturer claiming that biased media coverage of peanut butter sandwiches is overlooking the obvious benefits of a pasta meal. Part of this is marketing. Playing your technology out as some maligned, forgotten underdog may strike some sympathetic chord with a marketplace. Or, quite frankly, it may highlight that the technology is just not getting the air time that you want and you can’t seem to break into the big leagues on news coverage. Or, it could be that you are just reading what you know and not doing proper random sampling of all the news that’s out there. The latter falls under the definition of bias. A quick web search can help classify multiple types of biases. One example website is the National School of Healthcare Science out of England, which can get you started with a proposed list of 10 bias types. I suggest a new category: technology bias, loosely combining confirmation bias, conformity bias, and attribution bias to help describe why companies feel persecuted or marginalized by coverage of competing technologies. I have worked on and written on a range of technologies over my more than 40-year career. Much of it is publicly available. Still, I run into this association, or that partnership, that sincerely feel that their technology is not being covered while someone else’s is being lauded with coverage. A natural gas group will feel that electric vehicles are getting disproportionate attention. A hydrogen gas group will state that natural gas or electric are getting too much coverage. A propane advocacy group will feel that they’ve been excluded from the discussion. An overhead catenary electric power advocacy group will feel that battery electric vehicles are blinding coverage of their technology. It’s challenging writing a report focused on one technology fully knowing that advocates of 12 other technologies will feel they have somehow been excluded. This is especially difficult to grasp in this modern information-rich world where your smartphone can connect you with thousands of like-minded reporting at the speed of light. Take the coverage of the U.S. Department of Energy’s various positions on future energy. I spend a lot of time web-surfing DOE; they are an excellent resource for analytical reports and also general overviews. However, the organization is like a hydra, that multi-headed mythical beast. Each head staunchly represents variously nuclear power, hydrogen, battery electric vehicles, wind power, solar power, geothermal power, hydro power, natural gas, propane, fusion power, you name it. It’s like standing at the equivalent of the Subway sandwich deli line and you can have anything you want, or combinations of them all. Governments are funding a smorgasbord of competing technologies. Every category seems to have vested interests rabidly seeking money and authority, and each of them is fighting the others like a farrow of piglets scrambling to suckle. That analogy is at the heart of the matter. All the piglets have potential. The ones that fight harder may be more successful in a Darwinian survival of the fittest perspective. The ones that sit back and complain that they aren’t getting any milk likely won’t get much. Media coverage is complex and illogical. A single headline that drops the name “Tesla” or “Musk” immediately trends irrespective of the content. It’s like putting a sign for “free beer” outside of an event to encourage attendance. Therein may be the solution to perceived technology bias by advocacy groups. Just find out what key words are attracting the greatest media coverage and then shamelessly drop them in press releases, interviews and panels. Or better yet, be true to your potential, focus your efforts on making your technology the best and most cost effective it can be, and work on the long game to be one of the survivors in the media pigsty. https://ift.tt/orP4sGp Carrier Transicold is rolling out two single-temperature electric truck refrigeration units this year as the foundation of its new Supra eCool series. The Supra eCool electric units will cover 14- to 28-foot, Class 5 to 7 straight truck applications and are designed for fleets seeking regulatory compliance or cleaner, more sustainable options. The engineless Supra e9 and e11 units will provide comparable refrigeration performance to Carrier Transicold’s diesel-powered Supra S8 and S10 units, the company claims. “Supra eCool units are versatile when it comes to their power supply source,” said Bill Maddox, Carrier Transicold's senior manager of product management, Truck Trailer Americas. “They can take power directly from battery-electric vehicles (BEV) or, when used with conventional engine-driven trucks, the units can run autonomously using their own power pack. This makes them especially well-suited for fleets in California that are now required to begin adding zero-emissions truck refrigeration units, which may be installed on trucks with battery-electric or engine-driven powertrains.” Supra eCool units feature:
In BEV applications, the Supra eCool interface provides a high-voltage interlock with the vehicle’s battery and communicates to the vehicle using a proprietary CAN bus system. For applications where a separate power source is required, Carrier Transicold has developed a 38-kWh high-voltage DC power pack with a built-in water-cooled temperature management system. The power pack uses a high-power DC fast-charging system. The Supra eCool design includes a variable-speed electric scroll compressor and an electronic expansion valve in the evaporator, which help to extend the operating range by more precisely and efficiently matching power draw from the battery to the cooling need at hand. Commercial availability in North America is slated for later this year to help California fleets comply with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) deadline of Dec. 31 to convert 15% of their refrigerated trucks to zero-emission refrigeration technologies. https://ift.tt/orP4sGp |
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April 2023
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