Connected truck

Equipment management is a large part of operational efficiency, and the continued development of IT solutions is also helping to push the industry forward. “We are rapidly approaching a point where there is no truck that will really be ‘offline,’” said Olof Persson, president and chief executive officer, The Volvo Group, during the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association 25th Annual HDMA Breakfast & Briefing held at MATS. “This offers many opportunities to significantly reduce customer total cost of operation. Today, there is a justifiable and tremendous amount of interest in fuel economy and every tenth of a percentage increase we can deliver is precious.”

However, Persson explained that one day of unplanned downtime can undercut all the equipment innovations moving todays’ trucks. That’s why connectivity’s role in uptime is a strong focus for both Volvo and Mack Trucks. Between the two brands, there are currently more than 80,000 remote diagnostics-equipped vehicles on the road today.

“These systems have demonstrated the ability to reduce average diagnostics time by up to 70% and average repair time by more than 20%,” Persson said. “We have only started to scratch the surface of the opportunities and the potential of connectivity going forward.”