Defining the Future Truck
As truck design becomes more sophisticated and what’s behind the dash and under the hood become more electronically complicated, component suppliers have added brain boxes to a truck’s systems that enable components to communicate with each other, said Keith Brandis, director of product strategy at Volvo Trucks North America in Greensboro, N.C.
“It’s not enough anymore just to add more wires,” Mr. Brandis said. “These days, you need a truck Internet.”
hile electronics, satellites and mobile communications systems are providing carriers with better tools for driving, the flood of additional components is requiring higher-skilled drivers, he warned.
“The needs inside the cab are changing as technology advances,” Mr. Brandis said. “We know, for instance, that the driver population of the future will include more minorities, and that will result in a greater range of size and weight of drivers.”
He said these factors will affect the design of telescoping controls and voice-activated controls.
Traffic safety is heading light years into the future under the aegis of new technologies, he said. Future trucks will have smart cruise controls with cameras that aim at driver’s eyes to measure fatigue levels.
“Future trucks must also include many maintenance-free components,” he said.
Volvo is experimenting with such dramatic departures from traditional designs as tractors that position drivers in the center of the cab, a move that maximizes visibility, he said.
Guy Rini, chief engineer for electronics products at Mack Trucks in Hagerstown, Md., said his department is working on paperless vehicles that rely on mobile communications systems such as global positioning and low-earth-orbit satellite systems.
“The Internet becomes even more valuable to carriers if you can link into the vehicle,” Mr. Rini said.
Dale Bell, director of Worldwide Axle Engineering at Meritor Automotive in Troy, Mich., said trucks of the future will be lighter, last longer and cost less to keep up. Carriers should expect maintenance-free vehicles for the first 1 million miles.
“That means no lube, no service,” Mr. Bell said.
Clutches will become easier to activate, transmissions will catch up to engine capability, coolant requirements are likely to be eliminated, drivetrains will go 600,000 miles before requiring linehaul service, and axles even further — 1.8 million miles before service, he said.
Maintenance systems will focus on prevention rather than warning signals that something has already broken, he said.
“There will be warnings to plan service at intervals and ease of serviceability at lower costs,” he said. “Electronics should be simple and share commonality and reliability.”
