Locomotion Video Transcript
Annc1
Let’s have a guest on right now, it’s Glynn Spangenberg. He’s the Chief Commercial Officer over at Locomation and you know something really interesting about Glenn here is that he started his career a very long time ago when he was a Boy Scout getting merit badges with freight. Glynn is that true? Did you start your career all the way back when you’re a boy scout?
Glynn Spangenberg
Absolutely, 1973 the Boy Scouts of America came out with the truck transport merit badge. I just fell in love with the industry and spent a bit of time at mat like trucking doing evening dispatch,. technical like calls, and right now where the driver was at, putting it on the white board so that everyone was when they came on – know where the drivers were. Great start to the industry.
Annc1
Glynn, how many Pinewood Derbies did you win? You look like a guy who would, who’d own those traps.
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah I don’t know how many I won but I still participated in the whole lineup. It talked about aerodynamics in the trucking industry and why it matters so much.
Annc2
That is awesome. Hey before we jump into it, tell us a little bit, before we tie this into you know autonomous trucking is it true that you copyrighted the first mirrorless truck concept and subsequently lobbied the FMCSA to grant a five-year mirrorless truck exemption that allowed heavy-duty trucks to operate and remove their physical mirrors. Was that you?
Glynn Spangenberg
Absolutely that was me that and that was me when everyone was saying it couldn’t be done. Why would anyone want to take the mirrors off the truck? You know why would the government ever give approval to remove the mirrors? And you know I just believe that it would be true and it actually came to pass.
Annc1
Glynn, I like that you like to do things that people say can’t be done and one of those things is autonomous trucking. Right? [Right] Well companies need to stop thinking about things that can’t be done because it is being done and it is going to happen. So what does it mean to engineer your supply chain for autonomous trucking and be prepared for that?
Glynn Spangenberg
That’s a certainty, I think the question around the timing and the phasing of it when it’s going to come out makes a big difference but today is the day to actually start beginning to engineer the supply chain for autonomous trucks because autonomous trucks won’t be able to just jump on the road and move from the warehouse to your front door and deliver you know your supplies autonomously it has to be designed it has to be engineered so that you can take the most benefit out of the technology as soon as it’s available and I don’t mean as soon as it’s available to take a driver out of the truck I mean as soon as it’s available for the trucks to get on the road and start testing they should be hauling freight they should be calling freight that you’ve designed around an autonomous truck network. A lot of money to be made if you do this correctly and you know why wait?
Annc2
So as a shipper I should be looking at my entire network and seeing how I’m moving different things in order to get ready for this. Is that what you’re saying?
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah absolutely, I’d say it’s a shipper and a carrier [yeah] with motor carriers and the Locomation model what we’re focused on is a platooning model where the follower vehicle is actually going to be in autonomous mode the whole convoy is to be led by a driver who’s cognitively engaged in the process of driving and as you prepare for that particular implementation if you do that today you’re going to get two loads on a route that you’re normally getting one load on which means you’re going to get an increase in the yield out of that particular route, you’re also going to get better utilization because the vehicles are going to be operating even though they have drivers in both of the vehicles. Today they’ll be operating as though they were operating autonomously in a convoy and you get the benefits of the fuel economy and higher utilization and so forth. So it’s worth it today. It’ll give you the gains that you’re looking for.
Annc1
Yeah, let’s drill a little deeper into what it means for each one of those parties, the carriers, the brokers, and the shippers, to be good partners, to be ready for this incoming wave of autonomous trucks. So let’s start with the carriers. What should they be thinking about now? Is there a checklist? If I’m running a fleet, where should my head be at right now?
