Keeping up with trucking industry trends is a smart move for any professional in our industry. So here’s a look at what’s going on in the world of transportation:
Careers in Trucking
- Studies show the average American truck driver is in his late 40s. This points out the need for younger people to enter our profession. Otherwise, pressure on drivers will only increase, leading to burnout and an even worse shortage of trained people.
- On the other hand, in some ways, the job is getting easier. For example, many fleets are upgrading to rigs with automatic transmissions and navigational assistance. Tomorrow’s truck drivers will have an easier go of it than old-school veterans.
- The days of novice truck drivers learning their skills from a seasoned trucker are rapidly coming to an end. Today, most transportation professionals attend a career academy. Training truckers now hone their skills on high-tech simulators which replicate the experience of operating a big rig and avoiding the risk of accidents.
Rigs of the Future
- It looks like self-driving cars will be available at your local dealership within the next ten years or so. However, the complexities of operating a commercial vehicle make it unlikely that computers will replace humans in the transportation industry anytime soon. This means that employment prospects for those who can do the job will remain excellent for the foreseeable future.
- Diesel is slowly but surely on its way out, replaced by rigs running on alternative fuels like natural gas. However, the chances of all-electric rigs being seen on the nation’s highways in the near future are remote. Today’s battery packs simply don’t have the power of combustible fuels.
Trucking Industry Trends Away from Paper
- Paper logbooks will soon be a relic of the past. Electronic devices do the job easier and more accurately. While this is a benefit to truckers in many ways, it also means that many drivers will need to become comfortable with using today’s technology.
- Using technology in the cab is becoming more common for owner operators with the use of cloud storage of data with modern online software. More and more, truckers are using email and images to send invoices and bills of lading.
That’s a quick look at recent trucking industry trends.
What do you think?
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