Magazine Articles - SAE Mobilus
A new skin-like computing patch developed at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) can analyze health data using artificial intelligence in an unprecedented way. Unlike today’s wearable devices, it carries out its AI computations directly on the body, in mere milliseconds, without relying on a wireless connection.
A new generation of military ground vehicles has arrived with robotic and fully autonomous capability thanks to recent advances in AI and other technologies. The proliferation of UAVs in the skies over modern battlefields has made many air-based military ops pilotless. That trend may soon extend to ground-based warfare as well. Several commercial truck OEMs and defense contractors have recently announced plans for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to take drivers out of the line of fire. “Physical AI is pushing computing into some of the most complex and data-intensive environments in the world,” said Wayne Lyons, senior director, Automotive Market, AMD. “These new data streams as well as new vehicle platforms designed to harness them have given defense contractors and commercial truck OEMs the ability to deploy a new generation of autonomous ground vehicles.”
New onboard range extender aims to accelerate the electrification of heavy-duty trucks thanks to less weight and reduced TCO. The biggest obstacles to electrification of heavy-duty trucks are the range anxiety that comes with electric-only powertrains, the trade-off in carrying capacity that current BEV technology requires and the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a full battery-electric truck versus a comparable ICE one. While development of improved battery technology and other pure EV propulsion research is still ongoing, several suppliers are offering electrification solutions that utilize existing ICE tech to improve the range and performance of current-generation heavy-duty EVs.
How the new RPL35+ was engineered to reduce weight without conceding on any other factors - and why the hollow spline sleeve at its core took three years to get right. North American Class 8 driveline engineering has long balanced torque capacity, durability and NVH against weight - with weight typically the constrained variable, not the primary driver. That balance is shifting. Lightweighting has been a serious engineering discipline in commercial vehicle drivelines for decades, particularly in markets where GVWR/GCWR limits are tighter and fuel costs higher. In North America, the market has historically been somewhat different: payload regulations are less punitive, fuel is relatively cheaper, and the premiums on torque capacity and durability in demanding vocational and linehaul applications typically outweigh the case for shaving driveline weight. Weight reduction has been an engineering objective, but rarely the primary one.
The average subscription in the mobility industry is fairly straightforward: a driver/owner pays a price and receives something, whether that's satellite radio, connected safety and support services or BMW's ill-fated (and now cancelled) $18-a-month heated seats. But what if a subscription service could save money? That's what battery giant Clarios is offering in its Battery Manager Pro product for truck owners and fleets, and the market is embracing the technology. The company announced at IAA 2026 in Hannover, Germany that the system would be available in Europe and that by October, 2,000 trucks in the U.S. would be using the system.
Truck makers and engine technology manufacturers continue to refine hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines (H2-ICE), viewing the strategy as a promising pathway toward lower-carbon heavy-duty transportation. With hydrogen trucks expected to begin appearing on roads as soon as next year, the technology is progressing from demonstration projects toward market readiness. Volvo Group, for example, is working with Cespira, a joint venture with Westport Fuel Systems, to apply its HPDI fuel system technology to Volvo's 13-L engine platform to enable it to run on hydrogen. The companies signed a development agreement over the summer to finalize the integration and commercialization of Cespira's system.
Autonomous driving systems are among the most complex software systems deployed in the commercial vehicle industry today. Modern autonomous driving platforms combine large-scale AI models, machine learning infrastructure, middle-ware, safety mechanisms and vehicle integration software into a tightly integrated software stack. This complexity introduces new cybersecurity challenges. Many of the threat modeling approaches used throughout the industry were developed around architectures with well-defined boundaries, limited software complexity and clearly documented interfaces. Autonomous driving systems operate differently.
With diesel prices skyrocketing worldwide, many fleet operators may be willing to turn to alternative fuels to ease the strain on their spreadsheets. However, a full conversion to CNG or electric-only trucks may be out of the question for reasons of unit cost, fuel availability or reduced overall fuel efficiency. Fuel system supplier Westport believes it can offer a solution that seamlessly allows both OEMs and fleets the best of both worlds in terms of reduced dependence on diesel fuel while maintaining current carrying capacity and unit costs.