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah, your head should be at what is your freight mix and what does the density look like? What we’re finding is that shippers are willing to put in more freight to a carrier who’s looking to engineer for an autonomous convoy. Where in the past they would get one load originating in one particular geography heading to another. They’re not willing to ante in two particular loads. So if you’re a carrier the question is going to be can you load enough density into your system to be able to run a convoy application from port to point and essentially relay back and forth, and back and forth. A little bit more local activity that’s required on each end of the delivery but that line hall becomes super-efficient and to the point where it could save 30% operating expenses. Which means you know profits at that level are going to quadruple and in trucking. that’s a fairly big number, so if you’re a carrier you know the question is where can we actually get the density to support relay convoys that are automated and the fact is it’s out there if you know. If you look into the network deep enough you’re going to find that you may only have a limited amount of freight but the truth is we can find more freight from the shipper community that will actually allow you to double up on the amount of freight that you’re running not just then but today.
Annc2
Yeah, that’s a really good point. I wasn’t thinking along those lines as far as that lane balance. Right you’ve got to be looking at that type of stuff what you’re referring to there. So let’s jump into the broker side of things. What from a broker’s side do I really need to be looking at and plan for?
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah absolutely i would say broker 3PL are sort of in that same mix. So broker’s going to be a more transactional commodity type of business. But 3PL is actually going to be planning freight movements very similar to what we do with our algorithm. Our algorithm instead of planning for one load, for one driver, for one set of assets planning, for two. So from a 3PL perspective they’ve got a much bigger portfolio of business, shipper business that they’re going to be planning toward and the fact of the matter is that they can sweeten that pie for the motor carrier as well as for the shipper. They also are going to benefit everyone in that entire loop is going to benefit. For higher freight, better utilization, the density of that’s tremendous. So you get more capacity as a 3PL and as a shipper then you normally would when you’re out. I would call it begging for trailers, this is a way to absolutely build up the amount of freight that you’re able to ship in any given direction at any time. So retailers are going to benefit because they can use the same algorithms to plan loads two at a time instead of one at a time.
Annc2
And how about shippers? Because shippers could have touchpoints at the dock, at distribution centers, at warehouses, all throughout their mix. So they have a lot to consider here too, especially with giving and receiving the freight. So we can end on that, should they be at?
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah, absolutely. Shippers I think are going to stand to benefit tremendously through the increase in available resources, available capacity, so instead of reaching out and looking for capacity that may or may not be there brokering that freight because they can’t find you know a tractor in real-time to get that done the shipper now has the capacity to find two at a time to get the loads planned, to get them shipped, to get them on the road, and really is a higher touch point you know in terms of these relays between point a and point b. And, you know the shipper is really going to be the one who’s going to add capacity as a result of that and potentially lower their expenses related to the purchase transportation cost.
Annc1
So Glenn in your estimation how far away from seeing this as widespread moving from these test lanes that we see out in the southwest desert southwest etc where they are actually moving some freight, but away from that interest it’s widespread common practice.
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah I think we’re going to be probably in the latter part of this decade before we really have you know enough lanes and enough density to prove that the model is going to work long term. It will work, it absolutely will work because the economics are so compelling we’ll find a way to do that but I think at the onset, we’re going to just see limited production rolling out in lanes that are designed specifically to handle this type of equipment and to run this type of freight. And I think we’re going to see that probably for the next uh several years as it proves as the vehicles themselves prove that they’re as safe as or safer than the regular trucks that are running today with the human driver at the wheel.
Annc1
Now Glenn, before I let you go let me ask you something because we started the show talking about Lonnie Johnson and he made the super circle while trying to make a space injector you’re an inventor yourself. You made these driverless mirrors you think you’re in danger of making the next great summer toy?
Glynn Spangenberg
Absolutely. I don’t know I could think about that but I’ll tell you when I was watching your show and hearing that it did it was a great throwback to my childhood as well and I missed those smokers, I think they’re well but I hadn’t thought about putting a bleach or I may have done that as a young man. You know I think it’s a great invention. We’ll see if I can come up with something new next, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s a lot of fun.
Annc1
Well Glenn we got a lot of faith in you for people who want to get prepared for uh this incoming storm of autonomous trucking the end of the decade where should we send them to?
Glynn Spangenberg
Yeah drop a note to info@localmation.ai
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