Recent travel on the Interstates confirms that people aren’t slowing down much, if at all, since fuel prices shot up. That includes truckers, who are still in a hurry to get where they’re going with what they’re carrying and never mind that speed ruins fuel economy.

Forget alternative fuels. “Clean diesel” is the way to go, and a division of International Truck and Engine Corp. thinks it has the technology to get there.

As many as 100 combination vehicles will be on the roads this winter testing antilock braking systems equipped with the controversial PLC4Trucks integrated circuit chip, which is supposed to activate an in-cab warning light if a trailer’s ABS malfunctions.

People stuck their heads through the back door of the big sleeper box from Indiana Custom Trucks on display at the recent Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. “C’mon in, folks,” urged John Miller, a sales representative for ICT, sitting in the sleeper’s dining nook. “Take a look around.”

The Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations is working on a recommended practice intended to ensure that repaired impact guards look and perform as they’re designed.

The Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations is working on a recommended practice intended to ensure that repaired impact guards look and perform as they’re designed.

Domino's Pizza put a 48-foot-long, 102-inch-high Utility refrigerated trailer - equipped with backup lights, a video camera and proximity sensors - through its paces from its distribution center in Nashville, Tenn. Despite the kinks, the pizza purveyor bought a stripped-down version. Domino’s liked the trailer so much the company ended up buying it, though without most of the high-tech equipment.

Legal worries over patents are blocking adoption of an official standard for trailer-to-tractor warning communications. The patent issue frustrates backers of the electronic protocol called PLC4Trucks because they face a looming federal deadline to establish an accepted way to warn the driver of a faulty antilock braking system in a trailer.

Legal worries over patents are blocking adoption of an official standard for trailer-to-tractor warning communications. The patent issue frustrates backers of the electronic protocol called PLC4Trucks because they face a looming federal deadline to establish an accepted way to warn the driver of a faulty antilock braking system in a trailer.

Plenty of uncertainty remains about the effects of the Year 2000 computer bug. But U.S. diesel engine manufacturers say they’re sure of one thing: Y2K won’t shut down their truck engines.