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When it comes to the trucking industry, we deal with a pace of change that has been constant for years: changing fuel costs, increased regulations, driver shortages, etc.

Trucking can always use more technology. That’s one reason we see so many tech startups in the industry these days.

The electronic logging device mandate for tracking hours of service has brought a lot of attention to truck telematics, and many experts are providing advice on how to prepare for that transition. But one aspect of telematics that few are addressing is how underutilized most existing systems are. In my estimate, only three in 10 fleets are utilizing their telematics system to the max.

In 2008, I wrote an article where I described a future scenario in which a driver in a truck is leading a convoy of several driverless trucks. In 2011, I began predicting that we would have autonomous cars on the market and on the roadways by 2020. These predictions seem to be turning out better than my 2007 prediction that Apple would not get much market share in the cellphone business.

As reported in Transport Topics in early December 2016, (12-12, pp. 4, 43) American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear told a roundtable of lawmakers at a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., that the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC, represents the future of secure transportation.

The new year often brings changes. And rarely has that been as true as this year, as we have just inaugurated a new president who appears poised to change Washington. It’s also a time of renewed focus, to reflect on where we are and look forward and position for success.

You don’t have to be a diesel mechanic to know that extended idling is bad for business. Frequent or prolonged idling increases emissions, wastes fuel and puts unnecessary wear on your engine. That’s why, due in large part to increasingly strict emissions standards, the trucking industry has seen a dramatic increase in idle-reduction technologies.

There has been a great amount of media attention with the first delivery by autonomous truck by Otto Transportation, which recently took place on Interstate 25 from Fort Collins to Denver in Colorado. While this trip was made with a convoy of State Patrol and Colorado DOT vehicles around it, this event still represented quite an achievement.

Idaho’s Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle program, or GARVEE, recently wrapped up, after a decade of investment in the state’s roads and bridges. Along the way, the GARVEE program transformed the state’s infrastructure in a way we haven’t seen since the interstate system was built through Idaho in the 1960s.