Werner and Aurora expand driverless pilots with new routes
(Photo: Aurora’s Innovation)
Recently, autonomous truck technology manufacturer Aurora has expanded its pilot program with Werner Q1 Shareholder Letter. The new Fort-to-Phoenix lane will enhance Aurora’s existing Fort Twel Pasol Lane, which is scheduled to begin later this year. With the new pilot race exceeding 1,000 miles, Aurora’s self-driving trucks could cut single driver transport times by half. According to Aurora, Fort Work to Phoenix Lane Q1 Business Review The report requires continuous driving for at least 15 hours. This is something that human drivers cannot do without exceeding the 11-hour drive time available.
Werner’s Chad Dittberner, Van’s Senior Vice President, said in a letter: “At Werner, automatic transportation is an integral part of our vision for the future and complements planned growth in the fleet.
At the moment, autonomous trucks are operating during the day in clear weather conditions, but according to Aurora’s product roadmap, which begins in the third quarter, nighttime and rain and heavy winds will be incorporated into unmanned testing. In Werner’s case, pushing to an autonomous route is considered a multiplier of force, rather than a driver exchange due to time limits. Daragh P. Mahon, executive vice president and chief information officer, Aurora article“Drivers are a community that has long supported the industry and will continue to support it well into the future. We don’t think autonomy will replace drivers. Rather, we will strengthen our driver community and fleet.”
For large asset-based truck load carriers like Werner, the ongoing challenge is how to increase the revenue miles generated when a human driver can drive up to 11 hours a day in 24 hours. Some people use two drivers to increase to 22 hours on Team Expedited, but autonomous trucks with no service time limits have the opportunity to dramatically increase asset utilization and thus promote revenue miles.
On Thursday, Cass Information Systems, a freight audit and payment provider, released April Cass Cargo Freight Indexfor the first time in over 28 months, it was the first time that the freight spending index had increased positively from the previous year. The expenditure component, which measures the total amount spent on cargo, rose at 3.3% m/m in August, with a 1.3% increase in y/y compared to the y/y decrease in March.
The increase in freight spending was a result of higher fees as the shipping index fell to 3.6% Y/y in April. Despite the poor Y/Y, positive development is the narrower losses compared to the decline in Y/Y in March.
Tim Denoyer, vice president and senior analyst at ACT Research, wrote in his report: “The trade war could be significantly reduced in international volumes in May and June, but could rebound due to the recent 90 days of US/China trade.
Denoyer added: “It has been 40 months since the first Y/Y of this cycle fell, and as the cargo market slump is worn, the fleet is not particularly suited to survive even longer storms.
Sound ticker: botri.usa, nti.usa
summary: The Drybian segment continues to observe a decline in the spot market rate. The vote rose 32 basis points over the past week, from 4.64% on May 5th to 4.96%, but remains in an advantageous position when the voting is 3.63% and 133 bps low. The opposite was seen in the all-in-spot market rate, with a continued decline in w/w, indicating a lower w/w than in the previous year. SONAR National Truckload Index The seven-day average fell from $2.20 per cent per mile to $2.19, currently 6 cents below last year’s $2.25 per mile.
Last week brought good news, with the US and China announced their trade deals on Sunday. This includes removing mutual tariffs from April. Under the contract, the 90-day truce includes the United States, which reduces the tariff rate on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, but China will reduce the fees for US goods from 125% to 10%.
Some commentators predict that a surge in maritime imports in July and August could boost domestic trucking rates as importers work through existing backlogs and place new orders before the 90-day period ends. The outbound bid rejection rate continues to hover between 4.5% and 5%, so the current truck load capacity appears fertile due to the increase.
Another surprise was the lack of a sustained increase in spot rates as CVSA’s annual international road check begins on Tuesday and ends on Thursday. Compared to when Road Checks occurred last year on May 14-16, NTI jumped 10-10 cents from $2.20 on Friday on May 10, and to $2.30 on Friday, May 17. As it stands, this year NTI is packed at $2.19 per mile.
