Page 8 - Newcom

Business
Proving platooning
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Francis Charette. FPInnovations is the parent group to PIT. “To the best of our knowledge, no other company has tested platooning in a forest environment. As a respected non-profit forestry R&D organiza- tion, FPInnovations is ideally posi- tioned to bring together specialized research organizations and com- mercial industries to further the common goal of introducing pla- tooning on forest roads.”
This test marked the first time platooning technology was tested under thick forest canopy or used to control trucks on gravel roads, FPInnovations says.
“We’re very glad to be a part of today’s tests,” says Resolute Forest Products director of forestry opera- tions, Jonathan Perron. “The forestry industry has to be innovative to compete globally and the concept of automated platooned trucks follow- ing one lead truck driver can help us improve our efficiency despite a labor shortage that’s affecting our industry across the country. We also believe that this type of technology will help us attract a new generation of forestry workers.”
The trucks traveled at 70 km/h at a following distance of 20 meters. TN
Minimax Express Transportation donated equipment for the use of on-highway platoon tests in Quebec.
“We’ve been in business for the past 28 years and the issue of recruiting drivers has never been so real.”
– Yves Poirier, Minimax Express Transportation
GM to be missed
Continued from page 1
as the plant closes. Other custom- ers have expressed interest in our company doing more for them,” he reasoned.
The business can be replaced, but will be missed. The company’s patriarch, 84-year-old Ross Mackie, recalls going into GM to solicit some work for Mackie the Mover in the mid-1950s.
“I think I was in my 20s. Merle, my dad, had gone to them trying to get some business moving their exec- utives and families but hadn’t had any luck. He told me to go out and buy a suit and see what I could do,” he recalled.
The new suit must have worked. Mackie managed to get a meeting with the traffic manager and a few other department heads. “Then I got called back for two or three meet- ings,” he said. “After that, things started happening.”
That was the start of symbiotic relationship between the two com- panies. Besides getting the house- hold moving work from the execu- tive transfers, Mackie soon became a preferred carrier for coast-to- coast car shows and prototype deliveries. Ross even recalls pick- ing up the first robot in Detroit and
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Forestry trucks traveled 75 kms in platoon formation on logging roads during tests overseen by PIT Group.
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8 Truck News • January 2019