The Fleet

By operating around the clock, autonomous trucks could dramatically improve fleet utilization, reduce delivery times, and change how companies manage their transportation networks.

Sasko Cuklev, Head of On-Road Solutions at Volvo Autonomous Solutions, joins host Chris Brandt to discuss Volvo's plans to deploy more than 300 autonomous trucks in 2027, the infrastructure and technology required to make driverless trucking commercially viable, and how autonomy could reshape the economics of freight transportation.

They explore the potential impact on fleet operating costs, maintenance and uptime, driver shortages, and the future of supply chains as autonomous trucking moves closer to large-scale commercial operations.

Connect

Sasko Cuklev on LinkedIn

Volvo Autonomous Solutions

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset.

Learn more at elementfleet.com.

Chapters

0:00 The $900B Autonomous Trucking Industry

4:37 Building an Autonomous Trucking Ecosystem

10:35 Why Volvo Is Building Purpose-Built Autonomous Trucks

13:36 Putting Safety First in Driverless Operations

16:56 How Autonomous Freight Deliveries Work

22:25 The Economics of Autonomous Trucking

24:08 Addressing the Truck Driver Shortage

26:39 How Autonomous Trucks Could Transform Delivery Times

28:26 Rethinking Fleet Size and Supply Chains

35:10 Why Maintenance and Uptime Matter More Than Ever

36:58 New Business Models for Autonomous Fleets

40:36 Volvo's Plans for 300+ Driverless Trucks

45:57 Scaling Autonomous Trucking for the Future

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

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The City of Salem, Oregon, was named the #1 Public Fleet in NAFA's 100 Best Fleets competition in 2026, followed by the #1 Overall Leading Fleet in Government Fleet's national rankings.
 

Achieving that recognition while managing nearly 1,200 assets with a team of just nine technicians required more than operational improvements. It meant changing the culture of the entire department.
 

In this episode of The Fleet, host Chris Brandt welcomes Jim Schmidt, Acting IT Director for the City of Salem, to discuss how he helped transform the city's fleet operation through employee empowerment, strategic outsourcing, and data-driven decision-making.
 

Jim shares how his team improved vehicle availability from a reported baseline of 88% to 99%, streamlined maintenance workflows, and built a culture of trust and accountability. He also discusses the value of pursuing national fleet rankings, how recognition can help demonstrate fleet's value to city leadership, and why getting employees invested in continuous improvement has been central to Salem's success.

Jim Schmidt on LinkedIn

City of Salem — Fleet Services

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com.

0:00 The #1 fleet in government — and how Jim got there
1:04 Why running a municipal fleet is a different game
1:59 From farming and cranes to fleet manager (by accident)
3:38 Nine technicians, 1,148 assets, one of everything
4:33 Walking into Salem's shop in 2018 — what he inherited
5:13 The morale problem behind the mess
6:21 'Moving forward' — the two-word slogan that changed everything
8:50 The two-word hiring rule: attitude and aptitude
12:28 Outsourcing upfits and standardizing the fleet
17:08 88% to 99% availability — what actually fixed it
19:34 Reclassing parts jobs into a data analyst and grant writer
20:31 The $200 'savings' costing thousands in tow bills
23:15 Killing the cost-center mindset in city hall
28:37 Why he chased the #1 ranking — rankings as political armor
30:20 The 40-year employee who walked in and asked one question
33:51 Empowerment on the shop floor: 'find a way to yes'
37:25 Building trust when you're not the technical expert
42:44 The future of fleet: from mechanics to problem solvers

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Technology can show you what’s happening across a fleet. But Erin Gilchrist has found that technology questions often lead back to the same place: leadership, behavior, and culture.

Erin, founder of Fleet Unfiltered Consulting and former AFLA Fleet Manager of the Year, explains the difference between a safety program and a real safety culture, how to build KPIs that operations leaders actually care about, and how Safelite tied fleet costs to customers served to connect fleet performance directly to the bottom line. She also breaks down where AI can help fleet managers, why judgment still matters, and what separates a vendor from a true strategic partner.

Connect

Erin Gilchrist on LinkedIn

The Fleet Podcast

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Fleet Safety Programs vs Safety Culture

• 1:35 From transactional to strategic fleets

• 6:44 Why tech alone won't move driver behavior

• 15:47 The most dangerous tool any company issues a human being

• 17:25 Fleet as revenue generator, not cost center

• 23:07 What Real Safety Culture Looks Like

• 25:40 Why safety and sustainability can't survive alone

• 27:06 The driver-behavior lever

• 31:29 Real vs fake safety signals

• 34:28 The KPIs that actually matter

• 38:04 The Safelite fleet cost per mobile customer served

• 43:23 Getting fleet a seat at the table

• 47:07 How fleet managers should be using AI right now

• 49:56 The four levels of vendor relationships

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jamie McKay walked into a role that had never existed at Aptive Pest Control, in the middle of COVID, knowing almost nothing about fleet. Six years later, she manages a fleet that has grown from 400 vehicles to more than 2,400 across 76 locations.

