Springfield Business Journal_2020-10-26

$2.00 · SBJ.NET OCT. 26-NOV. 1, 2020 · VOL. 41, NO. 14 Debate brews on Amendment 3 by Christine Morton · cmorton@sbj.net The 2020 election is just around the corner. While the race for governor is gaining a lot of attention on Mis- souri’s Nov. 3 ballot, so are issues such as Amendment 3. Missouri State University political science instructor Nick Beatty said it’s a similar proposal to one Missouri- ans voted on before. “This is causing problems be- cause people think this is going against what they voted for in 2018,” Beatty said. Two years ago, 62% of Missou- rians voted in favor of the Clean Missouri proposal, aka Amend- ment 1. In the current structure, a nonpartisan demographer draws the district boundaries. Amend- ment 3 proposes changing to a bipartisan commission appointed by the Missouri governor to draw the district lines. At stake is Missouri’s 197 legislative districts, with rep- resentation by 34 senators and 163 members of the House of Representatives. The ballot language on file with the Missouri secretary of state says Amendment 3 is “transferring responsibility for drawing state legislative districts from the nonparti- san state demographer to governor-appointed bipartisan commissions” and “modi- fying and reordering the redistrict- ing crite- ria.” Wilson Logistics invests in autonomous truck technolog y by Mike Cullinan · mcullinan@sbj.net After a successful start this summer to a multiyear part- nership, a local trucking company aims to have self-driving trucks on the road before decade’s end. Under terms of the deal, Pittsburgh-based Lo- comation Inc. is slated to equip at least 1,120 of Wilson Logistics Inc.’s trucks with autonomous technology. The first units are expected to be de- livered by mid-2022, said Locomation officials, as part of the commercial agreement between the two companies that extends through 2028. Financial terms were not disclosed.  “The attraction to autonomous trucking for me is, first and foremost, safety,” said Wilson Lo- gistics owner Darrel Wilson. “Autonomous ve- hicles are just another continuation of the safety technology we’ve been developing for the last probably 20 years, really starting with cruise control.”  Features such as advanced emergency braking, lane- change assist and reverse assist are considered advancements toward one day achieving full automation in the trucking in- dustry, officials say.  “In the trucking industry, there’s been a focus on trying to make the vehicles safer,” said Tom Crawford, president and CEO of the Missouri Trucking Association. “Autonomous is a step along that direction.” Locomation co-founder and CEO Cetin Mericli said the agreement with Wilson Logistics involves what’s called au- tonomous relay convoy technology. With the system, one person drives a lead truck, guiding the trailing autonomous truck down the road. A second person is in the trail truck but not driv- ing it. He said the process is most similar to team driving, where two drivers share a truck and al- ternate time behind the wheel. “This frees up the driver in the second truck,” Mericli said of the autonomous technology. “While they are in this mode, only one driver has to stay on duty and the other driver takes the mandated rest. That way, they can take turns every couple of hours or every couple hundred miles and can actually go twice as far, twice as fast and deliver twice as much cargo in one trip.” Tech investment Mericli said the company’s trucks are able to see the sur- roundings through a system of cameras, lidar, which use light detection and ranging, and radar sensors. GPS also is utilized, with wireless communication for the trucks handled through installed radios and antennas. The vehicles share data about See TRUCK on page 19 See DEBATE on page 24 Nick Beatty: Missourians voted on a similar issue in 2018. Darrel Wilson : Safety is Wilson Logistics’ primary attraction to autonomous trucking. NO ON 3 YES ON 3 BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT A family-run downtown Springfield brewery operates out of a former firehouse. PAGE 6 TANDEM TRUCKS Locomation Inc. is developing autonomous technology for trucks as part of an order placed by Springfield trucking company Wilson Logistics Inc. Springfield company’s order is set to equip over 1,000 vehicles by 2028 provided by LOCOMATION INC.