Smart trailer technology giving new meaning to a ‘box on wheels’

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For a long time, Bendix’s Richard Beyer says the transportation industry has viewed dry van trailers as a “box on wheels.”

Those days are just about over.

Speaking Thursday during a technical session at the 2019 National Trailer Dealers Association (NTDA) Annual Convention in Palm Beach, Fla., Beyer says the North American trailer segment is changing. Advanced equipment technology has found its way into trailer production and, now that it’s here, Beyer says trailer dealers and service providers need to make sure they understand it.

Dry vans may always be boxes on wheels, but from this point forward, Beyer says they’re going to be intelligent boxes.

Beyer says one important factor to understand when discussing trailer technology is smart trailers don’t refer exclusively to units with maintenance and performance monitoring systems. He says intelligent trailers also will feature a number of sensors and monitors to aid fleets in real-time asset and load tracking since the latter can sometimes be worth more than the asset.

“You could have a couple million dollars of product in that unit,” Beyer says.

Asset monitoring will have other benefits as well. Beyer uses platooning as an example, noting drivers preparing to engage in a platoon would need to know the exact weight of their equipment in advance, with the heaviest rig being positioned at the front in case it takes longer to stop.

As for performance and maintenance technology, Beyer says every technology that has been installed and will one day be installed on a commercial trailer is designed to reduce downtime, increase safety on roadways and, eventually, assist with automated driving. Though he quickly notes Level 5 autonomy in the commercial trucking space is still a long, long way off, and that driverless trucks may never arrive. After all, “planes have been fully autonomous for 30 years and they still have a pilot and a co-pilot,” Beyer says.

Today, Beyer says trailer OEMs and supplier partners are focusing their R&D into perfecting technologies that monitor or actively engage equipment systems to increase unit performance and safety. This includes braking systems, stability controls, lane departure warnings, lighting systems and more. Manufacturers also have turned their attention toward tractor-trailer connectivity, since an increase in trailer technology requires more connections with a tractor (and different in-cab controls) than has been required in the past. Beyer says right now there is “little consensus on a common connector system for the future,” and says the popular J560 connector and PLC 4 Trucks connectors are not adequate to support future tractor-trailer combination needs.

Finally, Beyer says trailer dealers should prepare to see intentionally redundant technologies as well. He says that’s again a necessary protocol for autonomy, as backup and supplemental safety systems are required on an autonomous vehicles to keep the equipment moving in case a single system fails.

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