Locomotion Video Transcript
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Andrew Cox
Hi, welcome to another Freight Tech Update presented by Locomation. I’m Andrew Cox, a Senior Retail Analyst here at Freight Waves and today I’m speaking with Glenn Spangenberg. He’s the Chief Commercial Officer at Locomation. Glenn has devoted his entire career to building revolutionary trucking technologies for the likes of Qualcomm, Com Data, and Trimble. Now he’s heading the commercial efforts at Locomation as it seeks to bring autonomy to trucking with its autonomous freight network. Locomotion is also the creator of a two-truck human-guided autonomous transportation technology system. Its autonomous relay convoy or ARC system uses a lead truck with an engaged human driver closely followed by an autonomous truck with a resting driver to reduce per mile costs and improve profitability by hauling twice the cargo two times farther and faster. Glenn thanks so much for taking the time.
Glenn Spangenberg
You bet it’s a pleasure to be here again as always.
Andrew Cox
Yeah Glenn, we’re very happy to have you. Let’s dive right into it. Can you tell me a little bit about this autonomous freight network you’re building over at Locomation.
Glenn Spangenberg
Yeah you bet so the ARC network is an interstate freight system that’s designed specifically for autonomy. The ARC network is actually based on the US DOT’s freight analysis framework which provides detailed data showing daily freight movement among states and major metropolitan areas on US highways in the Interstate. Using that data we identified 68 individual highway segments where the vast majority of the nation’s freight transit occurs and so we created a process for pairing trucks on those routes effectively enabling them to double the revenue per tractor, per day, and lower the operating cost by increasing the utilization in every part of the network. Essentially the ARC network prepares shippers and carriers for the way that freight will flow when autonomous trucks are deployed. The ARC network enables carriers and shippers basically to get the most out of every mile traveled in an autonomous world.
Andrew Cox
Glenn, you told us about the network there, but tell us a little about how the technology, the autonomous relay convoy, the ARC technology plays into the network.
Glenn Spangenberg
Yeah, that’s a good set of questions. How would a trucking company leverage the ARC technology to actually boost productivity and maximize profits to the magnitude that we’re talking about, the answer is found in Locomation’s end-to-end approach to implementing autonomy which enables the carrier to offer the service as a premium service to their shippers. And shippers can also begin now to re-engineer their supply chains and more easily identify carriers who will offer these services when autonomous relay convoys start coming online as early as next year. Our approach includes professional services where Locomation provides a freight network analysis and workflow planning, training, and implementation. And it also includes a suite of proprietary tools and methods and processes that enable our clients to implement a sustainable operating model in order to offer and execute an autonomous truck service. So together with the well-prepared ARC freight network our customers will understand where the best relay freight is and how to extract its value every day,
Andrew Cox
So Glenn you mentioned twice the revenue per day with lower operating expenses but let’s paint it a different way. What could autonomous relay convoy mean financially for a freight hauler? Can you add some more color there?
Glenn Spangenberg
I sure can, so as a combined solution where the autonomous technology actually matches the demand in the supply chain, what type of technology should you implement at which point in the freight movement? If you do that correctly the improvements to efficiency and therefore profitability uh would be substantial. Locomation has concluded that at full operational strength the ARC technology and the freight network together would improve the at-home time for drivers, it would cut annual operating costs by 30 percent, it would increase equipment utilization by 31, percent it would increase driver utilization by 250 percent, and on top of all of that you’d also eliminate 40 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air we breathe. So at the end of the day Locomation understands that change of this magnitude is always a challenge. No one said it would be easy. As our development continues, Locomation’s autonomous technologies will catapult the shippers and carriers we serve to new heights of profitability. We’re confident about that.
Andrew CoxYeah Glenn, autonomous has the promise of making the lives of drivers easier. It has a promise of maybe subsidizing and helping out for this you know just very long shortage of drivers. We have can help out with that keep drivers closer to home and it has the promise of making these this industry a more profitable industry maybe getting rid of that kind of moniker that this is a low margin very capital intensive industry maybe we can get rid of that through some more technology like the stuff you’re making at locomotion. Thank you so much for your time today Glenn.
Glenn Spangenberg
Absolutely thanks for the time
Andrew Cox
All right everybody stay tuned for more updates from Locomation Freight Tech Updates right here on freightwaves.com we’ll have more for you soon thanks
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