By “virtual trucking” we don’t mean computer games or training simulations, and we don’t mean ivirtuous trucking either, as in the iOverdrive Knights of the Road feature. In this CNN interview, business consultant Amy Zuckerman uses “>virtual” to mean “online and networked” and says truck drivers are examples of employees “operating virtually” in America’s “hidden tech” economy
The truck world is operating virtually all the time and no one ever thinks of that. Fleets of thousands of drivers out on the road using all kinds of remote technology you can imagine. They’re using laptop PCs, they’re doing all sorts of work and communicating back to the base. This is an example of a literally virtual business on the road all the time. Nowadays the technology and data transmission going on in the trucking industry is really phenomenal. They’re being asked to gather much more information than they used to. Truck drivers on their own, they’re operating virtually.
