The North American Truck Writers, a panel of truck writers formed each year to select the winner of the Jim Winsor Technical Achievement Award, have announced the top three finalists. In the view of the panel’s 11 members, the three selected products are the best from a field of eight parts and components offered to the trucking industry in the last year.

The panel says members nominated the eight products for showing significant technical advancement, wide applicability to commercial trucks, and available for sale to customers during the 2023 calendar-year. Voting by the writers for the finalists “was very close, with only a few points separating the three,” said panel chairman Tom Berg. The finalists are:

• Aperia’s Halo Trailer Connect, a tire pressure monitoring, inflation and reporting system;
• Fontaine’s Smart fifth wheel, which monitors parts wear and warns and warns a driver if a trailer’s kingpin has not been securely engaged; and
• Phillips’ EC47 tractor-trailer connector, which links data from multiple functions in a trailer but also works with legacy trailers.

The panel’s five other nominees were:

• Cobra FM-CB radios, which add entertainment to two-way voice communications;
• Motive 360-degree multicamera system, which provides around-the-truck views to drivers;
• P.S.I. Digital ThermAlert, which senses and warns of abnormally high wheel-end temperatures;
• Stemco AutoTorq, which automatically sets wheel-end bearings during installation; and
• Valvoline Blue Restore Gen2 motor oil, which removes carbon deposits on piston rings

Last year’s Technical Achievement Award and accompanying trophy went to Volvo Trucks’ low-speed, high efficiency I-Torque powertrain (photo above). The winner of this year’s award, chosen from the three finalists, will be announced March 6 during the Technology & Maintenance Council’s (TMC) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. A trophy commemorating the win accompanies the award. Criteria for nomination include significant technical advancement, wide applicability in the industry, and availability to customers during the previous calendar year.

The first Technical Achievement Award in 1991 was given out in 1991, by the panel formerly known as the Truck Writers of North America. The award is now named in honor of the late James W. Winsor, a long-time trucking journalist and active member of TMC who passed away in 2015.