Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022:
Price Digests recognizes trucks with best retained value
Price Digests, a provider of vehicle values and specs data for more than 100 years, has announced the finalists for its fourth annual Price Digests Highest Retained Value Awards (HRVA) -- the program utilizes third-party, unbiased, data-driven residual values of commercial trucks to recognize those that best hold their value. Price Digests is powered by The Truck Blue Book.
Price Digests, a Randall Reilly sister company of Overdrive, presents the awards in nine categories honoring 2022 model year Class 3-8 commercial trucks, ranging from light to heavy-duty. The finalists represent the model series in each category projected to retain the highest percentage of their original value during the next five years.
“We look at the most popular commercial trucks and vans on the road and use proprietary algorithms to identify those that are expected to retain the most value over the next five years," said Kurt Wilson, Price Digests manager of data analytics.
Winning trucks and vans will be announced Oct. 23 at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.
The finalists this year are:
FMCSA considering requiring electronic IDs on trucks
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering a change to its regulations to require every commercial motor vehicle operating interstate to be equipped with electronic identification technology capable of wirelessly communicating a unique ID number to federal or state motor carrier safety enforcement personnel.
FMCSA said it is considering the amendments “to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the roadside inspection program by more fully enabling enforcement agencies to focus their efforts at high-risk carriers and drivers.”
The agency said it doesn’t currently require trucks to be equipped with systems capable of transmitting such an ID. The agency does provide grant funding to states for technology projects that enable inspectors to electronically identify a truck; verify its size, weight and credentials information; and review the carrier’s past safety performance while the vehicle is in motion.
The agency added that it is testing Level 8 Electronic Inspections to enhance its current process for monitoring and enforcing safety compliance. The electronic inspections being tested would enable FMCSA to “assess on-the-road safety compliance" as a truck moves, thus "minimizing disruption to the motor carrier and, therefore, supply chain." The agency touted Level 8 inspections as a way, too, to reduce "emissions across the nation.”
FMCSA’s current notice, a pre-regulation Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, stems in part from a 2010 petition from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance that requested all CMVs used in interstate commerce be equipped with an electronic device capable of transmitting a unique ID number when queried by law enforcement. FMCSA denied the petition in 2013 due to a lack of information regarding the costs and benefits of an electronic ID mandate.
CVSA requested in 2015 that FMCSA reconsider the denial and provided more information, and FMCSA granted the request in November 2015.
Comments will be accepted on FMCSA’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking for 60 days beginning Friday, Sept. 23. Comments can be made at www.regulations.gov by searching Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0062. A direct link to the comment page will be added to this post when it becomes available.
The agency asks that respondents provide information regarding the best possible technical and operational concepts along with associated costs, benefits, security, vulnerability, privacy and other relevant deployment and operational implications. A full list of questions FMCSA is seeking information on can be found in section VI of the docket item when it’s published.
[Related: 'Virtual weigh stations' in Alabama, Automated e-inspections demonstration, more with inspection data from Overdrive's CSA's Data Trail hub]
Drivewyze weigh-station bypass network to add road-hazard alerts
The Drivewyze weigh station bypass network and HAAS Alert, creator of the Safety Cloud automotive "connected safety" platform, announced a new collaboration to integrate Safety Cloud within Drivewyze's "Connected Truck" platform. The goal is to deliver digital alerts about vehicles and equipment on the roadway to drivers through the Drivewyze in-cab application.
“Maintenance, emergency response, and work zone events can often place vehicles and equipment in situations that can be hazardous to both workers and drivers,” said Brian Heath, Drivewyze CEO. “This collaboration will give commercial truck drivers added reaction time to slow down and move over when approaching roadway operations -- helping to avoid potential crashes.”
Safety Cloud integrates hazard data directly from roadway vehicles, equipment, and trusted partners and will share this information with Drivewyze in real time. Drivewyze will notify approaching truck drivers in advance through visual/audible in-cab alerts.
Heath added the company looked forward to "working with leading transportation agencies to unlock the IoT capability of their roadway assets, so that drivers are provided with advance awareness to potential risks."
