Slashdot Mirror
Truck Stops Get Wireless Internet
Makarand writes "According to SFGate.com, a company called
IdleAire Technologies are building high-tech truck
stops to provide drivers with air-conditioning, television, Internet access
and phone service in truck cabs, so that they can turn off their engines.
Trucks will pull into bays, where flexible tubes ending in vents for hot or cold air, and
touch sensitive screens for Internet access can be pulled inside the truck's cab. There's also a separate wireless Internet option, where drivers don't have to pull into the bays. The basic services provided cost less than the fuel spent in idling a truck."
BigTrux91: "hey, ASL?"
XoRigChikoX: "43/f/truck stop, u?"
BigTrux91: "lol, same"
XoRigChikoX: "im just takin a break, haulin a shipment of lawn chairs from kentucky to los an-ghi-lees"
JenLiveCam9113: "Live sex cams, click here!"
BigTrux91: "wanna cyber?"
XoRigChickoX: "mmm, show me ur exhaust pipe"
BigTrux91: "::steps out of truck, removes pants::"
sorry....
Vonal Declosion
So, in a few years time, if that package you ordered takes a loooong time to get delivered... you know why. The friggin' truck driver is reading /.
So with the wireless access can you use all the trucks on the road as a rolling wireless relay system? If so that would be cool. Sure puts the old CB system to shame.
If Darwin was right, you'd be dead by now.
Wow. That's pretty cool. If a trucker can get internet access, maybe those who are unemployed should look into those trucking schools. Some of the truckers I have heard make $40/hour. Not too shabby.
The system itself works, in some ways, like a car speaker at a drive-in movie theater.
How many people are going to get that reference? The drive-ins have been gone from Eastern PA for around 10+ years now. The cheap porno one was the last to go in this area, and for years before that they broadcast their signal over low power AM.
Boy, am I feeling old right now.
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
How much to just park a big cardboard box next to a tube?
The local Flying J's truckstop has been advertising wireless access for about a month - I don't think it has the a/c stuff set up - no bays. At any rate, are there really that many truckers hauling around laptops?
And all the Slashdot truck drivers rejoice!
(I've been a truck driver, but I don't think there's many of us here)
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
Actually, I'm not surprised.
1. More and more truckers are using satelite based tracking and communication systems. (Mostly trucking companies, not individual owner/operators, I think). Theses systems tend to be laptop based.
2. Cheap and easy way to keep in touch with your loved ones and manage your life while on the road.
Many truckers keep in touch with family by e-mail. It is also a way to get traffic information, etc.
You don't have to be a geek to read e-mail, use IM or browse the web in your off time. Just look at how many people AOL has signed up.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Good, now truck drivers can run Windows Update for their Navitron Overdrives (semi-obscure Simpsons reference).
There going to provide HVAC, internet and telephone for what it takes to idle the truck?
When I drove, It cost about 2gal for the night of idling, Around here thats less than $3. Not much room for profit and maintance.
On top of that its not going to work well in the midwest winters. Drivers dont have another 2hours to warm up the engine when its real cold outside.
So now they have to idle all night as well as pay the network fee.
hmmm...
Standard tanks on interstate rigs hold 150 gallons each. $362.50 would probably be the average fillup.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
It was on slow AOL that worked like hell
With a sysadmin pullin' logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And Jimmy, both bandwidth hogs
We's headin' for bear on Tee-One-Oh
'bout a mile outta Cupertino
I says "Pigpensource, this here's Cyber Duck"
"And I'm about to plug the USB, you know?"
('cause we got a little ole convoy networkin' thru the night)
(Yeah, we got a little ole convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?)
(Come on and join our convoy, ain't nothin' gonna get in our way)
(We gonna roll this truckin' convoy 'cross the USA)
(Convoy)
By the time we got into Tulsa-town we had 85 trucks they say
But they's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf
With Hillary from the RIAA
Cuz Pete used his hard disk as an MP3 dumper
They even had a bear in the air
I says "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck"
"We about to go a-huntin' bear"
ye, 'bye
"
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
So while wireless internet may be a "value add", I don't see the bays being used by long distance OTR drivers, unless things have changed.
If I remember correctly, this was described almost the same way in Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" - though I forget the name of the make- believefranchise. This is the spread of the "techno-sprawl" into middle America. Pretty soon every franchise will let you get into the net (Free .5 hour of wireless with your big mac). I'm not sure if truck-drivers are the key demographic, but the question is what else can that infrastructure be leveraged for
An interesting discussion about Truck-Stop Electrification in order to reduce the envrinmental impact of idling.
Part of why truck drivers leave their trucks running is because it is a real pain in the ass trying to start a large diesel engine. Diesel needs a lot of compression and high temperature to ignite. This is why you never hear of diesel spill fires -- diesel won't burn at atmospheric pressure at ambient temperature.
