Smart Trailers

What are they? They could very well be the future of trucking. 

Trailers have historically been the lesser of the tractor-trailer pair. They get lost a lot. You may have seen one abandoned in a field somewhere.

They have been a box on wheels, serving no other purpose than holding the cargo. The tractor has the expensive gadgets, the powertrain, the driver and most of the technological investment. Until now. 

Check out my latest Trucks.com story about it below. 


Trucks.com

No Longer Afterthoughts, Trailers are Getting Smart

March 14, 2018

As the use of telematics, sensors and computerization in tractors has skyrocketed, comparable technologies in the trailers hooked behind them have not kept pace. That is changing.

More telematics options for trailers and trailing equipment are available than ever before, giving fleets unprecedented tools to capture untapped value.

“Up to this point, trailers have been pretty dumb,” said Dennis Skaradzinski, chief engineer at Great Dane Trailers. “Today, trailers are becoming smart.”

This means big opportunities for carriers, “and we literally have just begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible,” said Sue Rutherford, vice president of marketing at Orbcomm, a machine-to-machine communications company.

Find the rest here