Technology transfer between the commercial vehicle industry and the defense sector is a two-way street - or rugged off-road path, as the case may be. Defense investment can accelerate innovation that commercializes across the commercial vehicle industry. For example, defense needs - robotic and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), autonomous logistics and resupply, rugged autonomy and edge AI - are driving the development and adoption of physical AI.
What future digital capabilities are farmers most excited about? “AI,” Kelly Garrett, a sixth-generation farmer and owner of Garrett Land & Cattle in Arion, Iowa, flatly said during a John Deere press event at the Digital Ag Innovation Lab at Iowa State University prior to the Farm Progress Show. Moments later, John Deere announced the launch of JD, its AI assistant developed to help farmers access and use their data more easily and efficiently. JD is embedded in the John Deere Operations Center, a cloud-based centralized platform, allowing farmers to ask it questions instead of having to search across multiple dashboards or reports.
The pristine precision needed to certify the nation's underwater nuclear deterrent is anchored on the talents of civilian scientists at a Navy laboratory in Southern California. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Norco, CA At Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division, scientists can measure parts down to millionths of an inch - the level of exactitude required to keep the Navy's Trident nuclear missiles ready. The Trident II D5 Life Extension ballistic missile is launched underwater from submarines, providing a critical deterrent and survivable response to aggression. The Navy's Portfolio Acquisition Executive Strategic Systems Programs provides the highly accurate and reliable weapon system to the warfighter.
In a world of SUVs, the S-Class sedan persists. The Mercedes luxury vehicle continues to be the vehicle of choice for wealthy drivers and passengers. The 2027 refresh continues that tradition with three powertrain options that support all S-Class occupants. Mercedes' halo vehicle received a myriad of updates for 2027, including a new grille, updated engines, and sensors. So many sensors. The result is an S-Class that doesn't stray far from traditional design, yet is built with an eye on the latest worldwide emission regulations and expanding in-car and driving technologies. That includes an SAE Level 4 S-Class in the near future, but let's focus on what I drove in Germany.
Why preload retention matters more than fastener grade. In exhaust and thermal management applications, joint failures are frequently attributed to fastener fracture or rotation-driven loosening. In practice, many joints in these systems fail through a different mechanism entirely: gradual preload loss that occurs without fracture, without visible nut rotation, and without any indication during installation or room-temperature inspection that the joint is degrading. Understanding this distinction is becoming more important as exhaust system temperatures increase, assemblies get lighter, and vibration environments remain demanding. The gap between what a room-temperature validation protocol confirms and what a joint actually experiences in service has widened considerably in recent years, and conventional fastener selection methods have not kept pace.
For the past several years, manufacturing leaders have obsessed over a single question: How do we capture the knowledge of our retiring experts before they walk out the door for the last time? The answers have poured in, from digital work instructions and video libraries to AI-assisted knowledge bases and immersive training simulations. Billions of dollars have been deployed to bottle the expertise of master machinists and senior quality inspectors who spent decades developing an almost intuitive ability to detect a hairline fracture, sense when a tolerance is drifting, or feel when a machine is running wrong. That work was necessary. But it was also, in a sense, the easier problem. The harder question is only now coming into focus: once that knowledge is digitized, what exactly do the remaining specialists do?
The gathered journalists cover their ears as a loud hydraulic ram begins to load and a warning alarm sounds. Less than a minute later… FOOSH… BAM! A 9.9-pound model of a human head is launched into the front-end structure of a test vehicle, deforming the hood and sending the head bouncing to the ground. The violence of the moment, which is part of pedestrian safety research, is a stark reminder of the seriousness of all the testing that happens at Toyota's North American Research and Development Headquarters in York Township, Michigan. The $187-million (in 2007 dollars) facility includes 180,000 sq.ft. of research and testing space.
Despite a distinct lack of superheroes, the automated driving community scored big victories in San Diego at the end of July. The annual Automated Transportation Symposium opened just as the massive pop culture event that is ComicCon was leaving town. Iron Man and Aang stared out from nearby billboards as the conference tackled announcements regarding Zoox, changing automated vehicle regulations, and repeated discussions on how AVs need to improve interactions with first responders.
