Major fleet completes 50K autonomous miles | Bestpass acquires Drivewyze

Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024:

J.B. Hunt says it's run 50,000 hub-to-hub autonomous miles with Kodiak, Bridgestone partnership

J.B. Hunt, through a partnership with autonomous truck developer Kodiak Robotics and Bridgestone Americas, has surpassed 50,000 autonomous long-haul trucking miles.

The companies have an ongoing weekly delivery collaboration incorporating Kodiak autonomous trucks to ship Bridgestone passenger car tires between South Carolina and Dallas. Since launching in January, the autonomous route has been driven with no accidents and achieved 100% on-time pick-up and delivery, and the companies have expanded the collaboration to include additional weekly deliveries along the route, the companies said.

Utilizing Kodiak’s hub-to-hub autonomous delivery model, the long-haul stretch of the route from Atlanta to Dallas -- approximately 750 miles and 16 hours -- is completed using Kodiak autonomous driving technology, in trucks outfitted with Bridgestone M719 drive tires and R213 steer tires. J.B. Hunt transports the trailers to and from Bridgestone facilities and Kodiak hubs. The companies leverage J.B. Hunt 360box, a network of 14,000-plus company trailers, to secure capacity for the return trip from Dallas, preventing empty miles and improving route efficiency.

“Working closely with Kodiak and Bridgestone, we were able to deliver a complementary solution that integrates autonomous technology with day-to-day operations while also solving backhaul challenges,” said Nick Hobbs, chief operating officer and president of contract services at J.B. Hunt. 

The full route entails J.B. Hunt moving the load from Bridgestone’s Aiken Passenger Tire plant in Graniteville, South Carolina, to Kodiak’s Atlanta-area autonomous truckport in Villa Rica, Georgia. Kodiak autonomous trucks then complete the long-haul stretch of the route from Atlanta to Kodiak’s Lancaster, Texas facility. A two-person-team of Kodiak safety drivers oversee the operation of the autonomous truck.

J.B. Hunt then transports the load approximately 50 miles from Lancaster to Bridgestone’s Roanoke distribution center.

For the trip from Dallas back to Atlanta, J.B. Hunt leverages its J.B. Hunt 360box program to identify additional customers with live and drop freight needs along that route. Kodiak completes the delivery to Atlanta, and then J.B. Hunt transports the load to its next destination.

[Related: California again advances anti-driverless truck bill]

Bestpass-Fleetworthy acquire scale-bypass provider Drivewyze 

Two transportation technology companies have come together. Bestpass-Fleetworthy Solutions, which helps fleets manage tolls, safety and compliance, has acquired longtime weigh-station bypass and safety-alerts provider Drivewyze.

CCJ's Angel Coker wrote this week that a 2023 partnership between the two companies that aimed to streamline the customer experience for fleets adopting weigh station bypass and toll management services ultimately led to the deal. But Bestpass-Fleetworthy Solutions CEO Tom Fogarty said it wasn’t the impetus for the combination. The rare times Bestpass has lost a relationship, Fogarty said, has been when a customer opted for a solution that was able to offer multiple products under one umbrella. He said this combination will enable Bestpass to expand its offerings to deter that in the future.

“We were both interested in a bigger combination, but what the partnership did was not only validate our thoughts in that area but even got us more excited about what we could do if we really integrated the solutions, combined the data sets and began producing products that nobody else can touch,” Fogarty said.

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Bestpass acquired Fleetworthy Solutions, a provider of safety, compliance, and risk management solutions, last November. The Bestpass Drivewyze combo will operate from a centerpiece safety and compliance platform called CP Suite that Bestpass acquired with its Fleetworthy transaction. It is a single dashboard where fleet customers can view their tolls and will be able to view their bypass and maintenance histories and driver safety qualifications, among other things.

Fogarty said customers of both companies will see the benefits of Drivewyze’s expansive partnerships. He said Bestpass has been a little later to the game in establishing partner relationships, but its recent partnership with Geotab – resulting in toll analytics products – will be accelerated because of Drivewyze’s many integrations. In addition to fleet management services, Drivewyze partners with public agencies to improve commercial motor vehicle safety and compliance solutions with smart infrastructure and connected vehicle systems.

Drivewyze CEO Brian Heath said the company has more than 125 partners aimed at pushing the boundaries of what technology can do to solve pain points. With the Bestpass partnership, he said Drivewyze saw the opportunity to move the needle at scale by working together as a combined entity.

“In the short term, Drivewyze is staying as a standalone entity, continuing to deliver its services to our customers,” Heath said. “Tom and I are getting the teams together to really work on how we can integrate our products and services. And there are some fantastic ideas on that side that I think are really going to move the needle.” 

Fogarty said upon completion of the acquisition -- terms of which were not disclosed -- customers will benefit from one solution, one contract and one customer service team. There will be no disruption to existing services and support for Drivewyze customers.

The combined companies already have some ideas in store with the potential for a new solution in the next quarter or two, Fogarty said.

[Related: Ways to avoid trouble at the scale house, without bypassing entirely]

CARB, Calstart hosting ‘zero-emission’ ride-and-drive

The California Air Resources Board and Calstart are hosting a free “Zero-Emissions Showcase + Ride & Drive” featuring medium- and heavy-duty trucks (Class 2b-8), heavy-duty off-road equipment, school and transit buses, and commercial vans. 

The event will be held Wednesday, Aug. 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific in Oakland at the Oakland Arena.

Heavy-duty trucks that will be at the event include the Nikola BEV and FCEV, Freightliner eCascadia, Kenworth T680E, Mack MD Electric, Volvo VNR Electric and more.

In addition to the opportunity to test drive “zero-emission” heavy- and medium-duty trucks and more, CARB staff will also be on hand to answer questions, presentations will be made on the Advanced Clean Fleets and Clean Truck Check regulations and more.

Registration for the event is free and is available online here.