New trucks, new technology, classic trucks, and one of the oldest, largest pieces of heavy equipment made up the photo galleries that were most popular with FleetOwner readers in 2022.
Below are synopsis and links to view the hundreds of the thousands of images FleetOwner editors captured and procured during a busy post-pandemic year of trucking and transportation events across North America.
All FleetOwner galleries can be found at our Media Galleries page. Below are the 10 most popular galleries of 2022.
A look back at 75 years of Ford F-Series trucks
Ford Motor Co.’s popular F-Series trucks were first introduced almost 75 years ago and have been part of fleet operations and American culture since that 1948 debut. To celebrate the diamond anniversary of the series, the OEM will roll out an F-150 Heritage Edition in 2023.
The special edition of the most popular vehicle in the U.S. features a modern take on the classic two-tone exterior paint Ford offered in the 1970s, ’80s, and early-'90s during the sixth, seventh, and eighth generations of the F-Series, which debuted as the F-1, F-2, and F-3 trucks in 1948. Using Ford's heritage media bank of images and brochures, this FleetOwner photo gallery takes a look back at just some of the hundreds of various F-Series vehicles Ford has produced over the past 74 years. View the full gallery
An inside look at Navistar’s new truck assembly plant
Navistar’s newest truck assembly plant in Texas now serves as its “operational backbone,” bringing high-tech industry concepts to the OEM’s existing plants in North America.
According to Navistar, the plant will be its launch facility for Industry 4.0 manufacturing concepts, which include a digitized factory, connected machinery, lean manufacturing practices, and cloud analytics to enable predictive quality and maintenance.
Production at the facility began in January—with the International eMV Series electric truck as the first vehicle off the line in San Antonio. The purpose of the plant from inception was to have the capability to manufacture both electric and internal combustion engine powertrains on the same line. Navistar has invested more than $250 million in the nearly 1 million-sq.-ft. Facility.
This gallery provides a detailed look of the truck assembly process at the new facility. View the full gallery
First look: Western Star’s all-new on-highway truck
Billed as the most technologically advanced third chapter of its "Trilogy of Tough" X-Series, in 2022 Western Star introduced the all-new 57X, an on-highway truck built from the ground up for owner-operators and linehaul fleets. It joins Western Star's 47X and 49X, which serve the vocational market and were introduced in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The 57X will replace the brand's 5700XE on-highway truck, which was discontinued at the end of 2021. Industry media had the chance to test drive and get to know the new 57X at the American Center for Mobility—located just outside of Detroit.
Production for the 57X is planned to begin in early Q1 2023 at DTNA's Cleveland, North Carolina, truck manufacturing plant. View the full gallery
Historic Haines collection is heavy on Macks
FleetOwner editors, as part of the Mack Command Steer event, visited the extensive truck collection of John B. Haines IV, founder of Mack Trucks customer H&K Group, which owns the quarry where the Command Steer event took place.
Haines maintains a collection of dozens of historic trucks, as well as myriad trucking memorabilia, on his property. Many visitors commented that the Haines collection was the most impressive they'd ever seen. View the full gallery
10 laws that changed how trucking works
Although the federal government doesn’t regulate labor in trucking per se, the impact regulations have on commercial drivers can’t be ignored. Over Labor Day weekend, FleetOwner took a look back at some of the top labor issues in the industry since deregulation in the 1980s and the effects of some notable and ongoing worker and driver challenges.
Deregulation was all about lowering economic barriers—such as higher insurance rates and higher registration costs—for motor carriers entering the industry. In turn, the government started raising safety barriers. View the full gallery
Winners of SuperRigs 2022
Shell Rotella announced the winners of its SuperRigs truck beauty competition held June 9 through 11 at Branson Landing in Branson, Missouri. The Best of Show winner was awarded $10,000, while the runner-up received $4,000.
Truck owners from across the U.S. and Canada compete each year for over $25,000 in cash and prizes. Twelve drivers are selected to have their trucks featured in the 2023 Shell Rotella SuperRigs calendar. Events included a parade along the waterfront and a trucking light show. View the full gallery
Future of transportation draws record crowd to ACT Expo
The advancement of clean transportation technologies is exploding within commercial fleets. Nowhere in 2022 was that on more prominent display than at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, which took over the Long Beach Convention Center in May.
While diesel prices continued to break price records across the U.S. this year, more than 75 advanced clean technology vehicles were on display among more than 250 exhibits. This drew thousands of fleet leaders, suppliers, and others to the expo, which featured three days of exhibit hall access among dozens of panels and presentations on the future of transportation.
Those who made the trip to Southern California for ACT Expo got to check out what traditional OEMs, startups, and other suppliers are working on as the industry increases its zero-emission efforts this decade. View the full gallery
How NASA keeps the 'ultimate heavy equipment' running after 50 years
How has NASA kept a vehicle 80 times larger than a fully-loaded tractor-trailer running since the Johnson administration? A stellar maintenance program. And lots of lubrication.
Anyone who works on heavy equipment knows the importance of a good preventive maintenance schedule. There are few heavier pieces of equipment in the world than NASA’s two crawler-transporters, which first hauled Saturn V rockets to a Kennedy Space Center launchpad during the Apollo era of spaceflight.
This year, 55 years after transporting its first rocket, NASA used a strengthened Crawler-Transporter 2 to move its most enormous load yet: the 380-ft. Mobile Launcher 1 with the Space Launch System (SLS) atop it. That SLS is a mighty rocket-launch tower that weighs 11.3 million lb. This could be one of the most critical last-mile deliveries this century.
Some of the engineers and operators who keep the Crawler running shared their stories and lots of images with FleetOwner. View the full gallery
Tour the Paccar Innovation Center in Silicon Valley
Paccar’s Stephan Olsen has spent the past two years in the heart of Silicon Valley, meshing the commercial trucking equipment world with the innovators of technology companies headquartered along the South San Fransisco Bay.
Before running the Paccar Innovation Center as general manager, Olsen spent 23 years at the Kenworth Truck Co.’s Kirkland, Washington, headquarters. Paccar—the parent company of Kenworth, Peterbilt Trucks, and European nameplate DAF—uses its innovation center in Sunnyvale, California, to develop and test commercial vehicle technology. View the full gallery
10 most dangerous states to drive in
Personal injury attorneys have their eyes on the most dangerous roads across the U.S. The 1-800-Injury national network of lawyers recently used public data to pinpoint which states have the deadliest roads by looking at vehicle-related fatalities.
The organization used state population, vehicle miles traveled, number of licensed drivers, and road fatalities to develop a Road Danger Rating for all 50 states. Most of the states to make the list of 10 most dangerous are in the South. Sparsely populated Western states round out the list. View the full gallery
