Volvo Trucks N.A. partners with FedEx to test platooning vehicles in live conditions

RALEIGH, NC -- Volvo Trucks North America drove a long-held secret down North Carolina Highway 540 today. In the first successful on-highway demonstration of platooning technology between a major truck manufacturer and a transportation company, Volvo and FedEx working closely with the North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA) took three trucks on the road to showcase their advanced driver assisted technology. Volvo has kept its partnership with FedEx under wraps for about a year, using Volvo VNL 300 day cabs and a Volvo VNL 670 sleeper cab first on closed tracks in South Carolina and then for the last three  months on the North Carolina Triangle Expressway -- an area designated by the NCTA as a testing place for autonomous vehicles -- to adapt its platooning technology developed in Europe for the North American market.

Smoke Screen: Testing remains in a legal vacuum

July 1 has secured an unusual place in the story of marijuana. The national holiday was once reported as the deadline to legalize recreational weed. That didn’t happen, of course, but Canada Day is still left as the deadline for Ontario’s Cannabis Act, which established related rules for drivers and sellers alike. Canada’s cross-border drivers even began facing their mandated drug tests on July 1, 1996.

Test and Measure: Not all testing methods equal

TORONTO, Ont. -- Whether testing for the presence of alcohol or drugs in a workplace, or at the side of a road, each tool comes with its own pros and cons. Now that Canada is preparing to legalize recreational marijuana, police forces across the country are being trained in oral fluids testing, also known as saliva testing, and the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST). And these are both options for a fleet looking to determine a driver’s fitness for duty. Both methods offer immediate results – unlike tests involving hair, urine, or blood. That’s good enough to determine fitness for duty and keep a potentially impaired driver off the highway. But courts typically rely on another layer of tests, which means the initial positive results might not be enough to terminate someone.

Walk the Line: Testing options go beyond oral fluids

Canada’s Senate has passed the bills needed to legalize cannabis and enforce related rules, but with four dozen proposed amendments it will be weeks or months before roadside enforcement teams know exactly what kinds of devices they can use for roadside tests.

Class D renewal requirements change in Ontario July 1

TORONTO, Ont. – Class D license holders in Ontario will have new medical and road test requirements beginning July 1, 2018. The Ministry of Transportation released its new guidelines for…

Waymo putting semi-autonomous Class 8’s on Atlanta roads this week

ATLANTA, Ga. – Self-driving trucks are hitting the road in the United States this week, hauling freight in a live test of the technology.

U.S. regulators drop mandatory sleep apnea testing

WASHINGTON D.C. - Federal regulators in the United States will no longer be looking to make tests for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea mandatory for truck drivers or railway engineers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) revealed last week that they are withdrawing their March 2016 notice seeking the changes for those in safety sensitive positions in highway and rail transportation.

Drivers paying steep price for apnea tests

ARLINGTON, VA - Truck drivers are paying a real price for the screening and treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apena (OSA), a condition that obstructs breathing patterns and can wake sufferers hundreds of times per night, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has found. The review of more than 800 commercial drivers quantifies costs and other impacts of driver screening for the first time.

Equipment testing models meet different needs: Provencher

Yves Provencher, manager of PIT Group by FP Innovations, is a clear believer in testing new vehicle technologies. "Testing technology on your truck is not an option," he told delegates during the inaugural Canadian Fleet Maintenance Summit. "You need to invest with confidence ... instead of trying it for months and months."

Investigation: Trucker Test Pass Rates Lower in GTA Than Outlying Areas

TORONTO, ON - "Aspiring truckers have a better chance of passing their road tests at most DriveTest Centres in smaller communities than they do at Toronto-area testing facilities..."

PIT Group Boosting U.S. Testing Presence

PHILADELPHIA, PA and MONTREAL, QC - A Canadian engineering and research group for the North American trucking industry announced at the 2015 American Trucking Associations' (ATA) Management Conference and Exhibition this week the opening of a U.S. office and a significant increase in its presence in the United States. Performance Innovation Transport (PIT) Group is opening an office in Atlanta, GA and is adding the U.S. as the location for road testing of its technology certification process known as Energotest. Using stringent SAE/TMC testing protocols, PIT Group will now hold two Energotest events in Canada and two in the U.S. each year. "PIT Group has become the benchmark for precise, verified and unbiased data on the return on investment fleets can expect from green technologies in Canada," said Yves Provencher, director of PIT Group. "With the continual need to improve competitiveness and the increase in environmental compliance restrictions, the demand for green technologies has never been stronger. Our U.S. office will enable us to offer the level of service and experience we've been providing Canadian fleets and that U.S. fleets expect."

Sleeping With the Enemy

The Americans are eyeing a mandatory sleep apnea testing rule. But the legal implications could throw you in the game way before that.

Detroit Diesel roars past SCR testing milestone

REDFORD, Mich. -- Detroit Diesel Corporation has announced that it has surpassed seven million miles of testing on its BlueTec Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology.

Out of the cold: test results hope to boost biodiesel

CALGARY -- The Alberta Renewable Diesel Demonstration (ARDD) was on an a mission to prove biodiesel could withstand winter temperatures in Canada, and now they have proof.