Her approach has been simple: get into the room, ask questions, and keep information moving. In this conversation with host Chris Brandt, Jamie explains why she wanted to be “a sponge” in her first year, why fleet needs visibility into the company’s goals, how strong FMC and vendor relationships depend on transparency, and why the best upfit decisions come from listening to the people actually using the vehicles in the field.

Connect

Jamie McKay on LinkedIn

Aptive Environmental

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: 400 to 2,400 vehicles across 76 locations

• 1:38 How Jamie fell into fleet — the COVID RIF and the phone call

• 4:35 'I wanted to be a sponge' — surviving a role that never existed

• 7:31 What actually helped scale from 400 to 2,400 vehicles

• 8:50 How to say no without saying the word 'no'

• 11:50 Managing supply chain chaos and market change

• 13:38 'Fleet's really expensive' — what the C-suite needs to hear

• 16:18 Why fleet is an octopus — and touches every department

• 20:50 What a real FMC partnership looks like (vs a vendor)

• 23:55 Selling fleet spend to a skeptical CFO

• 25:23 The most expensive thing a fleet manager can do

• 30:23 Why you can't design a fleet vehicle from a desk

• 33:24 The backpack problem — and the Decked cargo-glide fix

• 39:03 Order Bank Open Day: fleet's Rex Manning Day

• 43:41 EVs, safety tech, and the non-negotiables on every new vehicle

• 46:38 What keeps a fleet leader up at night

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Autonomous trucks mean so much more than driverless.

Nick Elder, VP of Commercialization at Torc Robotics, joins The Fleet to explain what has to be true before autonomy becomes something fleets can actually use. He breaks down why Level 4 requires a fundamentally different safety architecture, what happens when sensors and autonomous systems need repair or recalibration, and why removing the driver does not remove all the work a driver was doing

The conversation also explores how autonomy could fit into existing freight networks, where it may not make economic or operational sense, and what new opportunities could emerge once fleets begin operating autonomous assets at scale.
 

• Why “first to market” isn’t the real win in autonomous Class 8, and what fleets will actually care about instead
• Why Level 4 autonomy is a complete redesign, not just an upgrade from Level 3
• What has to happen when there’s no human fallback for braking, steering, service or failure
• Why removing the driver doesn’t remove all the work the driver was doing
• What Torc’s fleet advisory council keeps pushing hardest on, from TCO to operational fit
• Why the original hub-to-hub model had to evolve to fit existing freight networks better
• What fleet managers should start auditing now to understand where autonomy could actually work
• Why autonomy may improve more than utilization, including cleaner data for maintenance and operational optimization
• Why autonomous trucking still won’t make sense for every route, facility or fleet
• Why truck driving can remain a long-term career even as autonomous freight expands

Nick Elder on LinkedIn

Torc Robotics

The Fleet Podcast

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset.

0:00 Why Driverless Trucks Change More Than Driving
1:27 Meet Nick Elder and Torc Robotics
2:41 Why Torc Isn’t Racing to Be First
4:05 From DARPA to Autonomous Class 8 Trucks
7:50 What Level 4 Autonomy Means
23:03 Why Level 4 Requires a Different System
25:42 The Safety Promise of Autonomous Trucks
27:55 Why Class 8 Long-Haul Comes First
29:06 The Business Case for Autonomous Trucking
31:17 Will Autonomous Trucks Replace Drivers?
34:29 What Fleets Actually Want From Autonomy
36:59 Why the Hub-to-Hub Model Changed
40:28 Where Autonomous Trucking Actually Fits
45:31 What Truck Drivers Do Besides Driving
49:34 How Fleets Should Prepare for Autonomy
51:47 New Fleet Models Autonomy Could Enable
54:44 What’s Next for Torc Robotics

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your service vehicle may be built around assumptions that stopped being true years ago.

At Siemens, Adam Orth and his team went into the field to see how technicians were actually using their vehicles—and found vans carrying more empty space than equipment, underused shelving, and jobs that no longer required the same setups they once did.

In this episode, Adam explains how Siemens rethought parts of its service fleet around the work itself, from moving some roles into SUVs to redesigning upfits around what technicians actually need. He also shares why fleet leaders should question one-for-one replacement, get closer to the field, and be willing to change the vehicle when the job has already changed.

Connect

Adam Orth on LinkedIn
Siemens U.S.
The Fleet on LinkedIn

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com.

