microchips

The Light Load: Everybody wants Freightliner CPCs

The thefts of common powertrain controller (CPC) modules from parked Freightliner and Western Star trucks feels like a game of Clue minus the conservatory, candlestick, Col. Mustard and, well, clues. Come to think of it, it’s nothing at all like Clue, but I digress.

Anyhow, unless Miss Marple clears her schedule, Daimler Truck North America and the authorities are going to have to sort through a passel of suspects, usual or otherwise, to get to the bottom of this high-tech poachery.

The purloined...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/the-light-load-everybody-wants-freightliner-cpcs

Truck Talk: ‘Look, Ma, no hands’ edition

This week, we’re cleaning up after a flurry of news in the autonomous vehicle space and seeing the first concrete evidence that the chips are down for truck manufacturers. 

Construction alert

One went public. One went virtual. Another expanded in China. After an unusually busy week in the autonomous vehicle space, what could possibly be left to talk about? 

Let’s start with construction zones. They present a vexing yet all-too-frequent challenge for designers of perception software expected to be...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/truck-talk-look-ma-no-hands-edition

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