What could one do with two identical commercial vehicles that are operating on the identical route, with an identical load, running the same speed at the same time?
What if I told you these vehicles had state-of-the-art telematics enhanced with edge computing, artificial intelligence and machine/deep learning capabilities? What could the trucking industry do in the way or research and development?
The first thing that comes to mind: fuel economy testing.
Instead of suffering through the pain and aggravation of running SAE/TMC Type II, III and IV testing for fuel economy, why not document and develop a SAE/TMC Type V fuel economy recommended practice?
The second thing that gets very little attention: driver health issues.
Trucks are noisy fiberglass igloos, vibrating and bouncing down the highway and exposing drivers to whole-body vibration and who knows what else. Why not measure sound and vibration that is detrimental to a driver's health? I’m sure the tire industry, fan clutch industry and suspension industry can benefit drivers by doing research on these trucks. If you are a member of these industries or other industries that would benefit from this research opportunity, please reach out to me.
The third thing that the trucking industry needs to get into high gear on is predictive maintenance.
