Trucking Magazine – July 2019

NEWS INTERNATIONAL

14 TRUCKING Summer 2019

US Postal Service readies

two-week self-driving

truck trial

T

he United States Postal

Service (USPS) has

awarded global

self-driving truck

company TuSimple a

contract to perform five round trips

• over a two-week pilot – in which
  a self-driving truck will haul USPS
  trailers more than 1000 miles
  between the Postal Service’s
  Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas
  distribution centres.
  The truck will have a safety
  engineer and driver on board for
  the duration of the pilot to monitor
  vehicle performance and to ensure
  public safety.
  The Postal Service said it was
  exploring the feasibility of utilising
  autonomous delivery vehicle
  technology to reduce fuel costs,
  increase safe truck operation and
  improve its fleet utilisation rate
  through longer hours of operation.
  TuSimple will run a series of its
  self-driving trucks for 22 hours
  each, which includes overnight
  driving, along the I-10, I-20 and
  I-30 corridors to make the trip
  through Arizona, New Mexico
  and Texas.
  The freight that flows along I-
  corridor accounts for 60 per cent of
  the total economic activity in the

United States. TuSimple said it

expects this to be a central route

for the company because there is

already strong demand from other

customers for runs between

Arizona and Texas.

“It is exciting to think that before

many people will ride in a robo-taxi,

their mail and packages may be

carried in a self-driving truck,” said

Dr Xiaodi Hou, founder, president

and chief technology officer,

TuSimple. “Performing for the

USPS on this pilot in this particular

commercial corridor gives us

specific use cases to help us

validate our system and expedite

the technological development and

commercialisation progress.”

TuSimple said long-haul routes

with short turnaround times, such

as this 22-hour journey, are well

suited for self-driving trucks

because they are normally

accomplished with driving teams

of two.

Driving teams are challenging to

recruit due to overnight driving

requirements, the need to share close

quarters with another person, and a

significant truck driver shortage in the

US – which, could reach 175,000 by

2024, according to the American

Trucking Association (ATA).

NEWS IN BRIEF

DAF’s factory upgrade

DAF has announced plans to invest

€200 million in its cab plant in

Westerlo, Belgium in preparation for

future production volumes. The Dutch

truck-maker opened its Westerlo plant

in 1966, where – in addition to cabs – it

has also manufactured its own axles

since the early ’70s. The current

workforce of 2800 employees

produces axles and cabs for the

heavy- and medium-duty trucks that

come off the production lines in

Eindhoven, The Netherlands and in

Leyland, United Kingdom. With the

€200 million investment, production

capacity of the cab plant will increase

by some 45 per cent to 300 cabs per

day in a two-shift operation. This

number will be in line with capacity of

the new Cab Paint Factory, which was

officially opened at the end of 2017

following an investment of €100 million.

Allison electric trials

Amid the global pursuit of

electrification in the commercial

vehicle industry, Allison Transmission

has announced its AXE Series of

highly efficient axles for electric

vehicles. Launched at the 2019

Advanced Clean Technology (ACT)

Expo in Long Beach, California, the

AXE Series electric powertrain will be

integrated in Peterbilt’s Model 579EV

electric Class 8 truck for testing. As a

result, the truck boasts 1475 bhp

(1100 KW) of power, delivering

“industry-leading performance, as well

as efficiency,” according to Allison.

N

orwegian truck driver

Andreas Nordsjø

has won the top

prize at the European final

of the Scania Driver

Competition 2019.

As the overall winner of the

competition, Nordsjø will spec

a Scania truck for his personal

use, which will be delivered

together with one year’s worth

of Scania Insurance and

Norwegian trucker wins

Scania’s Driver Competition

supermarket retailer Aldi.

“Taking part in the European

final has been fantastic,” Artur

said. “Everything has been

top-level quality throughout,

and the drivers and teams from

all the different countries are

amazing. Even if I had not been

a competing driver, I would still

have liked to be here as it’s

been such a great experience.”

Restrictions on truck movements

may be applicable in the following

countries on the dates listed,

in addition to any weekend bans

on truck movements:

Belarus July 3

Belgium July 11/

Czech Rep July 5/

France July 14

Italy July 15

Lithuania July 6

Montenegro July 13, 15

Portugal July 1

Slovakia July 5

Spain July 25

HOLIDAYS

USPS will test TuSimple self-driving truck on

delivery runs between Arizona and Texas

ABOVE Moment of victory:

Andreas Nordsjø completes his final

test to win the competition

ABOVE Winner Nordsjø can now

spec up his own Scania truck

Scania Fleet Management

System to a maximum value

of €100,000.

Nordsjø fended off strong

challenges from runner-up

Fredrik Arwidmark of Sweden,

and third-placed Piotr

Dołengiewicz of Poland.

“It’s fantastic to have won,”

Nordsjø said. “I have dreamt of

this moment, but never expected

it to happen!”

Scania’s Driver Competition

comprises a series of events held

around the world to honour,

celebrate and reward the global

community of truck drivers. 

Contestants for the European

final were selected from an

original entry field of

approximately 20,000 drivers.

The UK’s entrant was Artur

Brejnak, 36, from Newport,

South Wales, who drives for