This will not be the first time we have talked about smart trailers at the QuickTSI blog, and likely won’t be the last. Why? Because as they increase in popularity, you can expect to see more of them on the roads. And with the amount of data that can be gleaned from smart trailers, fleets will be quick to adopt.
Yet, problems remain. There are industry standards and connectivity problems that OEMs will need to work out before the trucking sector sees widespread smart trailer adoption. Let’s take a deeper look at the entrenched issues facing the smart trailer segment.
Why Smart Trailers?
Smart trailers have almost limitless potential, but everything comes at a cost. While the concept is still in its infancy, OEMs have been working hard to resolve unanswered questions. Over the past decade, trailers have gone from nothing more than a warehouse on wheels to vital sources of business intelligence and actionable data that can help fleets be more proactive with maintenance.
Smart trailers started with the age of IoT devices, sensors, video, and other advanced technologies and have steadily evolved over time. Once we had gotten into door sensors, cargo sensors, and stability control, there was no going back. Now, the future of the smart trailer is steeped in blind spot detection, advanced lighting, back up cameras and communication between trailers and autonomous vehicles.
Beyond the technological aspect, fleets benefit from trailers in other ways. Motor carriers can use smart trailers to shrink their overall fleet footprint through improved uptime and more efficient fleet utilization. They also benefit from truck drivers increased buy-in because they are appreciative for technologies that make their jobs easier.
A Simple Plug Downs the Smart Trailer
Yet, smart trailers face a significant problem in something as simple as a connector. Thanks to the glacial change of pace of old technologies, smart trailers are not able to see their full potential. Blame the seven-way J560 connector.
The fact is, the seven-way, as it is called among truckers, should have been retired many, many years ago. Fleets both want and deserve expandability way beyond 10 years. As a result, OEMs are already talking about 30-pin connectors. Of course, everyone is trying to come up with a standard that will please everyone, but at least we can move beyond the seven-way.
The humble SAE J560 7-pin connector has finally outlived its usefulness, and the news couldn’t be more welcome to smart trailer OEMs. Now, the search for a suitable replacement is leading to a potential 30 pins, though we could see something more akin to a 15-pin style, which is used widely across Europe.
Fortunately, companies have figured out workarounds to get around the archaic pin issue. Some of the features underpinning smart trailers can be handled through telematics systems and wirelessly. Telematics specifically can be used to get around seven pin connectivity problems.
Still, that is only a Band-Aid. It is not a permanent solution. Conventional wireless communication is too slow for the demands of future connectedness. And as autonomous vehicles continue to proliferate alongside electric trucks, there simply needs to be a hi-tech solution, whether wired, wireless, or hybrid.
Cellular Standards Change
It doesn’t help that all this is happening just as cellular providers are once again shifting to a new cellular standard. We move from 4G into 5G, telematics providers and other players in the space will need to adapt to the new paradigm. We could very well see a tractor OEM buying an electronics company to build their own in-house electronics architecture. Proprietary tech is not outside the realm of possibility.
There will need to be comprehensive communication between global manufacturers. Many of the suppliers that will be putting systems onto trailers of the future, particularly braking systems, come from all over the world. They have some ideas of how to solve these problems and will be looking closely at setting their own standards.
Still, those working on the braking systems are not the only voices at the table. The people that provide the trailer harnesses and the trailer lighting have some ideas as to how smart trailers can be made smarter. Then, of course, add the plethora of telematics suppliers building hardware and software in the marketplace. There will be a lot of opinions on what standards are right.
Fortunately, the Technology & Maintenance Council has already been hard at work creating these standards. They have now convened two new task forces in the S.7 Trailers, Bodies & Material Handling and S.1 Electrical study groups. The groups are currently working on a report they expect to be completed at the end of 2021.
It is going to be a big job but replacing the 7-pin is critical to ensuring smart trailers do not wind up a forgotten technology. The challenge will be great. Replacing the 7-pin with something that can be expanded, is backwards compatible, can be retrofitted, and meets the needs of shippers, trucking companies, and others in the transportation sector is going to be a daunting task.
One Trailer and Many Connections
Before the smart trailer can reach its full potential, the industry will have to settle on a few core technologies. And they need to do it in a concerted fashion. All to often do new technologies and initiatives fail because OEMS each go in a different direction. There must be open-source collaboration on new technologies, especially where smart trailer standard connections are concerned.
OEMs coming up with new trailer devices are already asking themselves some important questions:
- Do we need a 30-pin connector?
- Will the 15-pin European variant handle the job?
- Will we settle on something entirely different?
- What other upgraded wired connections are required?
It is highly likely that some type of upgraded wired connection will be necessary to enable two-way communication for cameras and various other sensing devices. It will be important to connect the tractor’s controller area network (CAN) and provide room for more wireless connections. Still, all this connectivity does not come without its downsides.
Some are of the opinion that not everything needs be wired. But if you do go with more wireless options, you must deal with more battery power. Batteries will need to be charged and/or swapped out over the life of the trailer. but with more wireless sensors come more batteries that you’ll need to change out over the life of the trailer. The problem is that trucking companies don’t want to swap out batteries just to fix a broken sensor. There simply needs to be a hybrid model.
The Hybrid Approach
Trucking companies will likely have to adopt a hybrid wired/wireless solution as they innovate in the smart truck space. Doing it this way will enable effective and reliable future connectivity between tractors and trailers – while maintaining backward compatibility and future growth potential. This does not need to all be a pie-in-the-sky dream. The problem is with scale. There are a lot of trailers out there.
If you look at the numbers put out by the Technology & Maintenance Council, there are 6 million trailers in service today. Of those 6 million, approximately 138,000 have some sort of built-in telematic capability integrated into the trailer. Smart trailers will need some kind of futureproofing regarding tractor-trailer communication and anticipated technological standardization.
Trucking companies who want to grow in the 21st Century will need to take advantage of trailer telematics capabilities. Why? Because by 2022 it is expected that nearly half of all trailers in service in the U.S. will have some type of telematics or smart technology built in. By 2025, you can expect that number to be approaching 100%.
Every supplier and OEM with some skin in the game, plus the customer, wants a say in how this unfolds. The tractor-trailer connection will need to be backward-compatible to maintain connectivity with the 6 million pieces of rolling stock already out there. At the same time, it needs to be future-proofed for any emerging technologies, such as the massive data transfer rates that will be required for autonomous vehicles. There will need to be some cost-effective retrofit possibilities as well. And of course, interchangeability will be foremost on many fleets’ minds.
Fortunately, smart trailer OEMs are hard at work solving these problems. Many have plans in place on how they will help the industry spur greater adoption. They will begin with trailer rental and leasing companies, which represent a healthy chunk of the trailer population. Once people at trailer rental and leasing companies are comfortable, you should see independent operators jump on board.
OEMs are also developing surveys and taking the pulse from their own customers. No matter what type of fleet they are working with, whether private, truckload, regional, or otherwise, smart trailers will be customized for the needs of the fleet. Will your trucking company be ready for the smart trailer revolution?