Volvo Group

Hyzon focuses on US fuel cell market for survival

In its brief four-year history, Hyzon Motors has experienced far more stormy than sunny days. As it struggles to survive, the commercial fuel cell manufacturer is focusing on the U.S., where it sees hydrogen and zero-emission refuse trucks worth pursuing.

Chasing the SPAC money

A spinoff of Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, Hyzon went public in July 2021 in a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp. It received $550 million in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/hyzon-focuses-on-us-fuel-cell-market-for-survival

Dueling approaches to AI in autonomous trucking

Autonomous trucking pioneer Chris Urmson and relative latecomer Raquel Urtasun see AI as critical to making autonomous trucking successful. But they do not see eye to eye on the best way to apply it.

Urmson led Google’s Self Driving Car Project that eventually became Waymo. He co-founded Aurora Innovation in 2017.

When Uber sold its Advanced Technologies Group to Aurora in January 2021, Urtasun was Uber ATG chief scientist and head of research and development. She and Urmson know each other’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dueling-approaches-to-ai-in-autonomous-trucking

‘Picky’ Gatik nearing mass-produced autonomous trucks

The struggles of autonomous truck makers to move beyond the testing stage are well chronicled. Seven-year-old Gatik, which owns the short-haul pickup-and-delivery “middle mile,” is an exception. By all indications, it has the money, the partnerships and the runway to reach mass production in 2027.

After discussing Gatik’s technology progress with Apeksha Kumavat, co-founder and chief engineer, on this week’s Truck Tech podcast, I caught up with CEO Gautam Narang. That followed Monday’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/picky-gatik-nearing-mass-produced-autonomous-trucks

Opposition grows to speedy electric truck transition

The Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, a generally upbeat event for battery electric, hydrogen and other emission-friendly technologies, takes place next week in Las Vegas amid a growing and widespread backlash to the regulation-driven transition to electric trucks.

Nearly every stakeholder — from the trucking industry and driver organizations to state attorneys general — is weighing in with dire estimates of crippling costs to a cyclical industry. Ryder System Inc. is the latest, dissecting...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/opposition-grows-to-speedy-electric-truck-transition

Biden’s electric truck effort grilled on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers officially kicked off efforts to mitigate — if not derail — the Biden administration’s latest push to electrify the trucking industry during a hearing on Capitol Hill designed to spotlight challenges to powering up an electric grid capable of meeting the zero-emission timeline unveiled by federal regulators in late March.

The hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highway subcommittee on Tuesday prefaced a Congressional Review Act joint...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/bidens-electric-truck-effort-grilled-on-capitol-hill

CMA CGM partners with automobile giants on electric van venture

CMA CGM Group announced its participation as a founding member of the innovative electric van venture, Flexis SAS, alongside Renault Group and Volvo.

The partnership unveiled on 22 March marks a significant step towards sustainable transportation solutions.

Through its energy investment fund, PULSE, CMA CGM has secured a 10% ownership stake in Flexis SAS. Additionally, the company expresses keen interest in making strategic investments of up to US$130 million by 2026.

Established by Rodolphe Saadé...

https://container-news.com/cma-cgm-partners-with-automobile-giants-on-electric-van-venture/

Will natural gas payback beat EV adoption?

The confluence of a new, bigger engine, net-zero carbon emissions from renewable natural gas (RNG) and pressure from shippers for their carriers to operate sustainably add up to a bright picture for natural gas adoption.

But a new study from the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) points to a couple of cautions. First is methane leakage from the source of the RNG. Methane escaping into the atmosphere is a huge contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gas.

Second, and most...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-natural-gas-payback-beat-ev-adoption

Aurora’s driverless trucks show they are for real

After numerous rides in autonomous trucks monitored by safety drivers in case of a mishap, I found it almost surreal to climb into Aurora Innovation’s Class 8 driverless truck, buckle up, hear the engine rumble to life and the air brakes disengage, and feel the truck move under its own power — with no one in the driver’s seat.

While two of three Americans still fear autonomous vehicles, according to AAA’s latest survey released Thursday, my three-quarter-mile ride around an Aurora test facility...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/auroras-driverless-trucks-show-they-are-for-real

SEC smackdown and SuperTruck news overwhelm convention dispatches  

The annual Work Truck Week and American Trucking Associations Maintenance & Technology Council pile on stakeholder-specific dispatches each March. But this week bigger stories originated outside the convention halls in Indianapolis and New Orleans.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington is as good a starting point as any.

Lordstown Motors gets an SEC comeuppance

Nearly three years after Hindenberg Research set its sights on Lordstown Motors Corp., accusing the former special purpose...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/sec-smackdown-and-supertruck-news-overwhelm-convention-dispatches

The Whac-A-Mole reality of autonomous trucking regulations

If you thought last year’s veto of a Teamsters-backed ban on heavy-duty autonomous trucking in California put the issue to rest, think again. While 23 states allow at least testing of driverless trucking, emerging challenges resemble the arcade game Whac-A-Mole.

Early-stage commercialized driverless trucking on Interstate 45 in Texas looks likely later this year. The state embraced the technology in 2017. Yet a move to stop driver-out operations percolated in the Texas Legislature last year.

“That...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/the-whac-a-mole-reality-of-autonomous-trucking-regulations

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