The Smart Trailer concept is still in its infancy, and already the potential is seen as almost limitless. Over the past five years, trailers have gone from boxes on wheels to sources of business intelligence and data that can help fleets be more proactive with maintenance. Smart Trailers even offer the possibility of shrinking the trailer fleet through improved uptime and more efficient fleet utilization. Our guest on this episode is Paul Menig. He's a technology and business consultant with a deep background in transportation technology, having worked for both Eaton and Daimler. He's one of the industry leaders pulling hard to get this technology standardized and implemented across the fleet.
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As the name implies, self-driving trucks will not require drivers. Does that mean anyone contemplating a career as a driver is heading down a dead-end road? According to Finch Fulton, vice president of policy and strategy for human-guided autonomous truck company, Locomation, anyone driving a truck today is unlikely to lose their job to a robotic truck.
Hydrogen fuel cells are still a bit mysterious. Are they a solution to trucking's range anxiety? Can they compete with diesel? Are they safe? Loop Energy president and CEO, Ben Nyland, pulls back curtain on fuel cells. He tells us how they work, where they'll work, and what they do best.
Special Report: While there are currently only few dozen robotic or autonomous trucks on America's highways, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is already thinking about the logistics of enforcement. Our guest, CVSA's Will Schaefer, muses on how to keep robotic trucks on the straight and narrow.
Waymo Via, the Google-car spinoff that operates tractor trailers, is inching closer to full deployment of its driverless long-haul trucks. Founder and head of the self-driving trucks business, Vijaysai (Vijay) Patnaik, joins Jim Park to discuss the current state of the technology and how Waymo's decade of experience positions it well for public and industry acceptance.
If you buy the hype, you might think driverless trucks are just around the corner. Dr. Mary "Missy" Cummings is a professor at Duke University and the Director of Duke's Humans and Autonomy lab. She says she's 100% behind robotic trucks in the long term, but warns that significant work remains to develop safe, robust and reliable self-driving cars and trucks.
Staying healthy while living in a truck is tough at the best of times. Add the stress of living under a pandemic, and staying healthy and positive becomes doubly difficult. Nutrition and wellness expert Sergio Rojas shares his thoughts on how diet, fitness, proper sleep and even meditation can help improve health and wellness and reduce stress.
Kansas City-based team lease-operators Chanté and Chris Drew caught COVID-19 while on the road in March. They were laid up at home for almost a month, plagued by uncertainty, financial pressure, and of course the disease itself.
Part II continues the discussion with seven truck drivers who are out in the wild working during the pandemic. In this episode, they discuss the emotional impact of COVID-19.
In this two-part HDT Talks Trucking Special Report, we introduce you to seven drivers who live on the front line of the battle with COVID-19. Part I looks at how COVID-19 affects drivers' daily activities and how they are adjusting to this new reality.