Luber-finer App Helps Find The Right Filters

Luber-finer's mobile app is designed to help users identify the right filtration technology and locate where to obtain it for commercial vehicle applications.

The app offers several tools for finding parts including access to an online parts catalog, part search, cross reference, distributor locator and the ability to save favorite searches. The app is available for iOS and Android mobile devices and helps drivers, technicians, maintenance managers and parts distributors quickly look up filter parts and find Luber-finer distributors that carry them.

The online parts catalog allows users to search the parts catalog to find the part number and specification details for any Luber-finer lube/oil, fuel/water, air, hydraulic, coolant or cabin air filter. The part search uses the part number to obtain a part description, dimensions and vehicle compatibility information.

The cross reference tool takes the part number of another brand's filtration product and presents a comparable Luber-finer filter. The distributor locator finds nearby distributors by typing in the zip code and an adjustable mile radius filter. Lastly, frequently used part and distributor searches can be saved by clicking a star on the search results page which places them on a favorites tab in the app for future use.

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England Logistics Opens Atlanta Offices

Freight brokerage England Logistics has opened a new office in Atlanta, Ga., to accommodate the company's growth in the region.

The office, scheduled to open on Aug. 1, will handle the company's growing client base in the area. It marks the fifth operational office that the Salt Lake City-based England Logistics has opened in the U.S.

Scott Hammond, business development manager at England Logistics, will oversee daily operation of the Atlanta office. He will be responsible for the growth and development of the new office.

"The opening of our regional office in Atlanta was driven by our commitment to provide top-tier service to clients in the area and demonstrates our desire to foster regional growth in coming years," said Hammond. "England Logistics is a major player in freight brokerage and has a very exciting roadmap for future growth."

England Logistics offers non-asset based transportation solutions including full truckload services, intermodal, dry and cold chain LTL, parcel, global logistics and supply chain management.

Related: C.R. England Exec Wins TCA's Past Chairman's Award

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Verizon-Fleetmatics Deal Makes Telematics Giant

Logos via Verizon and Fleetmatics.

Verizon will control about 25% of the telematics market following its planned acquisitions of Fleetmatics and Telogis in moves that indicate steady growth ahead for fleet telematics use, experts told AutomotiveFleet.com.

The deals will bring about 1.4 million units in service under Verizon's telematics unit and create a telematics provider with the potential to dominate the market, said Clem Driscoll, who produces an annual market study. The units would be shifted to operate on Verizon's cellular network.

"Fleetmatics is the largest fleet tracking company in the world, and this is the largest acquisition in the history of this industry," said Driscoll, who's been watching the industry for two decades. "It's the largest in terms of money and subscribers."

Verizon should be able to complete its acquisitions, even in a challenging regulatory environment. Anti-trust concerns should be allayed because there are still several hundred telematics vendors in the U.S., Driscoll said.

After the dust settles, Geotab and GPS Insight would be Verizon's largest competitors. In addition to software, Geotab offers its GO7 OBDII dongle. Omnitracs and PeopleNet would continue to be the primary telematics providers to over-the-road trucking fleets.

If Verizon successfully closes the acquisitions of Telogis and Fleetmatics, it may need to consolidate the three software-as-a-service platforms. All three companies provide hardware from a third-party vendor and would likely continue to do so, Driscoll said.

Verizon's acquisitions should create greater awareness about the value of telematics data to fleets and help fleet managers further combat misuse of company assets, said Dillon Blake, senior director of business development at Runzheimer, a reimbursement management firm.

"The issues most fleet companies face now is there are a lot of data, and what do you do with that data," Blake said. "Verizon has a good solution to provide some deep business intelligence in an easily digestible form."

Related: Verizon to Acquire Fleetmatics

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ZF Takes Stake in Autonomous Tech Firm

Per ZF, its Innovation Truck prototype was developed to “identify product ideas through technology transfer” from passenger cars to commercial vehicles. Photo: ZF

Friedrichshafen, Germany-based ZF has announced it has acquired a 40% minority stake in Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH. The Hamburg-based company is a market leader in lidar (light detection and ranging) technology.

ZF pointed out that lidar is a key technology for autonomous driving, object recognition and accident prevention systems. Ibeo develops 3-D “environmental recognition” software with a particular focus on applications for autonomous driving. Its customers include several major global vehicle manufacturers.

"Lidar gives us access to a core technology for environmental and object recognition," said ZF CEO Stefan Sommer. “Lidar expands our current sensor portfolio of radar and camera technologies, and moreover, Ibeo's fusion of these three sensor technologies provides outstanding results in environmental awareness and forms the basis for autonomous driving."

Lidar involves emitting a “light pulse” to determine a distance based on runtime and speed of light. An optical method for measuring distance and speed, lidar is similar to radar, except that laser pulses are used instead of radio waves.

ZF said the lidar generation developed by Ibeo in cooperation with ZF will reproduce a 3-D image of a vehicle's surroundings without the rotating mirrors used in current lidar systems. And by using solid state technology, lidar will become more compact and easier to integrate into the vehicle.

"Our central theme at ZF is ‘See– Think– Act'– a philosophy which highlights how we are equipping the vehicles of tomorrow with new senses and more intelligence,” said Sommer. “To achieve this, we are gradually filling in the remaining gaps in our technology portfolio.

He added that leveraging lidar technology and sensor fusion will “strengthen the eyes and brain of future generations of vehicles and thus move a step closer to realizing the vision of accident-free driving."

Founded in 2009, Ibeo dates back to 1998. Given the fast-growing market for sensor systems and environmental recognition, the company said it expects to increase its workforce from around 50 to 250 employees in the medium term and it will establish an Autonomous Driving Competence Center. The center will focus on volume production and marketing of solutions for highly automated and autonomous driving.

"We are very much looking forward to cooperating with ZF,” said Ibeo CEO Ulrich Lages. “We now have a very strong partner that is progressively shaping the megatrends of safety, efficiency and autonomous driving. With our comprehensive know-how, we can enable all drive-assistance applications up to highly automated driving with 3-D lidar technology."

Related: Wabco, ZF Unveil Advanced Braking and Steering Technology

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Diesel and gasoline prices keep declining

National average retail pump prices for both diesel and gasoline continued falling this week, according to data tracked by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), mirroring price declines for both fuels on a regional basis across the U.S.

Diesel dropped 3.1 cents to a national average of $2.348 per gallon, the agency said, which is 32 cents per gallon cheaper compared to the same week in 2015.

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Denso partners with AVI OnDemand

Denso Products and Services Americas announces its first live online technical training seminar in partnership with Automotive Video Innovations (AVI). AVI OnDemand will live-stream Denso's course on how to diagnose and understand Duramax Fuel System problems Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. EST.

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Penray’s crankcase, differential cleaner removes sludge

No one doubts the importance of regular oil and filter changes, regardless of the type of vehicle they may own or service. And more knowledgeable folks also understand the importance of regular changes of the lubricant in other driveline components like the differential. But even regular changes of lubricants and filters cannot remove deposits of sludge, gum, varnish and other contaminants that build up over time.

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