It’s officially 2020 – the beginning of a new decade. So what does the future hold for the trucking industry? Each year new trends pop up, some have lasting effects and some are just that – trends that fade away. Outlook for trucking in 2020 has logistical trends as well as technology trends. Here are some noteworthy trends:
Gone are the AOBRD’s – the pending phase-out of onboard recording devices to the ELD’s (electronic logging devices) could potentially leave thousands of drivers unable to work if they do not make the switch over on time. It sounds pretty simple, but not so much. each of these units is costly and finding the right fit for you or your company can be very stressful. We have been running ELD’s for a few months now.
Tech Savvy – Telematics has to do with data collected by a device installed on your truck. It can be set up to collect and transmit different types of information relating to performance, vehicle issues, to even slowing the truck down for safety reasons. This technology has been coming along for the past few years. It will show up in many more trucks going forward as it becomes a standard with most new trucks and ELD programs. Apps like MACRO and GPS Mapping are making a big play and will continue to going forward. Shippers want to track their products so they can offer the best service to their customers. This saves on multiple phone calls to a driver or dispatch to locate their product. Drivers are wanting the best online mapping or GPS available. Gone is the day of the Atlas (you know, the paper version of maps).
We were using Rand McNally as our AOBRD and switched over to one of the ELD programs they offer a couple of months ago. We did as much research as we could to try to help us decide what system we would be using in our truck fleet. In fact, we are still testing out a newer version of Rand McNally that is all internet-based software. With anything new, it has good and bad options. We use our system for everything from ELD, mapping, messaging, tracking, truck data, and hopefully specific apps in the near future.