Having moved from the automotive industry to the trucking industry only 6 years ago, I still consider myself a newcomer. But even in these 6 years I have seen a tremendous acceleration of innovation, at least as quick as that in the consumer industry. 2017 was no slowdown, and 2018 promises even more.
In 2017 we saw alternative powertrains gaining much more widespread attention, especially in the Class 8 segment. In addition to Natural Gas, which in previous years has already made inroads into many operations, we saw fuel cell and battery electric get some serious attention. The tipping point of technology readiness and fuel prices has made these new technologies very close to working out for many fleets. The next few years should be very interesting to prove out whether these technologies are really ready for many trucking operations
On the automation side, we have seen many more companies realize what Peloton has based our mission on: Trucking fleets are hungry for operational savings from fuel savings, labor savings, safety improvement, or any other source. We’ve seen a number of companies jump into the fray, promising dramatic labor savings.
For Peloton in 2018 we are excited to be bringing a real commercial product to market. We take our responsibility very seriously to make this product safe and effective. We think the best way to accelerate our mission is to disseminate many of our thoughts, and we are starting this blog series to bring this to the broader trucking community. Every few weeks we will post about an aspect of our quest to make trucking safer and more efficient. This will include topics like: