Move Over, CB Radio: Trucker Apps Are Helping to Haul the Load

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N.Y. Times:  Move Over, CB Radio: Trucker Apps Are Helping to Haul the Load

STRASBURG, VA. – If you're old enough to remember 1970s trucker films like "Smokey and the Bandit,"  "Convoy"  and "White Line Fever,"  you may think of truck drivers as free-spirited individuals tethered to the world by nothing more than citizens band airwaves. That depiction was a stretch even then, but today's truckers are often as Web-connected as the technophiles occupying the local Starbucks. Even on the loneliest stretches of the Interstates, smartphones and tablet apps provide diversions and lend a helping hand.

The number of freight-hauling trucks on American roads rose to nearly 11 million in 2009, the latest numbers available from the federal Transportation Department, from fewer than six million in 1980. In an industry where a few cents a mile per truck can add up to big money on a haul of thousands of miles, trucking companies and owner-operators have grown much more concerned about efficiency. Apps for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are taking a leading role in trucker tech, as they have in many other facets of modern life.

Consider shipping a load of asparagus from Mexicali, Mexico, to New York City from a trucker's perspective. Along the way, the driver will travel vast expanses of deserted open road, but will also have to negotiate several congested metropolitan areas. The driver has to take into account low overpasses, tight turns and restricted-access roads.