As the impending ILSAC GF-8, dexos 1 Gen 4, and a hybrid specification continue to obscure the North American landscape, passenger car engine oils need additive solutions that can help simplify blending operations and optimize product portfolios. Modern passenger car engine oils have evolved far beyond basic lubrication, becoming highly engineered fluids that support advanced engine technologies. Driven largely by the need to meet increasingly demanding efficiency and emissions requirements, today's engine oils must deliver a broad range of performance benefits in addition to wear protection. These requirements are defined through industry performance specifications, such as those established by the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC). In North America, current passenger car engine oils are formulated to meet ILSAC GF-7 standards, helping ensure that lubricants are aligned with the operational needs of modern vehicles. Change is on the horizon. ILSAC is in the early part of its development process for ILSAC GF-8, which will further push the envelope in terms of how an engine oil must contribute to greater fuel economy.
Engineer them to identical and tough specs all you want; autonomous vehicles are unlikely to drive the same way everywhere. They may all have the same technical capabilities, but this world is too messy for an AV engineer in San Francisco to be working on the same problems as one in Amsterdam. These global differences were front and center at the recebt 2026 SAE Automated Transportation Symposium (see more on page 11). I came away with renewed excitement about automated driving technology, given the real-world impact AVs are already making. Reports from Waymo, Kodiak and Uber and others all the way down prove the technology is working. But uccessful deployment depends on more than vehicle technology.
One of the consistent themes we're hearing from automotive manufacturers is the need to increase speed in production processes. Consumer demands have required OEMs to be flexible and fast, as many strive to find the right balance of production models. At the operational heart of that desire to increase throughput are conveyors, which are time-tested and serve as the backbone to many end users 'processes. While they haven't fundamentally changed much since first appearing on assembly lines in the early 20th century, they have evolved to meet modern needs, and manufacturers need to be aware of how they can impact productivity. Moreover, because of their foundational position in production, how they're designed and integrated into a physical footprint can have an equal bearing on how throughput goals can be reached. One of the more popular conveyors within automotive manufacturing has been driven roller conveyors that transport payloads linearly and feature functional units that can lift, transverse, and rotate payloads as needed. These conveyors are modular, which provides flexibility for manufacturers if they need to expand or condense operations with sections that can be easily removed or added. That adds a return on their investment, which is critical, especially for those in small to mid-sized markets.
Aumovio, working with sensor-maker trinamiX, has developed a solution to detect a driver's blood alcohol content (BAC) with a non-invasive finger touch. The race to develop systems to prevent alcohol-impaired driving has seen many different solutions proposed, from passively sensing the breath of a driver to analyzing micro-movement of the steering wheel. Aumovio says its system detects BAC with the accuracy of the drawn-blood tests, which have been proven to be more accurate - and less prone to false positives -- than breath or urine tests.
The case for advanced powder coatings. Corrosion in automotive components is often framed as a cost problem, but for design and manufacturing engineers it is more accurately understood as a system-level failure mechanism. Nowhere is this more visible than in wheel assemblies, where environmental exposure, mechanical damage, and coating performance intersect. For wheel manufacturers, corrosion is not simply a maintenance concern; it is a function of material selection, geometry, surface preparation, and coating system design, all interacting under real-world conditions. The global cost of corrosion is frequently cited in trillions of dollars annually. Estimates from the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) place this figure at over $3 trillion, with up to 35% considered preventable through improved design, material selection, and protective strategies. For engineers, the more relevant point is that a significant proportion of corrosion-related failure can be addressed through earlier-stage decisions. In practice, this means designing components and processes that limit the initiation and propagation of corrosion, rather than relying on coatings as a final barrier alone.
The economic logic behind factory software upgrades is breaking down. For the past four decades, automating a factory has meant one thing: buying into a large industrial software platform. Manufacturers turned to established suppliers such as Rockwell Automation and Siemens for the control systems, execution layers, and quality software that run their plants, millions of lines of rigorously engineered code, developed under strict standards and wrapped in guardrails. That rigor was never optional. When software commands a robot arm, a stamping press, or a paint line, a defect is not a bug ticket; it is a safety incident. The engineering discipline behind these platforms reflects that reality, and has served the industry well. But discipline at that scale comes at a price. Platform deployments are measured in millions of dollars and years of integration work, which means they only make economic sense for the largest, most repeatable problems a plant faces. Everything else, the hundreds of smaller, plant-specific pain points that erode margins every day, has largely gone unaddressed. Running a modern factory became expensive by design.
