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Owner-Operators still seek ELD information from FMCSA

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The federal regulator for the trucking industry says he’s working to better hear owner-operator’s ELD concerns. However, some attendees at the Mid-America Trucking Show remain frustrated and seek ELD info.

Ray Martinez, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, spoke at the Mid-American Trucking Show a day after Overdrive published an exclusive interview with him.

In the interview, Martinez noted his commitment toward establishing a better listening strategy for owner-operator’s concerns.

In addition, he acknowledged important ELD issues. These included the search for available parking eating into drive time and the effect of autonomous trucks on future driver jobs. However, these issues have yet to be addressed but remain active concerns.

Also, Martinez claimed in the Overdrive interview that an open-door policy exists at the FMCSA. However, members of the audience at FMCSA’s presentation at the Mid-America Trucking Show did not agree. Some attendees walked out during a presentation on lesser known aspects of ELD compliance. These include the adverse-conditions extension, personal conveyance matters, and a 16-hour maximum duty day for every five 14-hour days for haulers returning to their home terminal.

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ATA’s Spear: Autonomous Trucks Won’t Hurt Trucking Jobs

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will autonomous driving effect people with CDL trucking jobs?American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear appeared on Fox Business News in August and for the third time in less than a week addressed the topic of autonomous trucks. The magazine Transport Topics wrote about the exchange. They stated Spear doesn’t perceive autonomous trucks as a threat to CDL trucking jobs.

“In fact, it could actually improve job growth in our sector,” Spear said on the show. Spear added the (autonomous) technology could result in bringing more drivers and technicians into the industry.

He also spoke on the subject in an address to membership during the National Truck Driving Championships and National Step Van Driving Championships in Indianapolis in August, where he said, “Here’s the key: We’re not at the table. We have to be at the table. I am not going to concede in this role a regulatory framework in the next five to 10 years that the auto industry designed and we inherit.”

Read the full Transport Topics story and see the Fox video here.

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Report Says Automated Trucks Will Cut CDL Driver Jobs in Long Run

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motortrend.comThis past April, a platoon of automated trucks successfully completed a transcontinental trip across Europe for the first time. The trip raised the important question: What does a successful run for automated trucks mean for CDL trucking jobs?

It is important to note that automated trucking as an everyday reality will be a long ways off in the future.

That said, an article in Motor Trend magazine says the transcontinental trip by six platoons of automated trucks doesn’t bode well for CDL driver jobs long term. Motor Trend wrote:

The experiment included in the European Truck Platooning Challenge, a program devised to advance autonomous trucking in Europe. The accomplishment shows the viability of automated trucks, and a new report from TechCrunch sheds light on how the technology will dramatically change the trucking industry.

Currently, it costs around $4,500 to ship a full truckload from L.A. to New York. Labor makes up 75 percent of that cost, according to TechCrunch, meaning a lot of that money would be saved if we moved to driverless trucks. In addition to saving labor costs, autonomous trucks would also significantly boost efficiency. Drivers are required by law to take an 8-hour break after driving 11 hours, but an autonomous truck could drive nearly 24 hours straight.

Also, a computer regulates speed, perhaps boosting fuel efficiency.

The article says that savings trickle down to consumers, reducing the cost of shipped goods overall.

Yet with millions of people holding CDL trucking jobs in America, truckers hold the most common job in 29 states. It added another harrowing employment statistic as well.

If self-driving trucks replace those jobs, it means 1% of the U.S. workforce face unemployment. But, the ripple effects could devastate the American highway as we know it. Truck stops, motels, gas stations, and other businesses struggle to stay open without a steady flow of truckers.

Regulation remains the biggest hurdle for autonomous trucks, adding to the negative impact automated trucking would have on the U.S. economy might not be worth the savings.

A price-performance increase of 400% is hard to ignore. But, can we afford to displace more than a million jobs?

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Autonomous Trucks Platoon Across Europe. What Will it Mean for Drivers?

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will autonomous driving effect people with CDL trucking jobs?Autonomous trucks platoons just pulled off a landmark feat. How it will impact fleet management and CDL driving jobs in the future remains to be seen.  Fierce Mobile IT  writer Alyssa Huntley recently wrote about the event—six brands of autonomous trucks that successfully platooned across Europe for the first time in history.

The automated trucks platooned across Europe and arrived in Maavlakte seaport in the Netherlands in April.

The journeys completed as part of the European Truck Platooning Challenge, an operation put on by Rijkswaterstaat. The Netherlands’ main infrastructure design, management and maintenance organization. Truck platooning could potentially be used for freight shipping, the article explained.

In platooning, two to three trucks drive in a single-file line – referred to as a column – along the highway. A human operates the lead truck, with autonomous trucks following connected via Wi-Fi. The lead truck determines speed and route, transmitted over the Wi-Fi connection.

Trucks follow more closely, freeing up space along the highway for other vehicles.

The Wi-Fi connection results in synchronized breaking and reduces the likelihood of sudden jolts or shocks, which could help traffic flow and speed up deliveries. Fuel costs could go down by up to 10%, which would come with a reduction in CO2 emissions, the article noted.

“This opens the door for upscaled, cross-border truck platooning,” Schultz van Haegen said. Van Haegen noted that the information gathered in the challenge proves useful during an informal European transport council meeting in Amsterdam on April 14. “It certainly helps my colleagues and I discuss the adjustments needed to make self-driving transport a reality,” he said.

The technology is still being refined. Autonomous driving has been a hot topic in the industry lately, but how will it affect people with CDL truck driving jobs? This is a topic we will continue to follow.

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