Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) recently published a comprehensive report showcasing results from their second comprehensive survey of over 1,300 Australian stakeholders across the trucking and road transport sector.
This has been released as The Future of Trucking: The Way Forward 2024, and while you may expect me to be biased, I believe this report reveals some significant trends and changes in sentiment across our important industry.
Questions were asked in categories of Business Sentiment, Procurement, Safety and Technology, Electric Vehicles and Truck Maintenance. This article is far too brief to unpack all categories, and since I am a Product Manager, I thought it would be valuable to share with you some key Safety and Technology insights gleaned from the survey respondents.
Broad Selection of Respondents
Survey respondents totalling 1,300 spanned several industries, with the largest portions from Construction (23 per cent), Transport, postal and warehousing (21 per cent), Manufacturing (11 per cent) and Retail Trade (10 per cent).
Geographic representation was roughly equivalent to the population spread across Australia, with 36 per cent from New South Wales, 27 per cent from Victoria, 14 per cent from Queensland, 7 per cent from South Australia and 10 per cent from Western Australia. Equally, there was a broad range of fleet size and truck Gross Vehicle Mass owners surveyed.
High Level Insights: Safety and Technology
The importance of safety in trucking and especially proven ‘useful’ safety features that we have all become accustomed to using in our cars, has risen in prominence over the past few years.
It was maybe only 10-15 years ago that a good safety suite found on the majority of trucks was limited to Anti-lock Braking System, pre-tensioner seat-belts, and a driver’s airbag on some smaller models, combined with a simple cruise control.
Early attempts by truck manufacturers to introduce features that were then common in passenger cars to the truck range as an extra-cost ‘safety pack’ were not entirely successful, with low acceptance rate.
This led to a general consensus that ‘safety doesn’t sell’, unless included in the base vehicle. Times have clearly changed, with larger fleets and government purchasers placing many active safety features in their list of mandatory requirements in tenders and other procurement documentation.
For example, from the Future of Trucking 2024 survey, the Top 3 Active Safety Features currently used are: 1. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), with 44 per cent of users; 2. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), with 43 per cent of users; and, 3. Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), both at 41 per cent.
Equally informative is the knowledge that each of the top 3 Active Safety Features being considered in the next five years, with an equal prominence of 52 per cent are: 1. Lane Keep Assist (LKA); 2. Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM); and 3. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) While some of these features (AEB and ESC) are already mandatory or soon to be mandatory for all truck models sold from early 2025, it is worth noting that others (like LKA and ACC) are not currently on the development schedule for new Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
Customer demand and manufacturer development schedules will therefore be the primary driver of safety system product planning for systems that are not regulation driven.
Accordingly, survey reports like The Future of Trucking 2024 are essential to inform Product Managers at the various truck manufacturers.
The final key takeaway around active safety features is that their importance is stronger with Government and Large Fleets, reflecting their heightened occupational health and safety responsibilities.
When we look at non-safety specific technology, the Top 3 systems currently in use are: 1. Forward & Rear facing cameras (51 per cent); 2. Driver Communication (45 per cent); and, 3. Telematics Vehicle Tracking (40 per cent). Looking ahead towards the next five years, the Top 3 Technology features under consideration are: 1. Telematics Vehicle Performance and Predictive Maintenance (55 per cent); 2. Fleet Management (54 per cent); and, 3. Automated Crash Notifications (53 per cent).
The top 3 lists above clearly indicate that the field of telematics will play an even more important role into the near future than most other technologies.
Fleet owners want to receive useful data about their fleet, so they can manage it better. On that basis, on the subject of the Top 3 benefits of Telematics systems, the Survey Said: 1. Improved Driver Safety (57 per cent); 2. Monitoring Driver Behaviour (54 per cent); and 3. Increasing Efficiency (53 per cent).
No surprises there! Transport operators and businesses that use trucks are always looking to reduce risk and cost.
A good telematics product will help them achieve both goals. The type of data that is available through modern transport systems and vehicles is far more comprehensive today compared with even five years ago.
Notably, the improvements that are possible in vehicle uptime facilitated by telematics on-board the vehicle, using data from on-board networks to check condition of key systems and any fault code generation, are of great interest to many transport fleet operators today, and in the near future.
I have the advantage of seeing what the next generation of Isuzu trucks will offer in the next 12-18 months and beyond.
The level of change and integration is substantial, with new electronic architecture, connectivity and systems that are a giant leap ahead when compared with a similar size truck from the early 21st century.
The extensive use of technologies that will enhance safety, efficiency and productivity, while reducing risk to the operator will be unparalleled.
Most will recognise the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates. He once said, “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”
While that comment was aimed mainly at the information technology space, and we could argue that in the ‘old’ commercial vehicle world things have moved a bit slower, these are wise words to take heed of when looking ahead.
We have definitely entered the information-rich age for transport and trucking, so while this year’s truck model may look pretty similar to the same model from 2022, you can bet that the Model Year 2034 trucks will be a huge advancement that will be barely recognisable.
I am pleased to advise that you can get more insight into the IAL Future of Trucking 2024 Report by downloading it for free from the following link here.
On top of downloading and reading the report at your leisure, I will also be presenting some further insights gleaned from the report at ARTSA’s Future Transport Conference, scheduled for 14 November 2024 in Port Melbourne, Victoria.
There will be an excellent roster of speakers and sessions sure to pique the interest of many of you in our industry. Happy trucking!
Simon Humphries,
Product Manager, Medium & Heavy Duty Trucks, Chief Engineer, Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL). ARTSA Executive and Life member.