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Daum to replace Bernhard as head of Daimler Trucks & Buses Fleet Owner / February 27, 2017 Daimler AG’s supervisory board announced Feb. 27 it has appointed Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) and a member of the board of management, to lead Daimler Trucks and Buses for five years, beginning March 1. Daum succeeds Wolfgang Bernhard, who said he is leaving the company of his own volition and for personal reasons. “With Martin Daum, we are appointing a very successful and experienced executive to the board of management as head of the Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses divisions,” stated Manfred Bischoff, chairman of the supervisory board of Daimler AG. “He looks back on 20 years of experience in the industry and knows the cyclical commercial-vehicle business from all perspectives. We are convinced that he will successfully meet the upcoming challenges in the next years, continue along the successful path of Daimler Trucks & Buses and further strengthen their worldwide leading positions.” “With Martin Daum and his international management experience, the right course is being set at the top of Daimler Trucks & Buses for the long term,” stated Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “The important commercial-vehicle business in the US and in the NAFTA region has developed very successfully under the leadership of Martin Daum and is of key importance to the Daimler Group.” Since June 2009, Daum has been president and CEO of DTNA and its affiliated companies Freightliner Trucks, Western Star Trucks, Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation and Detroit Diesel Corporation. Before that, he was a member of the management of Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Europe as vice president production Mercedes-Benz Trucks, and at the same time was responsible for the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth. Daum started his career in the trainee executive group of the Daimler-Benz AG in 1987.

Reuters / February 27, 2017 Daimler AG has appointed the head of its North American trucks division to run group-wide truck operations, replacing departed chief Wolfgang Bernhard, the carmaker said on Monday. The move avoids a lengthy search for a successor to run the unit. Bernhard, 56, once seen as a candidate to succeed Daimler CEO Diete Zetsche, stepped down a year before his contract was due to expire, the carmaker said this month. Martin Daum, 57, president and CEO of Daimler's trucks business in North America, was appointed by the company's supervisory board to top management effective on March 1 for a five-year period, Daimler said. Daum has run Daimler's heavy-duty vehicle business in North America since 2009, having previously held a top management post at the company's European trucks division with responsibility for Daimler's huge trucks plant in Woerth, Germany. "We are convinced that he will successfully meet the upcoming challenges in the next years," Daimler Chairman Manfred Bischoff said in an emailed statement. Bernhard's restructuring efforts have angered powerful labor leaders, who impeded his progress at Daimler until he was too old to be considered for the top job, sources familiar with the matter have said. In contrast the works council, whose members occupy half the seats on Daimler's 20-strong supervisory board, welcomed the appointment of Daum. "He is collaborative," Daimler's labor boss, Michael Brecht, said by email, adding that he hoped for constructive talks as the company continues to look for cost savings. Related reading - https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/48684-major-shakeup-wolfgang-bernhard-to-leave-daimler/#comment-361232.

