When we think of technological developments that take a long time to make it to market we most likely think of thinks like engines, transmissions and new cab designs. We realize that design engineers work for years on components like this and that they go through round after round of test.
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At the 4,500-acre Transportation Research Center (TRC) proving grounds in East Liberty, OH, Cummins put its new 2017-compliant X15 and X12 engines through their paces, with trucks equipped with both the new engines as well as older Cummins models made available for "riding and driving" in a variety of scenarios; everything from engine braking deceleration tests on a one-mile straightaway to acceleration-cruising speed-deceleration runs on the facility's 7.5 mile oval track and low-speed maneuvering through a slalom course set up on a skid pad.
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The dry policy statements that the Democratic and Republican parties nail together every four years as platforms for their presidential candidates to run on may resonate little to any voter who is not among the party faithful or a poli-sci junkie.
Yet even at their ricketiest, platforms spell out what each party aims to do if they manage to win the White House. That's why what's buried in the text will matter to issues-driven voters before the election as well as to lobbyists over the four years that follow.
The text of each party's 2016 platform runs for about 50 pages and each devotes just about 200 words to issues directly related to transportation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the positions presented are largely mirror images; that is to say, they are direct opposites.
Here, slightly boiled down, are the main points made by each party regarding transportation policy:
Republican Platform
Democratic Platform
Politics is about power and that makes it nothing if not complicated. Political scientist L. Sandy Maisel contends in a Political Science Quarterly article he penned that it's expected that the winning candidate, once in office, will “attempt to implement” their platform and that the Members of Congress in his or her party will support major planks of the platform.
His piece, "The Platform-Writing Process: Candidate-Centered Platforms in 1992," posits that in the Clinton vs. Bush contest, the gulf between the Republican and Democratic platforms was so wide that “the electorate had to take notice” of the differing policy positions.
“In the broadest terms, you can tell what will happen after an election by examining what the platforms say before the election,” Maisel writes. On the other hand, he duly points out that some political scientists regard past performance as a “much more rational way” to perceive how a candidate will act if elected.
In 2016, one could argue that both supporters and opponents of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton might at least agree that her lengthy political track record points to how she would govern. Those on both sides might also concede that when it comes to how Republican nominee Donald Trump would govern, they can only go by what he has said since launching his campaign.
That being said, while running for the Democratic nomination, Clinton proposed a five-year, $275-billion across-the-board infrastructure plan, the details of which still reside on her campaign website. She would “fully pay” for these investments through “business tax reform.”
Of these funds, Clinton would allocate $250 billion to direct public investment and the other $25 billion to a “national infrastructure bank. ”That bank would leverage its $25 billion in funds to support up to an additional $225 billion in direct loans, loan guarantees, and other forms of credit enhancement. According to the Clinton campaign, this approach would “in total result in up to $500 billion in federally supported investment.” The bank would also “administer part of a renewed and expanded ‘Build American Bonds' program.” It would also seek “to work with partners in the private sector” to invest in infrastructure.
Specifics of the plan include “making investments in ports, airports, roads, and waterways to address the key chokepoints for the movement of goods in our economy” and providing “smart, targeted, and coordinated investments to increase capacity, improve road quality, and reduce congestion.”
It should be noted that, as presented online, the Clinton plan does not elaborate on how much would be spent on roads and bridges, or anything else from airports to public transit.
On the other hand, transportation is not listed among the policy issues highlighted on the Trump campaign website. However, the nominee did weigh in on the nation's infrastructure woes during his July 21 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.
"Our roads and bridges are falling apart,” Trump remarked. “Our airports are in Third World condition.” He later said that thanks to his “new economic policies, trillions and trillions of dollars will start flowing into our country” and that this “new wealth” will pay for building “the roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, and the railways of tomorrow.”