I'm not sure what to do with my hands. This is my typical response to any vehicle outfitted with a hands-free, eyes-on driver's assistance feature. After a few moments of the feature being enabled, I usually place my hands back on the steering wheel even though the vehicle is navigating the road ahead via an elaborate system of sensors and computers. The Lucid Gravity gets the same treatment. Still, it's handling the roadway deftly, without my input but definitely with my full attention. The second vehicle from automotive startup Lucid is a three-row SUV that more resembles a large station wagon or stylish minivan than the tall, upright sport utility vehicles that have overwhelmed the nation's roads. It's sleek, quick, modern, and filled with the latest technology. More importantly, it's enjoyable from behind the wheel with enough cargo space for even the most daring and bank-busting trip to Costco.
In the rapidly evolving arena of high-power laser technology, precision and reliability are becoming increasingly important. The increasing powers in laser applications into the 10's of kW and, in some cases, 100's of kW, present additional challenges when applied to internal laser system components. For Precitec, respected globally for their advanced laser processing heads, delivering consistent performance to customers is both a challenge and a necessity. This case study explores how Precitec's U.S. operation has integrated laser measurement technology into its workflow; a non-contact beam characterization system significantly elevates the company's service, quality assurance, and development processes for high-power laser applications.
Researchers have received a $24.9 million grant to develop an NSF Materials Innovation Platform where universities, national laboratories and industry members can run alloy-discovery campaigns using robotic systems and artificial intelligence. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas A six-year, $24.9 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) will establish the Autonomous Robotic Metallurgist Materials Innovation Platform (ARM-MIP) at Texas A&M University - a national user facility where robots and artificial intelligence take on the repetitive labor of alloy discovery, freeing scientists to focus on discovery itself. ARM-MIP will be sited at The Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus in Bryan, a dedicated research campus that also hosts the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command's central testing hub at the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex. The platform is designed to reach more than 200 users a year and 50 alloys per month in its first year, scaling to more than 200 alloys per month by year six.
Defense RF platforms are evolving from “sense-and-stream” architectures to “sense-think-act-communicate” Physical artificial intelligence (AI) architectures where inference and control occur as close to the antenna as possible to shorten decision loops and improve performance in contested environments. This shift is driven by rapidly increasing spectrum and waveform complexity, paired with strict size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) constraints, and the growing need for trusted microelectronics in sensitive defense applications. In practical terms, operators need RF systems that can adapt to dense spectral occupancy, interference, jamming/spoofing, multipath and complex multi-function sensor operations without relying on high latency backhaul to centralized compute. As spectrum becomes more crowded, and decisions more real time, defense systems must redesign RF architectures to achieve in-theatre electromagnetic advantage with closed-loop, edge-resident intelligence.
The form factor decision comes early, and it often sticks. Once you officially spec a 3U SOSA aligned chassis for a program, you're shaping every plug-in-module (PIM) selection, cooling approach, and upgrade path that follows. Get it right, and the system integrates cleanly. Get it wrong, and you're retrofitting workarounds six months before CDR, when changing direction costs real money. Neither form factor wins outright. They're tools, and the right one depends on program requirements. Here's what to know before you commit.
Materials engineers have developed the ability to manipulate structure and matter at the nanoscale for solid-state alloys called intermetallics, making it possible to alter their properties for extra performance characteristics. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN Intermetallics, which consist of two or more metallic elements in an ordered, crystal structure, are especially good candidates for these enhanced physical and chemical properties, owing to the critical role they play in demanding applications and products such as jet engines, gas turbines, and energy storage and automotive systems. The remarkable strength, high melting temperatures and superior creep resistance of intermetallics make them indispensable for structural usage in extreme environments. In a paper published in Science Advances, Purdue University engineers demonstrated a way to achieve simultaneous high strength and plasticity in cobalt aluminum (CoAl) intermetallics.
Historic VENOM milestone demonstrates scalable AI development capabilities for the operational fleet. Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA), Eglin Air Force Base, FL A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet, recently modified to serve as an autonomous flying testbed, is undergoing in-air testing using an artificial intelligence (AI) agent to autonomously control flight. This milestone advances state of the art technological infrastructure designed to enable rapid, scalable combat AI development across the joint force. The aircraft is one of a group of F-16s that have been converted into autonomous-capable platforms under the Viper Experimentation and Next-generation Operations Model (VENOM) program - a joint effort between the U.S. Air Force and DARPA, initiated under the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program.