Bloomberg / February 27, 2017 General Motors boosted incentives on its pickup models this month after its biggest foes gained ground, intensifying a price war within the U.S. auto market’s most hotly contested segment. Discounts averaged about $6,996 for the Chevrolet Silverado and $5,315 for the GMC Sierra this month through Feb. 12, according to J.D. Power dealer data. Incentives on GM’s models surged 56 percent and 82 percent, respectively, from a year earlier as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor Co. dialed back their spending. The pickup segment is among the most profitable within the global automotive industry, giving carmakers room to offer deals and motivation to make market-share grabs. At the same time, fierce brand loyalty among truck owners means that automakers have to offer bigger deals to entice them to switch models. The rise in incentive activity also reflects the U.S. auto market slowing down following a seven-year streak of expansion. “It’s taking a lot more incentives now to move the metal than it did last year or certainly the year before,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst with car-shopping website Autotrader.com. “Things are slowing.” GM is spending 26 percent more in discounts on each Silverado truck than Fiat Chrysler does for its Ram and 85 percent more than Ford does on its on F series, according to the Power Information Network data, which J.D. Power doesn’t release to the public. The deals from GM are part of a “Truck Month” promotion that includes offers for about 25 percent off the sticker price of some 2016 Sierra pickups or $11,185 discounts for select 2017 Silverado models. The offers follow sales declines in January for both of GM’s full-size truck models while Ford and Fiat Chrysler’s pickups gained. “Last month, GM’s pickup sales were down,” Frank Ursomarso, owner of Union Park GMC in Delaware, said in a phone interview. “That’s why they’re doing this. GM has to battle against Ram and Ford.” GM also lost sales ground in 2016. Deliveries dropped 4.3 percent for the Silverado and 1.1 percent for the Sierra last year. The F series gained 5.2 percent to seal a 35th straight year as the top-selling vehicle line in the U.S., and Ram pickup sales rose 8.7 percent. The largest U.S. automaker is responding to competitive pressures with its latest incentives, in particular deep discounting by Fiat Chrysler on the Ram, said Jim Cain, a GM spokesman. “We wanted to get our fair share in the truck market,” Cain said by phone. “The kind of incentives we offer in Truck Month are not the kind of spending we do a on a regular basis.” Analysts have estimated pickups can command $8,000 to $10,000 in gross profit per vehicle, generating much of GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler’s earnings. “If this level of incentives continues, it certainly will eat into profits,” Krebs said.

Automakers knew of deadly Takata air bag defects The Washington Post / February 27, 2017 Court documents filed Monday allege that five automakers were aware of defects that caused Takata air bags to potentially harm or kill motorists but continued to use them to save on costs. The documents filed by lawyers representing victims and their families claim that Honda, Ford, BMW, Toyota and Nissan have known about the issues with the Japanese manufacturer’s air bags for more than a decade but used the air bags anyway because Takata was cheaper than its competitors and could produce the bulk quantities the automakers needed. The allegations come as Takata entered a guilty plea in a federal courtroom Monday as part of its agreement with the Department of Justice. That deal, reached last month in the final days of the Obama administration, required the company to pay $1 billion in fines and restitution. In December, three Takata executives were indicted on wire fraud charges. The largest portion of the penalty, $850 million, will be paid to automakers that incurred billions of dollars in expenses recalling vehicles and replacing air bags. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets automobile safety standards, recalled more than 64 million air bags in 42 million vehicles, making the Takata recall the largest in U.S. history. Takata also agreed to set up a $125 million fund for the families and individuals affected by the faulty air bags as part of the Justice Department deal. The device that inflates Takata air bags was found to explode in certain instances, sending shrapnel into the cabin of the car. The defect has been blamed for 11 deaths and roughly 180 injuries in the United States, according to NHTSA, as well as others around the globe. The allegations raise new questions about who should shoulder blame for the deaths and injuries the air bags caused. The agreement reached with the Justice Department claims that Takata deliberately omitted or falsified data to make its air bags appear safer, then passed the doctored information on to automakers. Automakers said in court documents last Thursday that Takata’s deception should exonerate them of liability. But the documents filed Monday say automakers nevertheless had independent information that the air bags were faulty and chose to continue installing them in millions of vehicles. “For the automotive defendants to call themselves victims insults the real victims here — hundreds of people who have been seriously injured or killed by a device that was [supposed] to protect them, and tens of millions of vehicle owners who have been forced to bear the risk of such injury and incurred substantial economic damages,” the documents say. Attorneys representing people injured by the faulty airbags initially filed their civil lawsuit against Takata and seven different car makers in 2015. Takata filed its own court update on Monday. The company said its agreement with the Justice Department should have “limited (if any) impact” on the pending civil litigation because it does not address Takata’s liability in the particular case. Although Takata has admitted to providing automakers with false safety information, the company’s agreement “does not stat that this conduct caused the field ruptures and recalls, or the alleged economic harm resulting therefrom.” Toyota and Ford declined to comment on the accusations. Nissan and BMW did not immediately return requests for comment. In court documents, lawyers allege that Honda was “intimately involved” with the design of Takata’s air bags and that at least two air bag inflaters ruptured during testing at Honda’s facilities in 1999 and 2000. Honda used the air bags anyway, according to the court documents, and at least 77 air bags ruptured on the road before the company implemented a nationwide recall. Honda called the allegations that it used the air bags despite safety concerns “categorically false” and pointed to the Takata settlement as evidence that automakers were misled to believe the product met safety standards. “The reality is that when Honda learned of the risks that these air bag inflaters presented, Honda reacted promptly and appropriately by issuing safety recalls and replacing the affected Takata air bag inflaters at no charge to its customers,” the company said in a statement.

