Technology

Workforce equipment, technology, regulations and demographics continue to change, but truck driving has and will always be more than a job — it’s a lifestyle. Perhaps nothing illustrates this more today than watching drivers use smart phones and tablets.

A new “blue paper” by the research department of investment bank Morgan Stanley estimated that autonomous — “self-driving” — vehicles could save the freight transportation in¬dustry $168 billion annually, through pro-ductivity gains and lower costs for labor, fuel and accidents.

Omnitracs Europe has been acquired by Astrata Group, a Singapore based IT firm, from Qualcomm Europe. Terms were not disclosed.

Hub Group Inc. and Orbcomm Inc. signed an agreement that calls for installation of Orbcomm’s GT2300 tracking and monitoring system on the logistics companies’ containers.

The trucking industry and makers of electronic logging devices started 2014 braced for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to publish its long-awaited rule.

Consumers worldwide say they want to experience self-driving vehicles as automakers roll out an increasing number of cars that can take over and drive themselves, using mathematical calculations, an array of sensors and electronic controls of key vehicle systems.

The proposed rule on electronic logging devices for trucks will not be published until 2014, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Dec. 20.

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems has received renewal of a two-year regulatory exemption for its lane-departure warning system from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.