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COVID-19 resulted in health and logistical challenges for many sectors of the American economy, including the trucking industry. This study examined how the pandemic impacted the trucking industry, focused on the pandemic’s impacts on company operations, health, and stress of trucking industry employees. Data were collected from three sources: surveys, focus groups, and social media posts. Individuals at multiple organizational levels of trucking companies (i.e., supervisors, upper-level management, and drivers) completed an online survey and participated in online focus groups. Data from focus groups were coded using a thematic analysis approach. Publicly available social media posts from Twitter were analyzed using a sentiment analysis framework to assess changes in public sentiment about the trucking industry pre- and during-COVID-19. Two themes emerged from the focus groups: (1) trucking company business strategies and adaptations and (2) truck driver experiences and workplace safety. Participants reported supply chain disruptions and new consumer buying trends as having larger industry-wide impacts. Company adaptability emerged due to freight variability, leading organizations to pivot business models and create solutions to reduce operational costs. Companies responded to COVID-19 by accommodating employees’ concerns and implementing safety measures. Truck drivers noted an increase in positive public perception of truck drivers, but job quality factors worsened due to closed amenities and decreased social interaction. Social media sentiment analysis also illustrated an increase in positive public sentiment towards the trucking industry during COVID-19. The pandemic resulted in multi-level economic, health, and social impacts on the trucking industry, which included economic impacts on companies and economic, social and health impacts on employees within the industry levels. Further research can expand on this study to provide an understanding of the long-term impacts of the pandemic on the trucking industry companies within the industry and segments of the trucking industry workforce.
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Planning a Trucking Research Consortium using Industry Customer Discovery and Innovation Ecosystem Mapping
Trucking is a critical segment of the economy, supporting the supply chains of many other sectors, moving goods that account for about half of U.S. gross domestic product. However, it remains the least automated, least safe, most labor-intensive, most polluting of all transport modes. Automation, electrification, and interconnected operation of trucks could help resolve driver shortage, supply-chain disruption, delivery service delays, emissions, and road safety issues. This paper reports on the development of a plan to bring together the knowledge and business ecosystems related to trucking technologies into an industry-university consortium, while providing students at three universities with learning through interdisciplinary research. The consortium’s vision is to converge and apply knowledge in emerging technologies in connected, electrified, and automated freight trucking and public transport networks to advance agile logistics and mobility for all. With an impending award from the National Science Foundation for administrative costs, the consortium will bring together diverse private and public sector stakeholders to conduct research on commercial vehicles, freight supply chain networks, and pertinent information systems to accelerate the adoption of automated and electrified systems to transport people and goods efficiently and flexibly. It is particularly focused on attracting diverse students to be trained in trucking technologies, and on focusing research on societal and economic challenges related to trucking.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2209899
- PAR ID:
- 10631994
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--47846