In the past two decades, the global automotive industry has been flipped on its head. Even before I started writing professionally about this business, Chinese-made cars were something of a joke and European and North American automakers were dominating the still-nascent market for consumer vehicles in China. China is now the largest automotive market in the world by a wide margin, Chinese-brand vehicles are generally highly respected, and American politicians are lying about why consumers here can't get access to them. In the late 2010s, we began to see a shift in the Chinese market that has come to fruition in the past five years. When I attended the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as a member of the media for the first time, the first Chinese vehicles were being displayed on the show floor. Let's just say no one was impressed. Much of what was coming from Chinese brands at the time were either weird, outdated machines or the automotive equivalent of the Rolex knock-offs you could find on Canal St. in New York.
As military forces expand the use of distributed and expeditionary operating concepts across the Indo-Pacific, high-frequency (HF) communications continue to play a critical role in maintaining command-and-control links across vast distances without reliance on fixed infrastructure or satellite networks. A recent demonstration by communicators with Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia (MRF-SEA) and Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) highlighted the enduring value of HF technology for long-range military communications. During the event, Marines established two-way voice communications between Manila, Philippines, and Darwin, Australia, spanning approximately 2,000 miles. The communications link was achieved using an AN/PRC-160 high-frequency radio paired with a TRC-209 amplifier, validating the ability to maintain command and control across the Indo-Pacific using expeditionary communications systems.
Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Patuxent River, MD
When policymakers debate defense readiness, the conversation often centers on semiconductors, rare earth magnets, advanced optics, and other headline technologies. What rarely makes the list is the category of engineered technical textiles that equip, protect, and support American warfighters every day. These are not ordinary fabrics. Military technical textiles are engineered systems produced on computer-controlled looms, built from advanced synthetic polymers, and qualified under demanding aerospace and defense standards.
Modern defense platforms are no longer isolated systems. They are high-bandwidth nodes in a joint network spanning air, land, sea, space and cyber domains, and the connectors holding it all together are being pushed to their limits. The increasing prevalence of high-speed Ethernet in defense is pushing the boundaries of the tried and true circular D38999 connector. Military jets are becoming increasingly interconnected with edge computing devices, sensors, communication equipment and cameras via high-speed Ethernet. This is being replicated in other military assets, such as armored ground vehicles, artillery and command centers, as we move closer to the envisioned interconnected battlefield. The industry standard D38999, which has been around for decades, is starting to show its limitations when it comes to high-speed data signals.
IRT Saint Exupéry and its partners are celebrating the first anniversary of the “DIOXYGEN” project. This program marks the very first structured national initiative dedicated to building a competitive European supply chain for Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites. Institute of Research and Technology Saint Exupéry, Bordeaux, France Industrial and academic partners, together with the Institute of Research and Technology Saint Exupéry (IRT Saint Exupéry), are celebrating the first year of the ambitious collaborative project DiOXYGEN, dedicated to the development of oxide ceramic matrix composites (O-CMCs). These next-generation materials, capable of withstanding extreme operating conditions, offer significant opportunities for strategic sectors including aerospace, space, defense, energy, and radioactive waste management. Building on the roadmap outlined in the White Paper “Ceramic Matrix Composites: a French Area of Excellence,” published in March 2024, the project represents the first structured national program dedicated to a strategic industrial sector, with the objective of establishing a coherent, sovereign, and competitive French supply chain. It is also the first time that the entire French oxide ceramic matrix composites community has united around a common initiative.
MIT students designed, built, and tested a jet engine with AI copilots, assessing AI's usefulness in developing high-performance aerospace systems. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Artificial intelligence has rapidly transformed software engineering. But when the task is to conceive, design, and make a complex physical system such as a jet engine, are those AI tools equally transformative? The Jet-engine AI Research and Validation Intensive Sprint (JARVIS) Challenge set out to explore that question by asking MIT undergraduates to discover whether AI can help them build faster and better. Rather than treating AI as a writing assistant or coding accelerator, the challenge put it into a safety-critical hardware environment where every calculation, material choice, machining delay, and assembly tolerance mattered.
