New “connected cab” technology promises to make truck drivers’ lives easier and the job more appealing, fleet managers say. But first they have to convince the holdouts.
Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
The dazzling array of technologies installed in commercial trucks—from smart sensors to wireless network connections to collision-avoidance systems and customized smartphones—can help fleet managers improve their oversight of day-to-day operations, whether it’s monitoring equipment location and condition or delivery performance. But the rise of the “connected cab” is proving even more valuable in another area of fleet operations: recruiting and retaining increasingly hard-to-find drivers.
If that sounds improbable, just ask Jeff Jackson. Like fleet operators everywhere, Jackson, who is executive vice president for operations, dedicated contract carriage, at Penske Logistics, says his company faces unprecedented competition for drivers. When his company goes to interview a prospective driver, “they’re really interviewing us, because they’ve got four other road tests they’re going to next,” Jackson says. “So they’re checking ‘Is the truck clean? Is the tech easy to use?’”
“We sell [ourselves by telling them] ‘We’ve got really good technology that is easy to use,’” Jackson adds.
In Penske’s case, that really good technology includes a company-developed Android-model smartphone that comes preloaded with apps that give drivers instant access to data like estimated time of arrival (ETA), including traffic and weather impacts, and that make their lives easier—for example, by providing automated arrival and departure notices, electronic proof of delivery (POD), engine fault codes,accident and breakdown reporting, and electronic driver vehicle inspection reporting. The devices also incorporate ELD (electronic logging device) capability for tracking drivers’ hours of service.
Penske issues drivers one of these smartphones at the start of their route each day and offers “dock to dock” tech support until the driver returns the handheld unit at the end of the trip.
UPPING THE TECH GAME
As for what’s driving the trend among fleets to up their technology game, part of it is the expectation among drivers, particularly younger ones, that employers will provide them with the same kinds of technologies they’re accustomed to using in their daily lives—if not substantially better.
“The driver shortage has created a vacuum that is [pulling] the next generation of drivers into the mix, and there are expectations that what they see in the cab will be [more advanced than] what the previous generation had,” says Mayank Sharma, head of the product management and user experience group at Teletrac Navman, a developer of asset management systems and fleet management software. They expect their trucks to be equipped with technology that’s at least on a par with what they have in their personal cars, Sharma adds, “so there’s ‘consumerization’ happening in fleets.”
But that’s just part of the story. In addition to helping attract members of the digital generation, today’s in-cab technologies offer important safety benefits, fleet experts say. “There’s definitely a lot of new technology in the cabs now, but that tech helps to pick up things a driver might miss,” says Andrew Blundon, a trucker with 30 years of experience and a certified driver trainer at Ryder System Inc. He cites collision-avoidance systems that can alert drivers to vehicles in their blind spot and lane-departure warning systems as two examples. “A driver has more things to do than an airline pilot. He has to make so many quick decisions, and this advanced equipment makes driving a truck easier.”
LEARNING TO LOVE THE CAMERA
Despite the demonstrable benefits, the prospect of working in a “connected cab” isn’t always an easy sell. While younger employees tend to take to the latest digital tools, they can be intimidating for some older drivers who see the technology as impinging on the independent lifestyle of a driver, says Matthew Carr, vice president of operations at CPC Logistics Inc., a company that provides drivers and services for private fleets in North America. “It’s what we need to find the workforce because they’re a connected audience and we need to engage them,” he says of the technology. “But right now it scares some people.”
Drivers tend to be particularly skeptical of the dashboard cameras that record both the traffic outside the vehicle and the actions of the driver inside. “Cameras[that are integrated] with the vehicle can be intrusive or offensive to some drivers,” Carr says. But their suspicion is unfounded, he adds. The cameras aren’t there so that fleet supervisors can micromanage drivers, he says. “In reality, they are there to support a suite of coaching tools and to protect the driver.”
To that last point, Carr notes that drivers often undergo a change in attitude about cameras once they experience those protective effects. In the event of a crash, “there’s a tendency to blame the guy in the big lumbering vehicle,” he says, “when in reality they’re the trained professionals and those around them are more likely to be driving unpredictably.” In such cases, footage from dashboard cameras can be used to demonstrate that a driver was not at fault, exonerating both the driver and the fleet, Sharma says, adding that these capabilities are leading more drivers to accept the technology.
In the never-ending effort to manage their fleets more efficiently, trucking companies are turning to many of the same technologies their drivers use in daily life. Packed into an 18-wheeler, the high-tech tools have created a connected cab that not only supports better freight visibility but also improved vehicle safety and employee satisfaction.
“When it comes down to it, we need to be able to [retain] the drivers we have and attract the ones we don’t in order to position [truck driving] as an attractive career—one [that offers] both connected technology and the independence of being a driver,” CPC’s Carr says.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.