The vapor temperature is about 150 degrees Farenheit, it's ignition temperature for liquid is about 450 degrees Farenheit at 1 atmosphere. The vapor point allows the vapors to burn quickly causing a flash but diesel can't sustain combustion. So to burn diesel as a fuel you need a lot of heat or a lot of pressure (see Chuck's Law -- P=k*T)
When it is cold it is really difficult to start a diesel engine. This is why people with diesel engines get electric engine heaters installed.
This is a really cool idea, but I doubt many truck drivers would turn off their engines, especially if it is cold outside. So this really won't be a cost saver for most trucking companies. As such, I doubt many trucking companies will spend money for this service as there data needs are quite minimal and there are more than adequate satellite data services already available for routing and driver auditing that are accessible anywhere in the country -- not just at truck stops.
This will be nothing more than a drive by porn d/l sight for the truck drivers. And many Flying J's are already offering internet access already anyway so whats the point?
It sounds like you fell for a line. Starting a truck doesn't waste much fuel. In fact, "fuel consumption during engine start-up is equivalent to about 30 seconds of engine idling."
Preventive War is like committing suicide for fear of death. - Otto Von Bismarck
The amount of fuel needed to start the truck is about the equivelent of 2,000 miles of driving.
Are you on drugs? what kind? because to make that statement you must be on some really good ones.
A generic Semi truck get's on average 5.9 miles to the gallon of fuel.
so you are tellimg me that the truck needs to ingest 338 gallons of fuel to start????
Sorry to tell you but that is more than the capacity of most trucks have in fuel.
Dont know what world you live in, but it's not reality.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
In cold weather, diesel engines need to be kept warm, or they won't start again until spring. So, part of the reason they are never shut off is so that the truck can continue running that winter.
I suspect that most modern semi/long haul rigs are fairly efficient beasts anyway. A better effort would be directed at cleaning up the emissions from short haul/local trucks. Get behind a dump truck at a stop light sometime, watch the black cloud that it belches out as it gets under way. Multiply that time 1000+ stoplights and you'll see how much pollutuon those trucks pump out.
Since people are questioning my numbers, I've done some research to back up my statements.
According to a bulletin published by the EPA in 2002, newer diesel engines consume significantly less fuel on startup. When I was told of the startup problems many years ago, starting an engine was absolute hell on it so truckers avoided it whenever possible. With the newer engines, idling is actually worse for it. According to the EPA starting a modern diesel engine consumes as much fuel as 30 seconds of idling.
I'm trying to find when this changed, because older engines (older being the word in question) were better off idling all night than being turned off and restarted. If I can dig up the documentation I'm looking for, I'll post links here.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
You mean to tell me that a 290lb trucker with a dragon tatoo on his back, a well groomed mullet, and a girlfriend named Candy in each Flying J accross the midwest will have broadband WiFi before I do?
WTF?!?!
This community of PAYING users probably stands a greater chance of advancing the widespread deployment of public access hotspots than any other. They actually NEED the access it provides, and are willing to pay for it.
This may be an attempt to be funny. But some truck drivers actually get decent pay I have seen up to 60k a year. Depending on what you carry. Most truck drivers arnt actually the typical Red Necks that they are normally portraid. A lot of them are indepent buisness owners and take care of their buisness on the road. If you actually looked at some of the Tractors Trailers out their some of them are really nice with sleeping quarters and tables fridge and microwave. A person can actually live comfortable in these tractors.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Encouraging truckers to shut down their engines during their downtime has to reduce air pollution considerably. I once drove a diesel van from DC to Iowa and back with a friend. We stopped to sleep at a truck stop in Ohio. After about 1/2 hour we had to leave the truck stop because we couldn't breathe. The fumes from all the idling trucks were beyond belief.
I don't know how the truckers can stand it. Maybe their insides are so well coated with truck-stop food grease that the fumes couldn't get through.
No sig? Sigh...
I worked on this project.
Yes, the service module (the thing you stick in your cab window) is built atop a roll-your-own Linux implementation. The enclosure is novel (in order to handle air conditioning/heating/other services, but the boards are primarily off-the-shelf.
In our research, not many truckers have laptops and those that do rarely have ethernet (most use dialup). The system is capable of handling web-browsing entirely via touchscreen, but this was not implemented for some reason.
"You have liberated me from thought."
I'm laughing pretty hard at all these junior high school science class explanations of how diesel engines work, and even harder at the attempts to explain the trucking business!
It is true that diesels are hard to start when it's cold, particularly older ones. But it's definatly not difficult when it's not cold, and newer engines have block heaters and fuel system heaters which allow normal starts below 0F. More significant is that diesels don't produce full power until warmed up, and they take a long time to do that when it's cold. Again, newer engines are much better in this respect. Another issue is cooling down properly after a long, hard climb, which can take an hour of idling or more. So yes, truckers must *occasionally* keep their motors running for these reasons.
