Mack Trucks upgrades Connect platform with automated updates and customized vehicle profiles
In an effort to streamline fleet management and reduce administrative tasks, Mack Trucks announced it will enhance its Mack Connect telematics service in the next few months with two new automated features: AutoSend and Self-Service Parameter Updates. AutoSend pushes Over the Air updates directly to the truck, similar to how smartphone updates work, while the Self-Service Parameter feature allows fleets to dictate vehicle settings in certain conditions, such as governing maximum speed or how the truck operates in the winter.
AutoSend was designed to remove any back office bottlenecks and get updates that improve vehicle efficiency and uptime right to the truck.
“If you don't have the latest software, sometimes it'll throw codes that aren't real codes because [the truck] doesn't have the latest software,” Mack president Jonathan Randall explained. “That puts the driver down until they figure out what the code is… we're cleaning out things that might have otherwise created problems for the driver.”
Mack data found updated trucks experience 22% less unplanned downtime.
“For those fleets, especially over-the-road fleets—the ones that don't come home every night—this is peace of mind that those trucks will run that,” explained Nicole Portello, SVP and chief digital officer at Mack, on a media call. “They won't have that unplanned downtime and will continue to drive more uptime for those customers.”
AutoSend will automatically push software updates directly to trucks equipped with Mack’s in-cab digital interface, Driver-Display Activation, to improve vehicle performance. Drivers can choose to start or delay the software installation via the dashboard display. The feature is available through the Integrated Uptime subscription service at no extra charge and will become standard by the end of Q1 2025.
“The driver will see, ‘Hey, there's software to be updated’; the driver will click on that and the truck will be updated less than 30 minutes,” she said. “There's no worrying from the fleet about which trucks have those software updates and which ones don't.”
Because some fleets prefer to manage updates themselves, there will also be an opt-out function. “The very small percentage” of current customers wishing to hold off have already been put on a list, Portello said.
“This really puts the control back into the hands of the fleet so they can worry about other things,” Portello said. “They don't have to sit here and worry about software updates.”
The Self-Service Parameter function funnels through the Mack Connect customer portal and will be available in Q2. This will enable more control at the fleet level without involving Mack’s Uptime Center. Multiple profiles can be created based on geolocation and time of year. For example, a fleet can set miles to kilometers when crossing over into Canada or set road speed limits and idle shutdown parameters.
Because some drivers may not be too keen on speed limiting, and could theoretically ask a tech-savvy friend to go in and change the settings, the fleet would get an alert if the truck is deviating from the set profile, Portello said.
Randall and Portello both alluded to more big things coming from Mack in its 125th year of existence. The biggest will be this spring, when the OEM unveils its newest Class 8 on-highway truck.
“This is a monster, monster year for Mack for a lot of different reasons,” Randall said Monday. “First and foremost is we're celebrating 125 years of innovation. There's not many companies that actually get to celebrate 125 years of existence—never mind relevance in an industry.”