Give the folks at Watts Mack (provider of the BMT website) a call at 1-888-304-6225. 84QS51 and 84QS52 (complete assemblies)

As I mentioned above, Great Coastal ran 250hp Caterpillar engines in their Freightliner COEs that were governed at 1600rpm. They were engineered to lug and deliver great MPG, which they did. So it's no surprise to me that Preston did well with their eco-spec 290hp engine. Preston did not run Macks, but the company had the most wonderful group of people I've ever met.

Today's disc brakes, all essentially proven tech from Europe, would be a great move on any brand truck. I'd stay away from Twin Y. It's an experiment gone wrong......dealers can't give them away.

Bob, this link shows clear pictures of Sisu's 10x6 tridem drive axle arrangement. https://autoreview.ru/articles/gruzoviki-i-avtobusy/Sisu-coffe-i-ponchiki

Climb Inside the World’s Largest Wind Tunnel A cold wind is whipping past, but the engineers scurrying around the giant room don’t seem to mind. They’re busy moving a fishing rod-like smoke wand this way and that, watching vaporized mineral oil stream off its tip and flow like a contrail over the sleekest semi you’ve ever seen. The engineers call this space “the 80-by-120;” it’s the largest wind tunnel on the planet, 80 feet tall and 120 feet wide, big enough to hold a Boeing 737, the star of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex in Mountain View, California. The truck is Navistar’s “Catalist,” a concept built to cut drag and boost fuel efficiency. The 80-by-120 is one of the few places that can really put the new design to the test. Sitting on the western edge of NASA’s Ames Research Center, the 80-by-120 blows through superlatives. It is its own biggest fan. It’s always in heavy rotation. This isn’t just spin! Its six turbines—40 feet wide, each powered by a 22,500-horsepower motor—can hit 180 rotations per minute, generating 110 mph winds in the tunnel and moving 60 tons of air every second. At that speed, they guzzle 106 megawatts of electricity—enough to power a town of 100,000 people. The turbines sit at the back of the tunnel; 1,400 feet away, in the front, is a screen door the size of a football field, which sucks in air from the outside, but not things like geese and NASA employees. After charging the length of the tunnel and passing the turbines, the air vents to the sky. That’s good for the folks on the ground uninterested in recreating Mary Poppins, but a potential problem for the commercial jets landing at and taking off from the nearby San Jose International Airport. So before spinning the turbines to full speed, the Air Force warns pilots about the risk of turbulence. A smaller wind tunnel opened here in 1944, and tested Cold War jets and models of the Space Shuttle. The big one opened in 1987, large enough for helicopters with 65-foot rotors and the parachute that landed the Curiosity rover on Mars. “You’re able to do a lot of things at full scale that you’re not able to do in tunnels that are much smaller,” says Scott Waltermire, who runs the aerodynamic complex. That’s why Navistar showed up with its truck, which a crane dropped into place (the walls of the tunnel open up for easy access). The Chicago-based truckmaker has spent five years working on the concept big rig, with a $20 million grant through the Department of Energy’s Supertruck II program. Navistar’s “Catalist” Supertruck (the “ist” is for International Super Truck) packs a mild hybrid powertrain, running auxiliary systems like the A/C off a battery, charged by rooftop solar panels and regenerative braking. And it looks pretty sharp. Sleek cameras instead of bulky sideview mirrors. “Super single” wide tires instead of two skinnier ones side by side. Sophisticated trailer skirts and a boat tail to smooth the air flowing over the truck. “If you think of the analogy of a boat going through the water a large wake behind it, we’re aiming to reduce that wake that the truck creates,” says Navistar aerodynamic engineer Craig Czlapinski. The result is a truck that Navistar says delivers a whopping 13 miles to the gallon, even when 80 percent full. (A typical 18-wheeler gets about 6 mpg.) They’ve come to the wind tunnel to make it even better. The opening test keeps the wind speed low, about 15 mph. Czlapinski wields the smoke wand, guiding the smoke over the cab and along the trailer. He pokes it between the two, then into the wheel wells, watching for points where the smoke (and thus the air) pulls away from the body. Then the team triggers the turn table on which most of the truck sits, some 55 feet in diameter, turning it a few degrees to the left, then to the right. Wind, after all, doesn’t just hit vehicles head on. They notice smoke leaks through the part of the boat tail, a by-product of drag pulling on the rear doors of the trailer—so they’ll likely add a seal to plug up the leak. Up front, smoke is getting sucked up between the cab and trailer, a sign they should lower the adjustable bit of the roof of the tractor. After 40 or so minutes in the wind, the engineers shut down the turbines and walk out. For the next test, they’ll sit in the control room—no one’s allowed in the tunnel when it cranks the wind up to highway speeds. The Navistar folks will spend five weeks here, testing the Catalist and some other production models, swapping out cabs and trailers. Then it’s back to Chicago to study the results, stamp out the weaknesses, and perfect the aero. And while they’re making trucking better for everybody, the wind tunnel’s operators will get ready to put their next giant client on blast. Video - https://www.wired.com/2017/02/climb-inside-worlds-largest-wind-tunnel/#slide-1

