Automated Transmissions Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
More power and increased safety and comfort seem to be the marching orders for OEMs and suppliers developing the next generation of heavy-duty AMTs. The Innovation Truck, unveiled last year, is a concept vehicle proving out these features for ZF. Photo: ZF
“>
More power and increased safety and comfort seem to be the marching orders for OEMs and suppliers developing the next generation of heavy-duty AMTs. The Innovation Truck, unveiled last year, is a concept vehicle proving out these features for ZF. Photo: ZF
“>
When the first semi-automated manual transmissions began appearing on the market more than 20 years ago from Eaton and Rockwell (which later became Meritor), few would have imagined the popularity automated manuals enjoy today.
At the time, automatic transmissions were popular in vocational and medium-duty applications but were almost unheard of in linehaul, mostly because of the premium price and the limited range of gears.
It’s been a bit over a decade since true AMTs really came into the market, when in 2006 Eaton introduced the UltraShift and Volvo Trucks announced it was bringing its I-Shift to North America. Since then, Eaton and Volvo have both improved their offerings, Mack adapted a version of the I-Shift tuned to its trucks, and Daimler entered the market with the Detroit DT12 AMT.
Fast-forward to today, and the success rate of these transmissions has been unprecedented, thanks in part to their fuel-saving abilities.
A decade ago, reports that AMTs enjoyed take-rates of around 75% on new truck builds in Europe raised a lot of eyebrows in North America. Drivers here were different, everyone said; North American drivers were devoted to manual gearboxes as a point of pride, while North American fleets would be unwilling to shell out the higher price for AMTs. Even the most optimistic analysts predicted a very slow climb to 50% of the market in a decade or so. Maybe.
Those experts were wrong.
Today, commercial vehicle OEMs consistently report take-rates for new long-haul/over-the-road builds solidly around the 75% mark, with Daimler Trucks North America and Volvo Trucks North America eyeballing sales north of the …Read the rest of this story
