DC Velocity - December 2017

16 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2017 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
(OOIDA) has asked federal regulators to grant five-
year exemptions to a swath of drivers from regula-
tions requiring that, by Dec. 18, virtually all trucks be
equipped with electronic logging devices (ELDs).

OOIDA, which represents about 150,000 independent drivers and small fleets, wants the exemption to apply to carriers classified as “small businesses” according to the Small Business Administration, that have no record of attributable at-fault crashes, and that do not have a carrier safety rating of “ unsatisfactory” under federal regulations. The trade group said it doesn’t know how many drivers would be eligible for exemptions under its criteria.

OOIDA has fought the ELD mandate tooth and nail ever since it was unveiled two years ago. It has argued that the rules do not improve highway safety, violate 4th Amendment rights against illegal search and seizure because they require the installation of a war-rantless tracking device, would increase carrier costs, and deploy equipment that has been unproven and uncertified. However, the group has been thwarted in the courts, and it seems unlikely the Trump administration will act to delay the rules’ implementation date at the 11th hour.

OOIDA said a five-year exemption period would enable the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which wrote the rules, to fully vet ELD vendors to determine if their equipment complies with federal regulations. Currently, all of the 193 ELD-related devices shown on FMCSA’s website have been self-certified and have not been validated by the agency or by a third-party testing program, OOIDA said.

“Most small-business motor carriers can ill afford to make these purchases only to learn later that the ELD is non-compliant. Yet they are required to do so or risk violation,” said Todd Spencer, OOIDA’s executive

OOIDA seeks five-year exemption
from ELD compliance for smaller
carriers
ing technology,” J.B. Hunt President and CEO
John Roberts said in a statement. “We believe electric
trucks will be most beneficial on local and dray routes,
and we look forward to utilizing this new, sustainable
technology.”
Many transportation and logistics firms see a strong
case for adding electric trucks to their fleets as a way to
alleviate the rising costs of labor and fuel, said David
Egan, global head of industrial and logistics research at
Los Angeles-based real estate and logistics services firm
CBRE Group Inc. Electric trucks offer fleet operators
a way to slash fuel costs, while opening the door to
increased autonomous driving capabilities, he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of pushback in the industry because of entrenched diesel automotive-technology providers, but this is the way all automobiles are going; we’re going to see fewer internal combustion engines over time,” Egan said. “This is going to be a massive game changer within our lifetimes, and probably within our careers.”

A STEP TOWARD ROBOTRUCKS?

Tesla has designed its electric semi to support increasing levels of autonomous driving performance, Musk said at the launch. The cab of a Tesla Semi features a central seating position with touchscreen monitors on each side of the driver that support the vehicle’s enhanced autopilot capabilities, such as automatic emergency braking, lane keeping, lane departure warning, and jack-knife prevention systems.

In addition, the Tesla Semi is designed to support operations in convoy or “platooning” mode, where multiple trucks use precision telematics and wireless communications to save fuel by drafting other members of the convoy as they follow a lead vehicle operated by a human driver. Investors have been supporting research into that strategy, as demonstrated by the $60 million in venture funds landed by automated-vehicle systems developer Peloton Technology in April.

Tesla will need to provide further details before it can convince transportation professionals to invest in electric trucks, according to a note to investors from investment firm Stifel. For example, buyers will need to know the truck’s weight so they can calculate how much payload it can handle while accounting for the weight of the truck’s powerful batteries, said Michael J. Baudendistel, a Stifel analyst. Additional questions concern the timetable for installing a nationwide battery-recharging network, and the recruiting and training of workers to service electric vehicles, Baudendistel said.