Trucking News

The Volvo Group and NVIDIA have entered into a new partnership to jointly develop the decision making system of autonomous commercial vehicles and machines. Volvo will be incorporating NVIDIA’s end-to-end artificial intelligence platform in order to further their ability to safely handle autonomous driving on public surface streets and highways. The new platform will enable better training, simulations, and in-vehicle computing, and in order to ultimately provide the company with enhanced safety and efficiency.

Hiab, part of Cargotec, debuted a new crane specifically designed for use with underground refuse containers at the ReinigingsDemoDagen (RDD) trade show in Utrecht, the Netherlands earlier this June. The HIAB S-HiPro 230W has been engineered for operator ease of use in order to safely and efficiently perform job duties in chaotic urban environments. With this crane, even new operators can learn how to quickly get the job done in increasingly crowded city centers without incurring damages or injuries.

The global self-driving truck company, TuSimple, announced that they have awarded their two-week pilot program to the United States Postal Service. During this time, USPS will haul their trailers on five round trips over 1,000 miles between their Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas distribution centers. To ensure public safety, an engineer and driver will be on board each truck for the entirety of the pilot program in order to monitor vehicle performance.

Allison Transmission will provide their newly developed e-axle solution to Peterbilt for evaluation on their Class 8 truck. The global leader in commercial-duty propulsion solutions developed the highly efficient and powerful axles for electric vehicles. This comes amidst the global pursuit of electrification in the commercial vehicle industry.

Peterbilt Motors Company displayed their electric vehicle lineup at the ACT Expo in Long Beach, California at booth #1934. Featuring a Model 220EV, a Model 520EV and a Model 579EV, the lineup showcased an impressive array of new features.

Earlier this month, Hiab, part of Cargotec, launched Hiab BodyWorks for heavy cranes and Hiab T-Body for Biab T-series light range cranes. Both of these new modular installation systems for truck bodies are constructed weld-free with parts that are easy to remove and replace. Additionally, these modules are pre-manufactured to reduce body installation times and costs, getting operators on their way faster.

Minimizer, a company serving semi-truck operators, has introduced the brand new steerable axle fender bracket kit. For use with the Watson Chalin SL20K-2065 axle, this bracket kit is designed for MIN2220 fenders.

Cummins unveiled the next generation of 6.7L turbo diesel engine. This higher horsepower engine boasts a first-in-class, record setting, 1,000 pound-feet of torque. Made for 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty RAM pickup trucks, customers are sure to impressed with this engine’s high levels of performance and innovation.

Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is pushing the bounds of autonomy with their first SAE level 2 automated truck in series production. Featuring the latest enhancements to their Freightliner Cascadia, the level 2 of automation means that the truck can steer itself and control acceleration and deceleration. This ability to take both lateral and longitudinal control, as well as the many improvements made to the efficiency of the vehicle, made this industry-leading performer a perfect addition to the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past January.

Kenworth Truck Company and Toyota Motor North America have recently teamed up in order to develop ten new zero-emission Kenworth T680 trucks, all to be powered by Toyota hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrains. This collaboration was made possible by the $41million grant preliminarily awarded to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The large sum of grant money comes from an even larger $82 million program that hopes to put fuel cell electric tractors, hydrogen fueling infrastructure, and zero emissions cargo handling equipment into operation in Los Angeles' basin and ports by 2020.

Dump trucks are larger and tip over more easily than ever before. With the increased frequency of tipping hazards comes the need for a proper dump truck tip-over prevention system. The WINK anti-tip system for dump trucks and dump trailers provides four extra layers of load dump protection to keep dump trailers from turning over.

XL, announced that they have achieved their 14th California Air Resources Board (CARB) executive order, allowing them to begin selling hybrid electric Ford F-250 pickup trucks in California. This is the highest number of CARB executive orders for commercial electrification in the entire automotive industry. XL is proving to to be a valuable asset for providing economic and environmental advantage for fleets across North America with their hybrid-equipped Ford F-250, which improves fuel economy by an average of 25%, while reducing CO2 emissions by 20%.

Toyota has recently unveiled the second iteration of their hydrogen fuel cell electric Class 8 truck. Project Portal 2.0, an expansion of Toyota’s first test vehicle, is a giant leap towards a future of zero-emissions trucking.The announcement was made for media and industry leaders in Northern Michigan at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management briefing seminars.

As of this July, Kenworth will now be offering predictive cruise control as standard for their T680 on-highway flagship truck model. This addition will serve to boost fuel economy and ultimately make the life of the driver easier. The predictive cruise control functionality is also available as an option for the Kenworth T880.

If power and proficiency are what you look for when choosing to buy a new commercial van, Ram has upped the ante with their new updates to the ProMaster and ProMaster City series. Improvements include significant increases to both payload capability and towing capability. With three new models and notable changes to existing models, the lineup offers a fit for whatever your needs may be.

Freightliner Cascadia truck models will now have a new battery powered HVAC system available as a factory-installed option. The new Battery Powered HVAC system has replaced the previously offered ParkSmart system. Now available, you can order yours today for an impressive 10 hours of cooling or 34 hours of heating to the cab when parked.

Kenworth announced that their T680 on-highway flagship truck will now come standard with both Bendix ADB22X front and rear air disc brakes. While the Bendix ADB22X front air disc brakes have been standard for the past several years, the addition of the rear air disc brakes as standard is thanks to Kenworth now offering rear air disc brakes as standard in general.

As an effort to help customers realize maximum fuel efficiency, Mack Trucks recently announced they will be offering the Mack MP 8HE and HE+ packages for Mack Anthem models. These models, when outfitted with the aforementioned packages, will deliver up to a 9.5 percent improvement in fuel efficiency. The packages also help models to achieve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay designation.

The recent event for Daimler Trucks and Capital Market and Technology Day saw an exciting announcement from Daimler Trucks, when they unveiled their two new freightliner electric test vehicle models. The eCascadia heavy-duty truck and the eM2 106 medium-duty truck are both scheduled to begin customer testing later this year. These are the first two of the company’s Freightliner Electric Innovation Fleet, which will offer the widest range of commercial electric vehicles of any OEM in North America, consisting of 30 vehicles.

Volvo is leading the way in electrified transport solutions with the unveiling of their second all-electric truck, the Volvo FE Electric. Their first truck, the Volvo FL Electric, was introduced just three weeks prior to this announcement. This new truck is designed for heavier city distribution and refuse transport operations with gross weights of up to 27 tonnes, and can be expected to go on sale in Europe in 2019.