More likely, though, is that they're running their engines for generator power, so they can run their microwave ovens, televisions, and yes, laptops. Truckers also like to sleep warm like everyone else, and their cab heaters run off their engines just like the ones in your car.
This pollutes a lot, but not as much as you might think. Diesels burn *very* little fuel at idle.
But put a lot of them in one place, and they can create quite a cloud. The noise is a problem too, particularly if the truckstop isn't in the middle of nowhere. So the authorities are cracking down, and the solution is to provide auxiliary plug-in power at truckstops, like RV parks do. Truckers can then run their appliances, use electric cabin heaters, and use block heaters to keep their engines warm at night -- without worrying about keeping their batteries charged.
But what happens when they're away from a truckstop with power? Well, newer trucks are being equipped with small auxiliary diesel generators, like those used in boats and RVs. (Many cabs are a lot like RVs.) These generators run quietly and produce much less pollution. And believe it or not, even fuel cells are being developed for this application.
And yes, truckers *do* use laptops, and the internet, extensively. This is not news -- truckers were some of the earliest of early adopters. Slashdotters marvel at the logistics/IT of companies like Fedex, but assume the rest of the transportation industry is still in the stone age. This is absurd. Besides personal communication and entertainment, the 'net has become a business necessity for truckers -- they're plugged into giant databases of goods that need to be moved, and bid for jobs as they go. Not to mention using computers for everyday business needs like the rest of us do -- bookkeeping, word processing, document management, etc. Keep in mind that a very high percentage of truckers are independent businessmen, franchisees, or small operators with a few trucks. Having access to the same technology as the big boys, at very low cost, is what allows them to compete at all.
I was a truck driver for a bit after the IT recession - it was fun, and I have a lot of cool looking work shirts now.
.9MPG fully loaded (78,000pds or so, max in US is 80,000) going up over the rockies in Colorado.
Our truck (Me and the wife drove team) was a 2002 Freightliner Century Class S/T, with a 375HP Cat power plant (13.8 liters, max rpms 2100, 10 speed transmission). Our fuel mileage averaged about 8mpg loaded, and 13mpg empty. Now when we hit the east and west coasts, that changed considerably. Most new trucks nowdays have an onboard display that allows you to see some engine stats, like MPG, etc. I've seen the MPG as low as
When I first started driving, I thought it was full of a bunch of low-bred moronic rednecks. I learned my lesson - it actually requires a lot of math skills to drive. While the overall max weight of the truck cant exceed 80,000 you have to watch axle weights (usually 20,000 max single axle, 34,000 max tandem).
There's 2 places on the truck that slide (usually) the fifth wheel and the trailer axles. Loaded up with paper and the like, it can be a real juggling act, balancing that weight to be even. Even things like the amount of fuel you have in your tanks comes into consideration sometimes. Not only that, but some places have trailer axle restrictions - places like California which only allows the trailer to be MAX in the fifth hole (theres usually 17-21 holes to help us adjust weight) can make it insane.
Not only that, but at least 85% of the truckers I met carried laptops & GPS units these days - it's a lot more high tech then you think!
I saw a thing about the Qualcomm tracking center, large screen like in the NASA mission control with thousands of little dots moving - all trucks (and some marine vessels)being tracked via GPS to with 1/10th of a mile in real time.
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
Just a couple of notes to set the record straight.
1.) Average truck MPG currently in our fleet is 5.45 MPG
2.) Our calculations estimate that the average hour of idling takes about 1 gal of fuel. DOE figures estimate the cost of fuel for period ending 6/16 as $1.43 gal.
3.) 1/3 of our drivers carry personal laptop computers.
4.) Over 3/4 of our drivers use or have used email when at home.
5.) Qualcom (the satellite communication option mentioned by someone) is expensive...check that...beyond expensive. Most plans have a kb charge associated with data transfer.
6.) While wear and tear of an engine is an issue, our current experience with the usage of idle-air is that it's a bit pricey for our units to use every night.
We are actually currently dealing with an owner-operator (truck driver who owns his truck but hauls cargo for our company)who will go over 50+ miles out of route just to stop at an idle-air truckstop when he is near one.
There is a big opportunity for a large-scale wireless provider to make inroads into truckstops, and major shipping and receiving centers. As a developer in the trucking industry, the #1 problem that we fight from a software development perspective is connectivity into our headquarters.
Wireless phone providers advertise âoedata solutionsâ, but having investigated most of those claims, the connections are only available in large metro areas, and poorly supported.
Weâ(TM)re closely watching the developments in wireless Internet at truckstops. If this becomes a widely available option and is relatively hassle-free to connect (can we hard code one connection profile for all sites), then weâ(TM)ll most likely utilize it.
The connection issue is going to be a sticky oneâ¦Itâ(TM)s not like we have CNEâ(TM)s in the cab.
Just my $0.02