Fleeting chances: will autonomous trucks create new jobs?
Maja Stefanovic — 02 May 2025
6 min read
21 December 2020
“It was quite a fall," Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP), Sgt. Scott White said about an accident that involved a twenty-six-ton semi-truck and a bridge in Westphalia, Missouri in August of this year.
The historic Pentecostal Bridge had a weight limit of five tons, posted via road signage. Expectedly, the bridge collapsed when an Iowa-owned, 2020 Freightliner Cascadia attempted to drive over it. The truck and its load were more than eight times heavier than the bridge's maximum capacity.
Because of the oversight, forty thousand pounds of animal feed spilled from the truck's trailer into the riverbank below and the driver faced legal charges. Not to mention the cost of delays, loss of goods, and repairs.
The 55-year-old driver, who left the accident unharmed, told MSHP his GPS navigation led him to the bridge. He was driving under the impression that his truck was safe to cross.
Don't get stuck with a heavy load. Customizable navigation systems can help drivers stay on routes made for truck specifications.
Stranded and lost trucks, costly tickets and downtime, angry clients, and embarrassing headlines. Logistic firms need to ensure that their GPS navigation won't lead their trucks onto a road, bridge, or other areas where they aren't permitted due to height or weight restrictions.
And now, with the added demands of COVID-19 causing increased stress, drivers need detailed, reliable, and customizable routing features found in HERE Fleet Management tools.
Truck drivers can find themselves in a variety of stressful predicaments due to inaccurate location services. Some have suffered fines and embarrassment because they followed their GPS into truck-restricted neighborhoods, getting lost or stuck on routes not intended to facilitate heavy vehicles.
For example, in 2017 a driver was stranded on New Jersey's beachside boardwalk, a densely populated pedestrian-only thoroughfare when he followed his GPS navigation to a delivery destination causing a potentially dangerous and expensive scenario.
So, what are drivers to do, abandon their GPS? No. There's an easier way.
Eliot Feldstein
Senior VP for Corporate and Business Development, Lytx
It's easier to trust your navigation when it's built to consider important and specific details about your vehicle: height and weight to name only two.
With customizable navigation systems, like HERE Fleet Management Solutions, fleet managers and drivers can rest assured that their telematics and GPS system will provide accurate turn-by-turn direction to roads, bridges, and neighborhoods designed to support their trucks specifically.
HERE Fleet Management features optimized truck routing which makes planning truck routes based on maximum height and weight clearance possible. In addition, the solution offers split-lane traffic information, traffic safety alerts, and weather info, helping drivers make clearer decisions, increase asset utilization, and meet demanding ETAs even under strenuous working conditions.
Taking the high road |
Automated, location-powered fleet solutions can help truck drivers operate at full-capacity safely, efficiently and according to local traffic regulations while making time and money-saving improvements. |
Increase safety: HERE Fleet Management tools provide access to mobile-first apps that feature task-scheduling, two-way communication, and route planning based on your specific truck size, load weight, and driver experience for improved safety in compliance with regulations. |
Better customer support: HERE Fleet Telematics can help managers predict ETAs with automatic updates throughout the workday, real-time status alerts sent to clients, and tracking to help manage delays. |
Lower costs: HERE Lanes and Maneuver Assist in addition to HERE Fleet Telematics, can assess driver performance based on road regulations, speed limits, hazardous weather conditions, and rest times. |
Kevin Survance
CEO and Co-Founder, Eleos
While trusting a navigation system isn't a bad thing in itself, employing one that isn't taking into account the features of your fleet could find you, literally, in deep water.
With fleet solutions powered by location intelligence, you can avoid awkward and potentially treacherous situations, while improving your overall operations and performance.
See the difference custom navigation and GPS can make with HERE Fleet Management.
Jasmine Reimer
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Jasmine Reimer
Maja Stefanovic — 02 May 2025
Louis Boroditsky — 30 April 2025
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