Susan Beardslee, principal analyst at ABI Research, said that change is constant-- with the unknown factor being the speed at which it will occur. Change happens quickly in trucking, and the pace of change will only accelerate in the coming years, according to Susan Beardslee, principal analyst at ABI Research. Speaking at a session at Omnitrac's Outlook user conference in Dallas on Feb. 25, Beardslee said that social changes, such as an aging work force, urbanization, and traffic congestion, have long been pointed to by forecasters as pushing trucking toward change. Fleets have had to learn how to attract younger workers, she pointed out. But younger drivers are less likely to see the attraction of spending days at a time on the road and away from home, which the long-haul segment requires.

As real-time, connected vehicle prognostics move rapidly into consumer and commercial transportation, they pave the way for the progression of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), greater OEM profits and increased customer loyalty. ABI Research forecasts that there will be more than seven million prognostics-enabled, commercial vehicle solutions connected globally by 2021. Vehicle prognostics are able to predict and inform, in real time, future component deviations or failures in advance of any performance impact. As these capabilities move rapidly, automotive prognostics will positively impact the supply chain from manufacturers to repair shops to third-party software providers. "Automotive safety is shifting the industry toward a machine learning focus," says Susan Beardslee, Senior Analyst at ABI Research.