Making Trucking Attractive Again: Culture, Drivers, and Technology

Some old-timers will tell you the good old days of truck driving were the 1960s and '70s — the era that produced the attractive foundation of "trucker culture." Truck drivers were romanticized as modern-day cowboys and outlaws. The use of citizens' band (CB) radio to relay the locations of police and transportation authorities created a kind of secret society, banding the brothers of the road together. Plaid shirts, trucker hats, CB radios, and CB slang all worked their way into pop culture.

Today, America has seen a decline in drivers. A shrinking driver pool has lowered demand for manual transmissions and boosted demand for automatics. One driver might argue that the perfect owner-operator rig is a pre-emission Peterbilt 379 EXHD with a big CAT and an 18-speed, but recent surveys from OEM dealerships suggest the new owner-operator rig looks more like a Cascadia with an automatic.

So what is causing the lack of interest among the next generation? Is it pay? The influx of laws and regulations? Has the culture picked up negative stigmas along the way?

Whatever the cause, the industry can work together to fix it.

How technology can make trucking attractive again

New technologies like autonomously driven trucks, on-demand freight marketplaces, and Uber-like trucking apps are often greeted with cynicism — and a healthy dose of fear about job security. But there is another way to see it: these systems have the potential to make the profession far more attractive to future generations.

Kids today are born with tablets in their hands. How appealing will it be for them to back a rig up to a loading dock using a screen, or to take a job where they can put the truck on highway pilot and stay connected with friends and family along the way?

The trucking industry has had decades to sort out its people problems, and it has done a poor job of making the work attractive to the next generation of drivers. Now, technology is arriving that can help change that and make trucking appealing once more.

Remember to give thanks to truck drivers for keeping our tables filled and our shelves stocked.

Enjoy a meal? Thank a truck driver.