Government-Industry Partnership for Improving the Military's and Nation's Trucks: The 21 ^st Century Truck Initiative

The 21^st Century Truck Initiative represents the premier partnership between government (Departments of Defense, Army, Energy, Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency) and the U.S. trucking and supporting industries in seeking to develop and demonstrate commercially viable advanced technologies for trucks in the 21^st century. At the request of senior leadership within the U.S. Departments of Defense and the Army, the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command's (TACOM) National Automotive Center (NAC), located at TACOM's Tank-Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC), spearheaded the creation of this government-industry partnership to pursue the necessary leap-ahead technologies. By teaming the research and development efforts of government and industry, the partnership will improve fuel efficiency, increase safety, reduce owning and operating costs, and reduce emissions, while maintaining or enhancing the performance of military and commercial trucks. Two and a half years in the making, the NAC's efforts culminated in Vice-President Al Gore, flanked by senior Agency officials and key industry partners, announcing the 21^st Century Truck Initiative on April 21, 2000. [1]