Trucking news and briefs for Friday, March 8, 2024:
Mack begins MD Electric production
Mack Trucks recently began production of its second battery-electric vehicle (BEV), the Mack MD Electric, and delivered units to several customers who are using the truck in a variety of applications.
Mack delivered the MD Electric to ABF Freight, DC Logistics, Mission Linen and Pronto Freight Ways to begin operations and testing.
“We’re thrilled that the Mack MD Electric is in full production and that customers are beginning to take delivery of the trucks,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “We built on the success of the diesel-powered Mack MD Series to bring an electric vehicle to the medium-duty market to help customers meet their sustainability goals with the same Mack promise of durability and reliability.”
ABF’s Mack MD Electric will operate in Oakland, California, and will do pickup and delivery at various customer locations. TEC Equipment in Oakland will service and support the Mack MD Electric for ABF.
[Related: Mack's zero-emission MD shines at ground zero for electric trucks]
DC Logistics is operating their MD Electric in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles and Orange County, California. The company will be using it for LTL applications hauling various types of cargo.
The MD Electric is the first electric medium-duty vehicle in DC Logistics’ fleet, though the company operates four heavy-duty BEVs. DC Logistics operates in Arizona, Oregon, California, Texas, Louisiana and Nevada. TEC Equipment in Fontana, California, will service and support the BEV.
Mission Linen is piloting the Mack MD Electric because it would like to be a sustainability leader in Northern California, said Ryan Severson, general manager of Western Truck Centers, Mission Linen’s dealer. Western Truck Centers in Sacramento, Stockton and Turlock, California, will support Mission Linen. It’s the first electric truck in Mission’s fleet.
Pronto Freightways is committed to ecological balance, which is why the company decided to test the Mack MD Electric, said Paul Wozniak, president and CEO of Pronto. The MD Electric will be operating in Wayne and Oakland counties in Michigan and will be conducting pickup and delivery of palletized cargo dock to dock within a 60-mile radius. The MD Electric is the first electric vehicle in Pronto’s fleet.
[Related: Watch: Mack provides a closer look at their MD Electric]
FMCSA considering study of safety impacts of 'human-ADS team driving applications'
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is planning to seek approval from the Office of Management and Budget for a study that looks at the safety impacts of team driving applications between humans and automated driving system-equipped trucks.
The agency is specifically looking at Level 4 autonomous driving technologies, which are capable of all functions and controls necessary for driving without human monitoring in limited conditions, and the human driver will not be asked to take over control of the vehicle.
FMCSA said there are currently four use cases where a human may team with an ADS-equipped truck:
- In-vehicle driver teams with an ADS CMV
- In-vehicle driver teams with a following ADS-equipped CMV
- In-vehicle driver teams with a remote assistant to monitor and control an ADS CMV
- Remote driver teaming with ADS CMV
FMCSA noted that it’s currently “unclear how each human-ADS teaming use case will affect safety, productivity, and efficiency. Each teaming combination may positively or negatively affect a driver’s cognitive workload, level of fatigue, alertness, or distraction compared to the case of a traditional driver in a truck without ADS.”
The purpose of the study, FMCSA added, is to quantify safety implications of the four human-ADS teaming use cases described above.
The study would include data collection from a series of questionnaires and a driving simulator focused experiment. The agency anticipates 80 drivers will participate in the simulator study, which will consist of one study session lasting up to 17 hours. Questionnaire data will be collected prior to the simulator study, during the simulator study, and after the simulator study.
FMCSA is accepting public comments on the proposed study, which can be filed at www.regulations.gov by searching Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0098 when the notice publishes in the Federal Register Friday, March 8.
[Related: FMCSA begins process to study driver interactions in Level 2 and 3 autonomous trucks]
CVSA opens nomination period for driver excellence award
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is now accepting nominations for its International Driver Excellence Award (IDEA), an annual award that recognizes an extraordinary professional commercial motor vehicle driver and their commitment to public safety. The deadline for nominations is Friday, May 10.
The 2024 IDEA recipient and a guest will receive a complimentary economy flight to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport and a one-room, two-night stay at Big Sky Resort to attend the CVSA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Big Sky, Montana.
The IDEA winner will be recognized at the annual conference general session and awards ceremony on Sept. 9, where they will receive a $5,000 prize and a crystal trophy.
Nominees must have:
- At least 25 cumulative years of crash-free driving in a commercial motor vehicle with a clean driving record for the past three years
- No felony convictions
- No safety-related driving suspensions in the past three years
- No driver violations in the past three years, excluding form and manner violations
IDEA is open to the entire commercial motor vehicle industry. Nominees do not need to be a member of or affiliated with CVSA to apply.
CVSA’s simplified application enables individuals to easily fill out the nomination form and submit the required supporting documentation, all online.
Fleetcor rebranding as Corpay
FleetCor Technologies, Inc., the parent company of Comdata and other payment solutions, announced Thursday its plans to rebrand the company to Corpay.
The name change better reflects the company’s current portfolio of corporate payment solutions, the company said. It will take effect on March 25, 2024, when the company’s stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol CPAY.
“The Corpay name better represents what we do now, which is provide corporate payment solutions,” said Ron Clarke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FleetCor. “We will use Corpay as the go-to-market brand for our Corporate Payments segment and retain our existing popular go-to-market brands in our Vehicle Payments and Lodging Payments segments.”
