Buckendale Lecture: Transformational Technologies Reshaping Transportation, An Industry Perspective (SAE Paper 2020-01-1945)

Freight trucking has always embraced continuous improvement although the general public may be largely unaware of the tremendous changes that have occurred to date in vehicle safety, efficiencies, emissions mitigation and asset utilization. Today�s freight industry is in the early stages of dramatic technological advances in areas such as connectivity, automation and electrification. Fleet and manufacturer perspective on these transformational technologies are universally supportive, driven both by economic and regulatory factors. The early stages of these technological revolutions are characterized by a multitude of competing concepts confusing choices, complicated by a significant number of competing vested interests obscuring objectivity, and clouded by billions of dollars of venture capital. The objective of this report is to provide unbiased insight into the freight industries thoughts on these transformational technologies.