Fleet Advantage

Aurora approaches autonomous truck finish line

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As Class 8 autonomous trucking draws nearer, terms like operational design domain, safety case and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/aurora-approaches-autonomous-truck-finish-line

Truck Talk: Taking the high road edition

This week, Hyliion lets slide a slight; hydrogen fuel cells are everywhere, or it seems that way; and thermal imaging gets a look as a way to enhance autonomous trucking perception.

Yeah, he meant it

Like most conferences, in person or virtual, panel discussions prevailed at last week’s Advanced Clean Transportation Expo. One exchange that didn’t happen stood out.

Hyliion Holdings founder and CEO Thomas Healy was making his first of several appearances during the week, talking up his company’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-talk-taking-the-high-road-edition

Viewpoint: Newer trucks help companies lower cost of onboarding drivers

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.

By Katerina Jones

Heavy-duty fleet organizations continue to face major challenges in the retention and recruitment of drivers at a particularly perilous time, as truck drivers are needed more than ever to transport goods, food, medicine and vaccines across the country. 

Recent data from the American Trucking Associations shows that driver turnover for carriers...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/viewpoint-newer-trucks-help-companies-lower-cost-of-onboarding-drivers

Daimler Trucks adds safety equipment as truck-related crash deaths fall

Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is adding three safety features that could build on preliminary federal statistics that showed truck-related crash deaths fell last year while passenger car fatalities increased.

The new features for the Detroit Assurance suite of safety systems add more automation to trucking in speed control and braking. 

The advances coincided with preliminary 2020 crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that showed truck-related crash...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/daimler-trucks-adds-safety-equipment-as-truck-related-crash-deaths-fall

Chip shortage pushing capacity-starved fleets to used equipment

The shortage of microchips that run practically everything in a truck is stretching out a hot market. It is forcing fleets that need trucks now to search out late-model used equipment.

Recent vintage sleeper cabs and daycabs with automated manual transmissions, safety equipment and decent fuel economy are in big demand.

“Customers were already looking for low-mileage used trucks instead of waiting for a new truck,” Chris Visser, senior analyst and commercial vehicle product manager at J.D. Power...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/chip-shortage-pushing-capacity-starved-fleets-to-used-equipment

2018 redux: Truck-buying binge borrowing from future business

Here we go again. Orders for new Class 8 trucks are surging like they did after tax cuts in 2018. This time, however, consumer-driven demand for stay-at-home goods during the pandemic is prompting carriers to pull forward equipment orders that would typically be placed later.

Household spending on goods and services rose 1.4% in September, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

Buyers of new and late-model used trucks are both shopping, even as uncertainty surrounding a new wave of...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/2018-redux-truck-buying-binge-borrowing-from-future-business

Used truck sales recovery firming up for all players

Used truck pricing pressure is easing as stakeholders from manufacturers to dealers report growing sales momentum despite the lingering pandemic — and because of it.

As the tail of the dog in trucking, used truck sales fall when new truck sales slow. So when major manufacturers shuttered assembly plants for six weeks in March and April, used equipment all but froze. Already low prices dropped even further. Loose capacity heading into the pandemic tightened. 

However, in recent months as freight...

https://www.freightwaves.com/dealership-network-rush-enterprises-sees-profit-margins-double-from-q2-to-q3

Used trucks sales continue climb from abyss

After more than a year of falling prices and slack demand, used truck prices and sales are having a nice summer.

Class 8 conditions across the board generally stabilized in July,. That suggests June’s recovery was more than a one-shot relief in pent-up demand, according to analysts from J.D. Power Valuation Services. 

Prices solidify

“Pricing is solidifying, customers are buying more used trucks and new truck orders and deliveries are heading back in the right direction,” said Chris Visser, J.D....

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/used-trucks-sales-continue-climb-from-abyss

Auction volumes soar for used trucks

Turnkey used truck signage

The volume of Class 8 used trucks rolling onto the virtual auction block in June rose. Newer, low-mileage trucks increased in value even as large groups of identical sleeper cabs pushed month-over-month prices lower.

One exception: A 2016 model sleeper cab sold for an average $27,313, up 6.9% or $1,768 over May.

“Volume rose substantially in June, and was the highest we’ve seen for our benchmark group since at least late 2015,” said Chris Visser, J.D. Power Valuation Services commercial vehicles...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/auction-volumes-soar-for-used-trucks

Selling safer trucks into a pandemic

Car-truck accident

John Flynn remembers the horror he felt when a Walmart truck collided with Tracy Morgan’s limousine in June 2014, injuring the comedian and killing a friend in the limo. Settlements for more than $90 million three years later were chilling in a different way. 

“We started looking at safety shortly thereafter, and we were one of the first companies to put safety equipment in as, I won’t say it’s a mandate, but we told our customers we wanted to put safety [equipment] in all of the trucks,” said...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/selling-safer-trucks-into-a-pandemic

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