AUSTIN, TX. Mack Trucks has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with transportation and fleet management systems provider Trimble Transportation Enterprise. Mack announced the agreement at the American Trucking Assns. (ATA) Management Conference & Exhibition here in Austin.
Trimble delivers tools for routing and dispatch, asset maintenance solutions, business intelligence, transportation management, and vehicle visibility to help maximize efficiency fleet efficiency. Details on specific offerings to be developed in conjunction with Mack are not yet finalized.
"Applying Trimble Transportation Enterprise's approach to analyzing data will provide customers a clearer view of asset performance and help boost productivity," said David Pardue, vice president of connected vehicles and uptime services for Mack Trucks.
"There are numerous opportunities to improve service and repair inefficiencies, and collectively we can better solve them," said Scott Vanselous, executive vice president and general manager of asset maintenance solutions at Trimble Transportation Enterprise.
Separately at the conference, Mack also said it will continue to sponsor ATA's Share the Road program in 2019. Mack has sponsored the program since 2001.
"Mack remains focused on highway safety, and we fully support the powerful message that the Share the Road drivers relay to the general public about operating safely around large trucks," said Jonathan Randall, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Mack Trucks North America. "We incorporated many safety features into the design of the Mack Anthem, which the Share the Road drivers utilize to deliver their messages to millions of people across the country."
In the program, professional truck drivers present live safety demonstrations for students, media, and policy makers, showing how to drive safely alongside semi-trucks. They teach the public that trucks need longer stopping distances than passenger cars and about blind spots along the side of trucks where it can be dangerous to drive.
The program's drivers all have exceptional driving records—many have a million or more accident-free miles.
The Share the Road drivers travel throughout the country in a 2018 Mack Anthem 70-in. Stand Up Sleeper model the OEM donated. It's equipped with a 13L Mack MP8 engine with 505 hp. and 1,860 lbs.-ft. of torque and a 12-speed Mack mDRIVE automated manual transmission. The mDRIVE is standard on all Mack Anthem models.
The Share the Road Anthem also has Mack Road Stability Advantage by Bendix and Bendix Wingman Fusion advanced safety systems. Road Stability Advantage is an electronic stability control system that helps reduce the risk of rollover and jackknife accidents, and Bendix Wingman Fusion is a collision mitigation system that uses video and radar.