Startup Firm Unveils Prototype Autonomous Truck Heavy Duty Trucking / February 24, 2017 Yet another startup tech firm has rolled into the autonomous truck arena. San Mateo, Calif.-based Embark publicly revealed its prototype self-driving truck on Feb. 24. The company, which gained approval from the State of Nevada earlier this year to begin testing its truck on public roads, said its self-driving technology enables a truck “to drive from exit to exit on the freeway without any human input.” Embark said its tractor-trailer setup uses a combination of radars, cameras and Lidar (light detection and ranging) depth sensors “to perceive the world around it.” The data points captured are processed via a form of Artificial Intelligence known as Deep Neural Nets (DNNs) that “allow the truck to learn from its own experience— much like humans learn from practice.” “Analyzing terabyte upon terabyte of real-world data, Embark’s DNNs have learned how to see through glare, fog and darkness on their own,” said Alex Rodrigues, CEO and co-founder of Embark. “We’ve programmed them with a set of rules to help safely navigate most situations, how to safely learn from the unexpected, and how to apply that experience to new situations going forward.” Embark’s truck is built specifically for “long, simple stretches of freeway driving between cities, rather than all aspects of driving.” Like other autonomous truck designs, including the Freightliner Inspiration truck and the Otto (owned by Uber) truck, Embark's computerized truck is meant to be handed off to a human driver once it heads off the highway, who will then navigate local streets to the destination. “A human driver will still touch every load, but with Embark they’re able to move more loads per day, handing off hundreds of miles of freeway driving to their robot partners,” is how the company put it. Rodrigues said he was inspired to launch Embark after blowing a tire on the interstate and waiting four hours for a tow. In that time, he said, “every single 18-wheeler that drove past had a sign on the back 'Drivers Wanted'. It was so clear there was a shortage of drivers.” He added that “Embark's goal is to increase productivity per driver and prevent the shortage from becoming a crisis.” Rodrigues is no stranger to robotics, having built his first autonomous robot at age 13. According to the company, his robots have won international competitions and one of his autonomous shuttles transported over 1,000 passengers in demonstrations across California. According to Embark, the company’s robotics team includes “talent from technology leaders including SpaceX, StanfordAI, and Audi's self-driving team. The team is backed by a multi-million dollar investment led by Maven Ventures. Maven’s previous investment in self-driving technology, Cruise Automation, sold to GM for $1B last year.” In addition to its prototype autonomous truck, Embark noted that it also fields a fleet of five trucks to gather data to help accelerate development. The company added that it plans to quadruple its engineering team within the next year and “aggressively expand its testing fleet to show their technology is ready for the nation’s highways.” “We are committed to proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that this technology is safe and reliable,” said Rodrigues. “That means performing extensive tests and working with our partners in the government to get it— and the market— ready.”