KPIT experts address challenges of maintaining legacy architectures while introducing centralized compute, OTA, new energy platforms and AI layers - driving integration complexity and validation effort. KPIT Technologies is providing the executive leadership for this year's SAE COMVEC, a forum for global leaders in trucking, construction equipment, agricultural machinery and defense vehicles to address the technologies, regulations and innovations impacting transportation today and in the coming years. The theme for COMVEC 2026 (www.sae.org/events/comvec), which takes place in Schaumburg, Illinois, from September 29 to October 1, is “Resolving Current Challenges While Reimagining the Future.” “For commercial and off-highway, this theme captures a structural contradiction the industry lives with every day: transform the entire product architecture while continuing to deliver near-zero downtime, tight margins and proven reliability,” Satish Kumar, senior VP at KPIT, said in a pre-event interview with Truck & Off-Highway Engineering.
Engineers designing pivot points for outdoor and heavy-duty equipment have long accepted the familiar routine: grease it, run it, regrease it and repeat. This approach may work well enough. But as equipment pushes into harsher environments and tighter service windows, “well enough” is no longer the standard. Maintenance-free pivots - pivots that run dry, resist corrosion and hold their tolerances through seasons of hard use - offer an increasingly compelling alternative. Designing one requires rethinking what a pivot point actually is, with most engineers focusing only on the bearing itself. While this instinct is understandable, it's also incomplete. A pivot consists of a bearing, shaft and housing working together, requiring a systems-level approach. Optimize only one element and you may still end up with a failure.
State and federal legislation has helped double the consumption of renewable and biodiesel in North America over the past half decade. But is policy alone enough to make them ready for prime time? As crude oil prices continue to fluctuate globally, creating budgeting and logistical headaches for fleets of all sizes, renewable diesel (RD) fuels have quietly gained ground in North America. According to Chevron, total biomass consumption of renewable fuels in the U.S. has grown exponentially over the past five years, from 2.7 million gallons in 2020 to 5.1 million gallons in 2024. While that represents a fragment of annual diesel consumption in the U.S., the environmental benefits and viability of renewable fuels are growing greater everyday thanks to legislative support and technological investment from various fuel producers.
The trucking industry is dealing with a lot of uncertainty, and higher fuel and equipment costs are making it harder for companies to plan and buy new trucks. What can OEMs and fleet operators do to mitigate these challenges? Hybrid systems may be the answer. With internal combustion and electric power, hybrid systems reduce fuel consumption, improve transient performance, enable low-speed electric operation and create more flexible power management. Vehicles and equipment that could benefit from new or retrofit hybrid systems include refuse trucks, dump trucks, long-haul trucks, port equipment, excavators, terminal tractors and commercial delivery vehicles.
Mehdi Ferhan said optimizing existing technology was a challenge but ultimately the right solution for Volvo to satisfy new NOx regulations. And he says he has never been bored a single day in his career as an engineer. SAE Media senior editor Chris Clonts had an exclusive opportunity at ACT 2026 to sit down with Volvo Group's senior vice president of powertrain technology, Mehdi Ferhan. The talk of the day was EPA 2027 and its new NOx emission standard. Other topics in the free-ranging conversation included BEVs, hydrogen and current opportunities for engineers. The following was edited for length and clarity.
Wirtgen Group hosted select media at its training and technology center near Nashville to demonstrate the full road-building workflow - from milling and paving to compaction - and how connected machines, automation and real-time data are helping crews to work more efficiently. As part of John Deere's construction equipment portfolio, Wirtgen Group's specialized machinery combines with Deere's TechStack and digital fleet management technology to improve productivity, efficiency, safety and pavement quality. Wirtgen (rehabilitation), Vögele (paving) and Hamm (compaction) machines were in action for the roadbuilding demo. Other Group brands not demoed include Kleeman for crushers and screening plants for processing, and Benninghoven, which is not part of the portfolio in the U.S., for mixing and recycling plants.
In the conversation surrounding electrification, the vehicle itself typically dominates the headlines. But those operating on remote jobsites in the mining, construction and agriculture sectors know the machine is only half the equation. These industries prioritize reliability and uptime and require machines that can handle grueling shifts in demanding environments without compromise. Power providers in these heavy-duty, off-highway markets must move beyond the battery itself to explore a holistic approach to infrastructure when it comes to powering remote jobsites. The first step to success is understanding the fundamental differences between off-highway duty cycles and on-highway applications. While on-highway applications like long-hauling trucks benefit from steady-state operation and passive airflow for cooling, off-highway machines often operate at high torque for extended periods, with little to no forward movement. In these scenarios, there is no passive cooling to rely on or regular refueling stations at the next exit. Success, therefore, is defined by the engineering required to ensure that electric machines deliver the same productivity as diesel, even when operated at their limits in the most rugged, remote conditions.
