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Wilson Logistics invests in autonomous truck technology

Springfield company's order is set to equip over 1,000 vehicles by 2028

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After a successful start this summer to a multiyear partnership, a local trucking company aims to have self-driving trucks on the road before decade’s end.

Under terms of the deal, Pittsburgh-based Locomation Inc. is slated to equip at least 1,120 of Wilson Logistics Inc.’s trucks with autonomous technology. The first units are expected to be delivered by mid-2022, said Locomation officials, as part of the commercial agreement between the two companies that extends through 2028. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The attraction to autonomous trucking for me is, first and foremost, safety,” said Wilson Logistics owner Darrel Wilson. “Autonomous vehicles are just another continuation of the safety technology we’ve been developing for the last probably 20 years, really starting with cruise control.”

Features such as advanced emergency braking, lane-change assist and reverse assist are considered advancements toward one day achieving full automation in the trucking industry, officials say.

“In the trucking industry, there’s been a focus on trying to make the vehicles safer,” said Tom Crawford, president and CEO of the Missouri Trucking Association. “Autonomous is a step along that direction.”

Locomation co-founder and CEO Cetin Mericli said the agreement with Wilson Logistics involves what’s called autonomous relay convoy technology. With the system, one person drives a lead truck, guiding the trailing autonomous truck down the road. A second person is in the trail truck but not driving it. He said the process is most similar to team driving, where two drivers share a truck and alternate time behind the wheel.

“This frees up the driver in the second truck,” Mericli said of the autonomous technology. “While they are in this mode, only one driver has to stay on duty and the other driver takes the mandated rest. That way, they can take turns every couple of hours or every couple hundred miles and can actually go twice as far, twice as fast and deliver twice as much cargo in one trip.”

Tech investment
Mericli said the company’s trucks are able to see the surroundings through a system of cameras, lidar, which use light detection and ranging, and radar sensors. GPS also is utilized, with wireless communication for the trucks handled through installed radios and antennas. The vehicles share data about acceleration, speed, and how much brake and throttle is being applied, he said.

“The responsibilities of the autonomy are actually more limited because the autonomy can rely on the lead driver to make the high-level judgments,” he said. “It can only follow what the lead driver is doing.”

Locomation primarily tests its technology at the Transport Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio. However, a pilot project the company announced in March with Wilson Logistics put the autonomous trucks on the road this summer.

In the test, two Locomation trucks hauled Wilson Logistics trailers and freight on a 420-mile route from Portland, Oregon, to Nampa, Idaho.

“Following that, we decided collectively it was time to pull the trigger on the commercial rollout plan,” Mericli said. “In all of the tests, we have specially trained safety drivers behind the steering wheel. Even with the follower truck driving itself, there is a safety driver behind the steering wheel overseeing the operation and ready to take over if anything happens in an unexpected way.”

Wilson said the presence of a person in the autonomous truck is a smart component of Locomation’s technology. Fully autonomous trucks cruising down the highway is not the goal of this project, officials say.

“We don’t feel we take a driver out of the truck today or anytime in our near future,” he said. “That’s an important element of why we’re doing this.”

On the grow
The connection between Wilson Logistics and Locomation was developed after company representatives met last year at a trucking industry conference.

“They are very growth and safety oriented. We share fundamental values,” Mericli said of Wilson Logistics. “That was a strong match early on.”

Locomation has invested roughly $8 million since its 2018 launch, he said. The employee count has grown 500% from its five-person start.

Growth is ongoing at Wilson Logistics, as well. Wilson said company revenue reached $235 million in 2019, up nearly 50% from its $160 million in 2017. A growing customer base and the industry as a whole is boosting the financials, he said. He projects revenue will finish 2020 around $265 million.

While the company has committed to the order with Locomation, Wilson said it’s not time to “throw a checkbook” for investment in the technology. Both he and Mericli said a lot of additional testing is necessary, including development of the brake network.

“This won’t be one day or one minute before it’s ready and proven,” he said of Wilson Logistics’ trucks taking to the road with the technology in place.

Future focus
Autonomous trucking has been a topic dominating industry conferences for several years, said Missouri Trucking Association’s Crawford.

“It’s starting to get real when you see orders being placed for equipment,” he said.

Crawford believes the technology, once fully developed, will be beneficial for safety and more efficient navigation. An appeal of team driving is the ability to have someone rest while the other is driving, which can keep a critical shipment delivery on track.

“Being able to do that with a bigger shipment, that’s going to be a benefit,” Crawford said. Trucks transported 11.8 billion tons of freight in 2019, representing roughly $791 billion in revenue, according to American Trucking Association data.

Still, Crawford understands trucking companies being reluctant to dive into new technology that could be cost prohibitive. There’s also a fear of the unknown.

“The nature of technology is wait a little bit for it to be more developed and the price starts to drop as it becomes more commercially viable,” he said.

Wilson and Mericli agree fully autonomous vehicles won’t be achieved by the industry anytime soon. However, they believe their agreement will contribute to improved safety, as well as labor and fuel efficiencies. Locomation officials project around a 30% overall operating expense reduction.

“It’s an investment in the future, but technology is part of our business,” Wilson said. “It’s really in line with any other investment we’ve made in our company and we look at them all the same.”

Mericli said autonomous trucks are not an “if” for the industry, but a “when and how.”

“It is going to happen and the industry needs that,” Mericli said. “But it’s a multigenerational process to get to the point where the majority of the trucks are autonomous or the majority of the systems are equipped with autonomy.”

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