Transport Topics / February 26, 2017 Eaton Corp. has focused on a future for power management in commercial vehicles built around 48-volt power. It is just an architecture change from a 12-volt system, and “the power electronics to do it is not rocket science, either. I think we are on that cusp,” Larry Bennett, director of vehicle technology and innovation at Eaton Corp., told Transport Topics here Feb. 26 at the annual meeting of American Trucking Associations' Technology & Maintenance Council. “Certainly, when you look at what the SuperTruck guys are wanting to do and [truck manufacturers], I think they are leaning heavily on 48-volts at this point,” he said. In August, the U.S. Department of Energy announced its SuperTruck II initiative to more than double the freight efficiency of Class 8 trucks and go beyond provisions in the new federal Phase 2 greenhouse-gas emissions rule affecting heavy- and medium-duty trucks, as well as trailers. Truck makers are so interested, Bennett said, that if Eaton could make 48-volt power management available, they would definitely take advantage of it. “So they are ready to go,” he said. “What appeals to them is a fuel-economy play,” or taking accessories that are driven by the belts off the engine so they are not spinning when they are not needed. Unnecessary spinning of accessories creates parasitic drag and reduces engine efficiency.

Autonomous trucks: The reality is setting in Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner / February 24, 2017 Despite the recent lawsuit filed against self-driving truck systems maker Otto and its new owner, Uber, regarding the theft of autonomous vehicle trade secrets as well as the ongoing reluctance among both motorists and truckers regarding the acceptance of such technology, more than a few experts believe self-driving trucks will be a daily reality sooner rather than later. The reason boils down to a single word: Economics. “The autonomous vehicle is going to change everything,” Robert Hooper Jr., CEO of Atlantic Logistics, recently explained to me. “It’s a Tsunami coming at our [freight] industry and if we don’t prepare for it we’ll get swept away.” An economist by training, Hooper said the cost-savings potential of the self-driving truck is huge, especially when one contemplates eliminating the need for a full-time human driver to pilot big rigs. By his calculations, driver pay runs the gamut from $35,000 a year for those in drayage operations up to $125,000 annually for more “specialized” markets such as household goods moving and the like. Now compare that to expected additional cost of self-driving systems to the base sticker price of a Class 8 truck, which this study said will be a around $23,400 per unit. That’s a one-time expense per truck, compared to the ongoing pay required for a human, and obviously that comes in well below even the lowest wage rate on the truck driver pay scale. “That’s why there will be a huge incentive to adopt this technology,” Hooper stressed. “That’s why I am trying to prepare my business for it.” Still, despite that “incentive,” research by Steve Sashihara, founder and CEO of Princeton Consultants, indicates that “self-driving trucks” remains the one technological advancement most freight industry denizens are the most skeptical about. “There are some people that believe no, this is definitely going to happen but there are a lot of other people that think in eight years; they’re not sure,” he explained. “Maybe we’ll see a few on the road but, I’m not sure it’s going to have a big impact. In Sashihara’s view, the potential safety benefit of autonomous vehicles as a whole – cars and trucks – is what’s going to driver their adoption. “The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) did a very interesting report talking about live data on self-braking technology,” he explained. “Largely, the synopses which I’m seeing say that systems with automatic braking reduce rear-end crashes by about 40% on average. That would have been 700,000 fewer police reported rear-end crashes in 2013 and I think this is very important for the adoption [of self-driving vehicles].” That’s but one reason he believes self-driving trucks “are close to inevitable,” but the question remains: where and when? “In terms of tailwinds, [one] thing