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Cummins Inc. unveiled three new 2017-compliant engines during a special event at the Transportation Research Center (TRC) proving grounds in East Liberty, Ohio; the X15 efficiency and X15 performance models - due to go into full production in jan. 2017 - along with its new medium displacement X12 engine, due to go into production in 2018. (All photos by Sean Kilcarr/Fleet Owner)
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Tesla Motors' CEO Elon Musk plans to build a battery-electric electric pickup truck, heavy-duty truck, and a bus that would turn the driver into a "fleet manager," according to his Master Plan, Part Deux released July 20.
Musk's plan has been met with equal parts excitement and skepticism, since the four-pronged multiyear strategy comes while he's still ramping up production of the more affordable Model 3 that's expected to democratize his luxury vehicles.
In the master plan, Musk also promised updates to the Autopilot technology and said he will launch a ride-sharing program to compete with Uber.
Musk is calling his heavy-duty truck the Tesla Semi and claims it will "deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate."
Read the full master plan here.
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The Fleet Safety Conference was an event for fleet, risk, safety, sales, human resources and EHS professionals that offered insights and practical education for improving fleet safety. Photos by Mark Campbell Photography and Chris Wolski.
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Rolf Lockwood
" >Rolf Lockwood
" width="185" height="245">Automation won't go away, and now we have a San Francisco startup called Otto that's only a few months old, yet has already retrofitted three Volvo tractors with automated-driving technology. That means the sensors and other bits that allow a tractor-trailer to drive itself — though only on Interstate highways where lane markings are especially well defined. Hence, the system's name: Interstate Autopilot.
The company got its quick start because its founders have been working on vehicle automation for years. Led by former technical lead of Google's autonomous car division Anthony Levandowski and former product lead of Google Maps Lior Ron, the company is sufficiently confident to say, “We're a team of the sharpest minds in self-driving technology and robotics.” And it clearly is.
Another former Google employee, Don Burnette, and a robotics specialist, Claire Delaunay, are also part of Otto's leadership. Because some of them made pretty big money at Google, Otto is completely self-funded.
“Long-haul transit is vital for nearly 70% of the things we buy, yet hundreds of thousands of preventable trucking accidents happen each year on American highways. We believe it's our responsibility to bring safer, self-driving technology to the road,” says a statement on the company website.
Otto hardware and software is tuned for the consistent patterns and easy-to-predict road conditions of highway driving. Sensors are installed high atop the truck, which offers an unobstructed view of the road ahead. With highways making up only 5% of U.S. roads, Otto says this allows a tight testing focus on a specific set of trucking routes critical for the American economy.
The company says its self-driving kit was designed to “empower truck drivers to drive more safely and efficiently.”
The broad design imperative was to develop a “suite” of sensors, software, and truck enhancements that could be quickly fitted on existing trucks. Testing is actively underway with the Otto research fleet.
“We intend to enhance the capabilities of the Otto truck, collect safety data to demonstrate its benefits, and bring this technology to every corner of the U.S. highway system,” says Levandowski.
“This is a critical effort, with wide-reaching implications for all of us, that requires co-operation between government agencies, the private sector, truck fleets, drivers, manufacturers and the brightest engineers.”
It's early days, with no ready-for-market date set, but I've read suggestions that the price tag will be in the $30,000 range.
I'll be following this one closely – not so much the technology itself but the reaction by governments and the public to what's possible. There are some who will embrace it readily, some who'll fear it, and some will call it the devil's work. For my part I'm mightily intrigued, not to mention astonished by how quickly all this is moving.
When I saw the autonomous Mercedes-Benz Actros demonstrated on a German highway in 2014, it was a very bright moment even though it didn't surprise me. All the requisite technology had been there or almost there for quite a few years, after all. I'd seen much of it in action a decade earlier, also in Germany, via Wabco and ZF as well as Daimler, so the reality of an autonomous truck was almost an anti-climax. Cool as hell, definitely, yet evolutionary.
But a $30,000 self-driving kit nearly available as an aftermarket retrofit for existing trucks? That strikes me as something pretty remarkable.
Related: Autonomous Truck Development Marches On
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