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Truck Technology Takes the Stage at the Consumer Electronics Show

Paccar is using the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to show off new technology, including Peterbilt's Level 4 autonomous Model 579 tractor. Photo: Peterbilt

If you need any more evidence that technology is moving into commercial vehicles at astonishing speed, look no further than the CES consumer electronics show this week in Las Vegas.

Once the domain of geeks and gamers, CES has evolved to become one of the most important venues for showcasing new and emerging technology, attracting over 20,000 attendees annually.

Increasingly, automotive companies have been using the show to reveal high-tech upcoming features and concepts. But now, commercial vehicles are getting their due.

The biggest splash so far is arguably Toyota's new e-Palette concept vehicle, which the company describes as a sort of highly adaptable, multi-use urban car, van or truck, depending on the owner's preference.

Toyota is developing the e-Palette in partnership with Amazon, Uber and Pizza Hut, which says a lot about the vehicle's potential uses. The design shown at CES has no windshield or set passenger seating arrangement. But, Toyota says, the vehicle can be configured for multiple applications, including delivery or passenger-van, a parcel delivery truck, a mobile office or even a hotel room.

Called e-Palette, the concept vehicle is larger than the self-driving taxis being tested by Alphabet spin-off Waymo but smaller than the driverless semi-trucks that Uber is working on – a multipurpose urban runabout.

A further hint as to what the future of transportation and trucking is going to look like was revealed in comments made by Toyota President Akio Toyoda, who told reporters at CES, “My aim is to change Toyota from an automobile company to a mobility company. Our competitors are no longer those just making cars. Companies like Google, Apple and Facebook are what I think about at night.”

Diesel, Gasoline Prices Expected to Jump Less This Year

U.S. crude oil production is projected to hit record highs, but that won't stop diesel prices from rising. Photo: ConocoPhillips

A federal outlook for national average on-highway diesel prices predicts they will be higher this year and in 2019 than they were last year and in 2016, but they should at least be fairly stable during this time, according to the latest Short Term Energy Outlook from the U.S. Energy Department.

It projects that trucking's primary fuel will average $2.95 per gallon in 2018 and bump slightly higher to $3.01 per gallon in 2019. While that's an expected 11.2% hike for this year over last, it would represent just a 2% increase in 2019 over 2018. However, it's less than the 14.8% jump in the average diesel price in 2017 over 2016.

The currently weekly average in the U.S. for on-highway diesel is just under $3 per gallon. It is expected to average $2.97 in the first quarter of 2018 before dropping to $2.89 in the second quarter. The third quarter average is expected to rise to $2.94 before finishing up at $3 per gallon in the fourth quarter.

The quarterly average range for diesel in 2019 is expected to range from a low of $2.96 in the first quarter to a high of $3.08 in the fourth quarter.

The trend for gasoline is similar, but at lesser prices and with smaller hikes. Regular grade is expected to average $2.57 per gallon in 2018 and $2.58 per gallon in 2019. If such an increase happens this year, this would represent a 6.3% increase over 2017 and just a 0.4% gain in 2019 over 2018, far less than the 12.4% jump seen last year when compared to 2016.

Driving the price of both fuel higher will be slightly increased crude oil prices. Benchmark North Sea Brent crude ...Read the rest of this story

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Trump Signs Bills to Help Veterans Become Drivers, Curb Human Trafficking

A new law will make it easier for military vets to transition to civilian trucking jobs. Photo: U.S. Department of Transportation

President Donald Trump signed into law two bills that affect the trucking industry: the Jobs for Our Heroes Act, which helps veterans to become medically certified for commercial driving; and the No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act, which bans drivers who are involved in human trafficking from commercially driving for life.

The Jobs for Our Heroes Act amends the FAST Act and would allow veterans to receive DOT medical certification from a wider variety of medical professionals employed by the Veterans Administration, improving access to certified examinations. It is a combination of two proposed bills approved by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in May 2017.

The expanded list of qualified examiners includes advanced practice nurses, doctors of chiropractic, doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy, physician assistants, or other medical professionals at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The bill would also allow veterans to use experience driving commercial-type vehicles in the Armed Forces to apply for an exemption from all or a portion of federal commercial motor vehicle driving test requirements.

The No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act directs the Department of Transportation to ban a driver who uses a commercial vehicle to commit a felony involving a severe form of human trafficking from operating a commercial vehicle for life.

To define a severe form of human trafficking, the bill uses the description from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. That bill considers severe forms of trafficking to include sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform the act is a minor under 18 years of age. It also includes in the definition human trafficking for ...Read the rest of this story