Wilson Logistics

Locomation signs up 3rd trucking company to test autonomous technology

LAS VEGAS — Locomation’s autonomous vehicle technology now has a third trucking company as a partner.

Stafford, Missouri-based Christenson Transportation will test Locomation’s autonomous relay technology on 500 miles of routes on three interstates operating out of its hub in Nashville, Tennessee.”

Cetin Mercli, Locomation’s co-founder and CEO, used the platform of the Truckload Carriers Association to make the announcement.

At the press conference announcing the signing, Don Christenson, CEO of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/locomation-signs-up-third-trucking-company-to-test-autonomous-technology

Truck Tech: Workin’ for a livin’ edition

This week, unmasked in Indy with snowplows, dump trucks, cranes and lots of step vans with an electric undercurrent; “EV-ready” tires; and Locomation keeps its biggest customer in the fold.

Not counting air travel to the Work Truck Week event in Indianapolis, the event was a maskless affair. While COVID impacts continue to snarl supply chains and spike commodity prices, the well-attended event focusing on Class 2-6 trucks at the Indianapolis Convention Center exhibited only a few individual...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-tech-workin-for-a-livin-edition

Check Call: Good customers gone bad

Hot Take

Image: makeamake.org

Good customers gone bad. Anyone who has onboarded a customer knows that there are a bunch of hidden little issues that just happen to come up through the course of onboarding. Even the best-laid plans sometimes have to be thrown out the window when it comes to actually starting to ship. The customer you sign can quickly become something else entirely a couple months down the road. 

How do you know when customers have reached the expiration date and it’s time for...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/check-call-good-customers-gone-bad

Wilson Logistics acquired by nation’s biggest furniture retailer

Ashley Furniture seeks to dodge supply chain woes by purchasing a carrier

Ashley Furniture confirmed to FreightWaves that it has entered into an agreement to acquire asset-based logistics provider Wilson Logistics. An affiliate of Ashley Distribution Services (ADS) inked the deal on Nov. 22.

Terms of the financial transaction were not disclosed. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval but is expected to close by the end of the year.  

Springfield, Missouri-based Wilson Logistics has a truckload fleet of over 1,200 trucks serving the western U.S. The...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wilson-logistics-acquired-by-nations-biggest-furniture-retailer

Locomation convoy plan doubles down on autonomous trucking challenge

Autonomous trucking startup Locomation is pursuing with two Class 8 trucks what others are trying to accomplish with one: ultimately operating without a driver in either cab. 

The 3-year-old company is based in Pittsburgh, home of Carnegie Mellon University, a launch point for many of the brightest minds in robot cars and trucks. Founder Cetin Mericli is one of that group. 

Locomation is not just about autonomous trucks, a challenge of at least a half-dozen well-financed startup companies. San...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/locomation-convoy-plan-doubles-down-on-autonomous-trucking-challenge

Werner: Exemption will get drivers employed faster amid ‘historic driver shortage’

Werner Enterprises is banking on a commercial learner’s permit (CPL) exemption not only to boost operational productivity but to help the company get its drivers employed faster.

In an application filed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in July, the Omaha, Nebraska-based truckload carrier asserted current federal regulations are keeping it from immediately employing new drivers because drivers are no longer issued a temporary CDL after passing the CDL skills test.

Temporary...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/werner-exemption-will-get-drivers-employed-faster-amid-historic-driver-shortage

Feds grant Wilson Logistics team-driver flexibility

A new federal exemption will allow Wilson Logistics more flexibility for its drivers holding commercial learner’s permits (CLPs) to participate in revenue-generating loads.

The Springfield, Missouri-based carrier sought the exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to allow CLP holders who have passed the commercial driver’s license (CDL) skills test — but have not yet obtained the CDL document from the state where they live — to drive a truck without having a CDL...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/feds-grant-wilson-logistics-team-driver-flexibility

Wilson Logistics to equip 1,120 tractors with Locomation truck platooning technology

Truck platoon technology company Locomation has announced a rare deal for the sector: a hefty purchase order from Wilson Logistics, a transportation logistics company based in Springfield, Missouri.

Under the terms of the agreement, at least 1,120 Wilson Logistics tractors are to be equipped with Locomation’s Autonomous Relay Convoy (ARC) technology, with the first units delivered in early 2022. Additionally, the deal amends the existing commercial agreement between the two companies to extend...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wilson-logistics-to-equip-1120-tractors-with-locomation-truck-platooning-technology

Truck platooning company’s synced-up convoys make first commercial deliveries

locomotion pilot
  • Locomation and Wilson Logistics complete commercial delivery pilot along Interstate-84 in Oregon and Idaho

Truck platooning doesn’t quite capture the popular imagination in the same way as Level Four autonomy, a designation that refers to vehicles that can almost fully drive themselves. But new developments continue to chug along, the latest being the completion of a next-generation pilot by Locomation, a trucking technology startup based in Pittsburgh.

Platooning is the linking of two or three...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/truck-platooning-companys-synced-up-convoys-make-first-commercial-deliveries