Industrial powertrain suppliers are being asked to provide more solutions for a greater array of clients than ever before. Thanks to shifting regulations, new technological developments and customer demand for greater efficiency and power at lower cost, companies like FPT Industrial have a herculean task to engineer the next generation of ICE and electrified powertrains. Truck & Off-Highway Engineering interviewed Daniele Pozzo, head of marketing and product portfolio for FPT Industrial at CONEXPO 2026. Pozzo discussed FPT's current powertrain development strategy, what trends the company is seeing in the markets of both on- and off-highway clients and what solutions customers are demanding for the various industries FPT serves.
It's near that time of year again when early-career and well-established engineers alike gather in Schaumburg, Illinois, for the annual SAE COMVEC conference (www.sae.org/events/comvec). From September 29 to October 1, attendees will listen to experts on a range of topics - from “Right Sizing Hybrid Powertrains” to “AI for Efficient Engineering Development” - walk the exhibit floor to witness the latest technologies and of course converse with one another over coffee or other beverages. KPIT Technologies is providing the executive leadership for this year's COMVEC and has a significant presence on the agenda, including the opening keynote by Omkar Panse, KPIT's chief technology officer (CTO). Panse and Satish Kumar, senior VP at KPIT, offered their insights on the engineering challenges and opportunities that next-generation commercial vehicles present in this issue's feature story on page 16.
At the ACT Expo in Las Vegas, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said that the coming R2 pickup would help pay for the company's massive R&D budget. He said that budget was the result of a conscious decision to design and build the majority of items for its trucks and SUVs in-house. Scaringe joined Erik Neandross, president of TRC's Clean Transportation Solutions Group, for a fireside chat reflecting on Rivian's journey and its future.
Breaking down the critical differences in fastener selection for EV platforms. Specifying fasteners for an electric vehicle is a fundamentally different exercise compared to an ICE vehicle. For ICE vehicles, the main challenges - heat, vibration, and torque repeatability - are well understood, and the industry has decades of established solutions to draw from. EVs introduce four additional constraints that change the equation entirely: high-voltage (isolation, low magnetic permeability, thermal-cycling resilience and gram-level weight targets. A mis-specified bolt at the battery, busbar, or inverter level can reduce efficiency, compromise safety or void certification. To get it right, there is a need to understand each constraint and the materials that can address it.
I wanted to return to the topic from last month's column, my visit to the annual Summit of the International Transport Forum, the world's largest gathering of transport ministers and a global transport policy event, in Leipzig, Germany. Since there wasn't a lot of news directly related to automotive engineering news, I wanted to share a bit from this high-level event through editorial privilege. It was interesting to hear from some of the people in charge around the world as they shared their views on our current transportation situation and what they are doing to affect the future. At a panel on EV expansion, for example, the people in the room seemed to agree that the commercial EV industry has moved beyond proving the viability of battery-electric trucks and is shifting focus to overcoming infrastructure, regulatory, and systems integration challenges that continue to limit large-scale deployment. Even better, for those of us who've been listening to the arguments for and against electric vehicles for multiple decades now, representatives from across the industry - including logistics providers, vehicle manufacturers, charging companies, and policy groups - said that zero-emission freight transport has become a business strategy today, more so than any sort of sustainability effort as it might have been in years past. In the same vein, what might have been a battery-electric transport pilot program in 2016 can today be integrated into an organization's core freight operations.
As a society, we have become tracked, categorized, exploited, and monetized. Tech companies have determined that our data, when sold to ad networks, is a profitable business. Automakers, eager to find additional streams of revenue, jumped aboard. Now, nearly every app, device, and vehicle harvests and shares valuable information. Most of it is (hopefully) anonymized, but not all of it. Automotive startup Slate doesn't see data as a business plan. Yes, its app will collect information, but a Slate spokesperson, when asked if collected data will be sold for additional revenue, told SAE Media a flat “No.”
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