that is propelling [self-driving trucks] forward for long haul freight transportation is that approximately a third of the cost of truckload transportation are drivers [and the] constant of persistent long term driver shortages, from all quarters,” Sashihara pointed out. “Also, very few trucks, in our experience, are slip-seated. A lot of them are ‘single-opted’ so, having something that isn’t bound by hours of service (HOS) means more asset utilization,” he added. John Larkin, managing director and head of transportation capital markets research for Stifel Capital Markets, also thinks that self-driving trucks represents but the tip of a very large iceberg in terms of radical supply chain changes racing toward us. “How long will it be before the internet of things (IoT) monitors the amount of granola each of us has in his/her pantry and records when the granola stockpile reaches the pre-specified replenishment level?” he asked. “How long before 3D printers are placed in each of Amazon’s delivery vehicles so that the custom door handle you just ordered will be manufactured as it makes its way through your neighborhood en route to your front door?” Larkin added. “How long before drones start delivering shaving cream to your front porch? Our sense is that all these innovations will be upon us sooner than we think – particularly if government would simply get out of the way.” So hold onto your hats; we may be speeding toward the advent of true self-driving truck operations faster than we think.

Fleet Owner / February 24, 2017 Embark today unveiled its self-driving truck technology to the public. The company, which gained approval by the State of Nevada earlier this year to begin testing its truck on public roads, announced it has created a technology that allows trucks to drive from exit to exit on the freeway without any human input. According to the company, Embark’s truck uses a combination of radars, cameras and depth sensors known as LiDARs to perceive the world around it. The millions of data points from these sensors are processed using a form of Artificial Intelligence known as Deep Neural Nets (or DNNs) that allow the truck to learn from its own experience — much like humans learn from practice, Embark noted. “Analyzing terabyte upon terabyte of real-world data, Embark’s DNNs have learned how to see through glare, fog and darkness on their own,” said Alex Rodrigues, CEO and co-founder of Embark. “We’ve programmed them with a set of rules to help safely navigate most situations, how to safely learn from the unexpected, and how to apply that experience to new situations going forward.” Embark mentioned its truck is built specifically to handle long, simple stretches of freeway driving between cities, rather than all aspects of driving. At the city limit, Embark's computerized truck hands off to a human driver who navigates the city streets to the destination. A human driver will still touch every load, but with Embark they’re able to move more loads per day, handing off hundreds of miles of freeway driving to their robot partners. “Spending weeks on the highway is tough on you,” said owner-operator Jeff Scorsur. “If I could still get the job done while driving in my own city and sleeping in my own bed – that would make my family very happy.” According to Rodrigues, the idea for Embark came after blowing a tire on the interstate and waiting four hours for the tow truck to arrive. “Every single 18-wheeler that drove past had a sign on the back 'Drivers Wanted'. It was so clear there was a shortage of drivers,” he said. “The numbers back that up. The American Transportation Research Institute estimates there is currently a shortage of 100,000 truck drivers in the industry, which is poised to only get worse as baby boomer drivers - the bulk of the industry’s workforce - retire over the next decade. Embark's goal is to increase productivity per driver and prevent the shortage from becoming a crisis.” According to the company, Rodrigues started Embark by recruiting talent from technology leaders including SpaceX, StanfordAI, and Audi's self-driving team. The team is backed by a multi-million dollar investment led by Maven Ventures. Maven’s previous investment in self-driving technology, Cruise Automation, sold to GM for $1B last year. .

