Revealed: how to cut your fuel bill by 10%

A company in the US has come up with an aftermarket product that claims to reduce fuel bills by 10%.

Detroit-based technology company Traxen is marketing a product called iQ-Pilot, which is an intelligent speed control system said to reduce fuel consumption as well as improve safety and driver satisfaction.

The company claims that operators can save a whopping $9 000 per truck per year (that’s roughly R154 000 per truck). Furthermore, Traxen asserts that the payback period for the product is “less than one year”.

The product provides an optimum driving style – taking into account factors such as road grades, curves, weather, traffic, and road conditions, as well as drivers’ hours of service and time of arrival requirements. Intelligent features monitor the road, traffic, and weather conditions to reduce driver error and rear-end, blind-spot, and bridge accidents, lowering insurance costs.

Because iQ-Pilot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to control the speed of the vehicle based on the factors it regularly monitors, the driver’s primary responsibility is to focus on steering. Non-intrusive alerts via Traxen’s user-friendly interface help to keep drivers alert and informed. Human error and fatigue are vastly reduced through the use of this intuitive technology.

“Many routes driven are continually repeated,” explains Traxen founder and CEO Ali Maleki. “Each time iQ-Pilot covers a route, it navigates that route more efficiently. Improvements realised are then shared with the rest of the fleet.”

The company recently piloted the system with United Road Services, the premier finished vehicle logistics company in North America. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, the company operates terminals across the US and Canada. It has over 1 700 employees and operates an integrated national network that includes 2 500 company-owned and independent contractor units as well as 15 000 power units of dedicated third-party vehicle carriers.

Each year, coast to coast and across borders, United Road manages the transport of over four million vehicles for all major global vehicle manufacturers, car dealers, remarketers, financial institutions, rental companies, fleet owners, auction and online sellers/buyers, and individuals.

The iQ-Pilot was fitted to five trucks at United Road Services over a four-month period and the results were most impressive.

Maleki is pleased with how much the United Road drivers used iQ-Pilot during the trial. “During the trial phase, the United Road team’s use of our intuitive technology averaged significantly higher than the industry average utilisation of basic Adaptive Cruise Control. Some drivers utilised the system close to 80% of the time, while in our test fleet of three tractors, we averaged well over 90% utilisation and averaged fuel economy increases of 10%,” says Maleki. “We are excited to extend our relationship with the United Road team and have them fully realise the potential of our iQ-Pilot.”

United Road COO Jason Walker, meanwhile, is pleased with the results. “United Road is a technology solutions-driven company, so we welcomed the opportunity to work with Traxen. We have seen significant benefits with the addition of iQ-Pilot to our tractors. Besides the significant fuel savings, iQ-Pilot helped reduce our carbon emissions and improve safety in ways not currently realised in the auto hauler segment,” he says.

Based on the success of the project, 400 units will be installed in the United Road fleet. Traxen has already begun and anticipates project completion within the next 12 to 18 months.

iQ-Pilot is available to OE truck manufacturers and commercial vehicle aftermarket customers and is currently being piloted by other commercial fleets.