Maximizing profits in the trucking industry is all about maximizing efficiency—not just of the truck, but within the entire supply chain. To that end, automotive connectivity is of prime importance to maximize data intake and streamline communications.
No matter the application—autonomous, diesel, all-electric, or shared—trucks are already being equipped to communicate with other vehicles, the environment, and even between a truck’s own components, such as between the tractor and trailer.
Connecting the Supply Chain
The logistics sector is experiencing a major evolution due to supply chain connectivity. Vehicles, beacons, sensors, infrastructure, and more are integrating with one another to create a seamless navigational experience.
Today’s logistical ecosystem is already being modified with connected technology to allow fleets to better serve customers and to provide deeper insight into fleet operations. CC Industries Head of Ideation and Concepting, Dan Bentz, says over the next couple of decades, cities around the world will evolve in a way that better allows the supply chain—everything from trucks, trailers, and warehouses, to airports, railways, and roadway intersections—to interact and react to what is happening around them.
“I believe one of the best examples is that of Toyota’s ‘Woven City’ imagination and plans at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan,” Bentz says. “To coincide with their strategic intent of shifting to a mobility company that brings harmony and joy to people’s lives, their entire purpose is to create a ‘living laboratory’ where seamlessness and connectivity happens in a transparent way, be it robotics, interaction, or logistics.”
Connective communication such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) is all fundamental to safe and efficient operations, and without connectivity, autonomy cannot exist. As a result, the supply chain will come to rely on technologies like artificial intelligence to predict supply and demand, as well as blockchain to effectively provide connected components with real-time updates and always-saved, up-to-date data.
Connecting the Truck
Great Dane is already ahead of the connectivity curve, as the company’s FleetPulse telematics device and CAN-enabled harness comes standard on all dry vans and reefers. Since
CAN technology is an automotive industry standard, this helps future-proof FleetPulse when collecting and processing reliable trailer data in tomorrow’s trucks.
Bentz says FleetPulse from the beginning was designed with the intention of connected, seamless, transparent, and efficient technology for logistics interactions in a smart environment.
“The hope is that advancements in logistics across the board by all the companies within the industry will accelerate the changes in smart city design by the various states and localities,” Bentz says. “Much like Toyota’s Woven City, we view the future logistics environment as one that is interactive in nature, not just static. Because of that, we design toward that viewpoint.”
The role of a connected logistical ecosystem is accelerating quickly, and Great Dane is helping customers keep their trailers and truck bodies ready for the next evolutionary step in this technology.
Read more about how tomorrow’s smart city technology is redefining today’s logistics.
