Transport Topics

IFM Investors and British Columbia Investment Management Corp. became equity investors in GCT Global Container Terminals Inc., an operator of four North American container terminals. IFM acquired a 37.5% holding, and BCI acquired a 25% stake. The value of the investments was not released. The purchases are subject to regulatory approvals.

If autonomous vehicles are the future of the trucking industry, what is the future of the truck driver? On the surface, it might appear to some casual observers that automation could soon spell the end of the truck driving profession, but that perception quickly falls apart when examining the current limitations of the technology and the stark realities of trucking’s labor needs.

Come July, Google Chrome will add stark security warnings that could turn business away from your website if it’s unencrypted. Specifically, Google will brand your site as “not secure” in the address bar of its popular web browser if it senses you’re operating without encryption. “Users presented with this warning will be less likely to interact with these sites or trust their content,” so it’s “imperative” that site operators get their websites encrypted, said Patrick Donahue, security engineering product lead at Cloudflare, a web services provider.

Advances in sensor technology will play a key role in the development of increasingly sophisticated driver- assist systems and the eventual deployment of self-driving trucks in commercial fleets.