New parts look-up site for torque rods http://www.torque-rod.com/

Reuters / February 26, 2017 U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Sunday she was reviewing self-driving vehicle guidance issued by the Obama administration and urged companies to explain the benefits of automated vehicles to a skeptical public [i.e. the public who never asked for self-driving cars]. The guidelines, which were issued in September, call on automakers to voluntarily submit details of self-driving vehicle systems to regulators in a 15-point “safety assessment” and urge states [i.e. California] to defer to the federal government on most vehicle regulations. Automakers have raised numerous concerns about the guidance, including that it requires them to turn over significant data, could delay testing by months and lead to states making the voluntary guidelines mandatory. In November, major automakers urged the then-incoming Trump administration to re-evaluate the guidelines and some have called for significant changes. Automakers called on Congress earlier this month to make legislative changes to speed self-driving cars to U.S. roads. Chao, in her first major public remarks since taking office last month, told the National Governors Association: "This administration is evaluating this guidance and will consult with you and other stakeholders as we update it and amend it, to ensure that it strikes the right balance." She said self-driving cars could dramatically improve safety. In 2015, 35,092 people died in U.S. traffic crashes, up 7 percent and the highest full-year increase since 1966. In the first nine months of 2016, fatalities were up 8 percent. Chao, noting research that 94 percent of traffic crashes were due to human error, said: "There’s a lot at stake in getting this technology right." She said the Trump administration wanted to ensure it "is a catalyst for safe, efficient technologies, not an impediment. In particular, I want to challenge Silicon Valley, Detroit, and all other auto industry hubs to step up and help educate a skeptical public about the benefits of automated technology." Companies including Alphabet Inc's self-driving car Waymo unit, General Motors, Ford, Uber, Tesla and others are aggressively pursuing automated vehicle technologies. Chao said she was "very concerned" about the potential impact of automated vehicles on employment. There are 3.5 million U.S. truck drivers alone and millions of others employed in driving-related occupations. She also said she would seek input from states as regulators develops rules on drones. "We will ask for your input as the (Federal Aviation Administration) develops standards and regulations to ensure that drones can be safely integrated into our country’s airspace," she said.

An 8x2*6 would be an efficient set up, while at the same time providing optimum weight distribution for reduced road wear. Twin Steer (front axles) 6 wheel steering (twin steer plus the steered tag) Lockable differential on the drive. Or a 10x4*6 (tandem drive bogie with steered tag)

When you called Watts Mack for a pair of new headlamp panels, what did they say? 137QM457 (right hand) 137QM458 (left hand)

The F-model was/is heavy. But aside like that, it fit you like your favorite old pair of work gloves and never let you down. You could "feel it", like an extension of your body. And it made every owner a lot of money. The Cruise-Liner was clumsy and clunky, always having some ongoing problem. The Ultra-Liner was so advanced, such a home run, that it should still be in production today. When I see brand new 9800i, Argosy and the superb K200 tractors on the roads of the world today, well, most folks back home have no idea. And isn't it ironic that American COEs continue to be sold in the global market but not in North America. I'll take a COE any day over a conventional. I could talk about visibility, maneuverability, accessibility, and efficiency, but it's the driving position that really sways you. Once in a COE, it's hard to go back to a conventional.

The number of engineers hired and employed by the former Mack Trucks, pre-2000, in the year 2017 must be very small. The few, like Jerry Warmkessel and Dave McKenna, who have bit their lip under Volvo to preserve their retirement pension, must be close to retirement.

Henry Ford in 1938, receiving the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Nazi officials, an honor created in 1937 by Adolf Hitler. http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/henry-ford-grand-cross-1938/ .