Technology

While asset-tracking devices are finding increased adoption with intermodal container fleets, uptake for that venerable old workhorse of the intermodal supply chain — the chassis — faces different challenges.

While intermodal may be playing catch-up in the real-time freight visibility race, the consensus among industry watchers is that the gap is closing — fast. You can thank the Internet of Things revolution and the emergence of “in the cloud” software and database platforms.

Google’s Waymo, Uber and carmakers GM and Mercedes-Benz are among the companies working to put driverless vehicles in showrooms. That competition also should help lower prices that can reach $75,000 apiece for the sensors that scan a car’s surrounding environment so it knows how to drive itself.

Daimler AG is equipping its flagship Mercedes-Benz truck with technology that can take the wheel in situations ranging from stop-and-go city driving to highway cruising.

With plans to launch 20 new electric vehicles globally by 2023, General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the automaker will make “major enhancements” to its battery lab in Warren, Mich.

Gryphon Investors has acquired a majority stake in Transportation Insight, a Hickory, N.C.-based logistics consulting and transportation management firm, for an undisclosed amount.

Daimler AG is emerging as a beneficiary of Amazon.com Inc.’s booming package-delivery needs, with the e-commerce giant ordering 20,000 of the German automaker’s Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans.

Cargomatic has secured $35 million in additional funding from Warburg Pincus to continue expanding its load-matching business for drayage and shorthaul trucking markets, according to the San Francisco-based firm.