The show floor of ATA’s 2017 Management Conference and Exhibition (MCE) is packed with the latest technology, trucks and connected solutions. Check out the pictures below for a tour of the show.
Daimler Trucks North America’s President and Chief Executive Officer Roger Nielsen held a round table press conference. The key takeaways:
• “Active lane keeping assist [systems] are absolutely required to make platooning work.”
• The technology discussion will shift from automated systems to “driver assist and safety” systems. As far as Nielsen is concerned: “This idea of driverless trucks in the near future–we don’t believe that. The driver does more than steer, brake and accelerate. The driver provides a service to the shipper and fleet. The drivers perform pre- and post-trip inspections.”
• Electric Class 8 trucks: Daimler is working on Class 8 electrification in the form of an electrified Freightliner new Cascadia. Overall, the focus for Daimler right now in terms of electrification is on “delivering trucks that customers can make money with.”
Michael Cancelliere, International Trucks, president, Truck and Parts, announced the opening of International Truck’s Uptime Command Center. Already operating from the company’s headquarters in Lisle, Ill., the Uptime Command Center mobilizes a dedicated, cross-functional team of Navistar uptime specialists and key suppliers to assure 24/7 on-road support for customer vehicles. Its mission: Get vehicles back on the road as quickly as possible, and no later than 48 hours after diagnosing a problem.
Carl Johan Almqvist, Volvo Trucks traffic and product safety director, talks safety at ATA MCE’s Global Safety Trends education session: “Ninety percent of accidents are due to human error, but something we don’t talk about is how many accidents are prevented from happening because there’s an experienced, professional driver behind the steering wheel. Every time you’re behind the wheel, you’re preventing accidents from happening. … We can outperform any computer with all its sensors.”
Mack Trucks handed the keys to a brand new Mack Anthem to ATA President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Spear in continued support of the Share the Road program.
Hyliion introduced an electric-drive axle system available as a retrofit kit. The system replaces a drive axle with a hybrid-electric axle that has an electric motor that can support drive functions and support the diesel power systems, in addition to proving auxiliary power unit functionality. According to Hyliion, fuel savings delivered by the blend of three technologies are a 15% efficiency improvement by the electric hybrid, 12% improvement from the APU, and 3% improvement from the FlowBelow aerodynamics fairings, totaling in a 30% fuel efficiency gain.
EpicVue let attendees catch their favorite match-ups even when walking the show floor on a Sunday afternoon.