Chapters

0:00 What Kind of Service Vehicle?
2:12 Why Siemens is one of GM's largest EV commercial customers
5:39 What Germany's EV sales numbers reveal about US infrastructure
7:59 The question that should come before 'which EV'
10:45 Throwing out the fleet playbook — and why it wasn't just about EV
14:12 'The scroll of excuses' Adam hears every day
16:28 The revelation: from vans to Equinox
21:31 One ladder nearly killed the whole plan
23:09 The upfit rebuild — killing cookie-cutter shelving
26:56 'Hauling air' — what the field study actually found
29:00 How Siemens thought about the SUV strategy across states
32:05 What field feedback surfaced about charging speed
37:34 Wind, hills, cold, towing — the range argument fact-checked
51:19 The four things that quietly stacked in EV's favor
53:19 Advice for fleets early in the EV transition

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Fleet costs money. Trying to minimize those expenses can cost far more.

Jennifer Pemberton, Senior Manager of Fleet and Routing at Alsco Uniforms, explains why the cheapest decision in the short term is not always the least expensive one in the long term.

From maintaining aging fleets to making the case for better tools and resources, Jennifer shares what it takes to keep costs under control without creating bigger problems down the road.

Jennifer Pemberton on LinkedIn

Alsco Uniforms

The Fleet Podcast

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com.

0:00 Two people running 2,500 trucks — meet Jen Pemberton

1:21 Inside Alsco: dirty laundry, step vans, and a global operation

3:19 Why every branch runs a slightly different truck

5:17 The cost center trap: how fleet gets labeled 'the department that just spends money'

6:02 Selling maintenance up the chain in dollars and cents

9:37 The 6 branches with on-site fleet shops — and why they cost the least

11:43 Two people, 3,500 vehicles, zero FMC: what running lean actually looks like

16:15 The 2028 vehicle cost wave nobody's ready for

17:58 Fuel up 30% since March: the real cost pressure fleet leaders are facing

19:07 The business case for adding a maintenance management role

22:53 The dash cam rollout that changed everything

25:51 40% idling — the reveal that proved the value of fleet data

29:17 Why minor accidents went UP after dash cams (and why that's good news)

32:40 The one dash cam feature every fleet leader should look for

34:45 Where EVs actually make sense in a fleet

40:29 What's next for Alsco's fleet

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Robert Braswell has spent 33 years at the neutral technical seat of the trucking industry as Executive Director of the Technology and Maintenance Council. He sees what's actually working across fleets — and what's being abandoned. In this conversation, he breaks down what fleets are betting on for 2027. How leaders can balance immediate savings with smarter investments in drivers, technicians, maintenance data and emerging technology.

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.
If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com.

Robert Braswell on LinkedIn

Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC)

American Trucking Associations

0:00 The Decisions Fleets Are Making in 2026

1:29 How TMC Sets Technical Standards for Fleets

2:22 What’s Keeping Fleet Managers Up at Night in 2026

5:05 The 35% Fuel-Economy Gap Between Drivers

5:44 Why Fleets Chase 1-2% Fuel-Economy Gains

9:31 Aftertreatment and the Uncertainty Around 2027 Trucks

11:00 Why Fleets Are Pre-Buying the Vehicles They Know

14:12 Where Electric Trucks Fit Today

15:54 Why Better Fleet Decisions Depend on Better Data

20:24 The Headlights Were Never the Problem

27:17 The Technician Shortage Isn’t About Applicants

33:32 Are You Managing for Uptime or the Quarterly Bonus?

34:04 The KPIs That Actually Matter for Fleet Uptime

37:47 What the National Technician Skills Competition Reveals

46:15 What AI Is for Fleets

52:44 How Autonomous Trucks Could Reshape Fleet Maintenance

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

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In this special look back at The Fleet, industry leaders explore how mobility, infrastructure, technology, economics, data, and driver experience are becoming part of one connected system.

Featuring Sampo Hietanen, Mobility as a Service pioneer; Sven Beiker of Silicon Valley Mobility; Philipp Kampshoff of McKinsey & Company; Dor Shay of Element Mobility and AutoFleet; Will Graylin of Indigo Technologies; Professor Shauna Brail of the University of Toronto; Dr. Sheldon Williamson of Ontario Tech University; Jen VrMeer of BD; Brian Kinniry of Element Fleet Management; and Alejandra Torres of AstraZeneca.

This episode is brought to you by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com.

Chapters

0:00 Fleet Is Becoming More Than the Vehicle

1:26 What Is Transportation Really Delivering?

5:28 Building the System Around the Vehicle

8:20 Designing the Right Vehicle for the Job

10:23 Where Fleet Technology Creates Value

12:38 Inside the Real Fleet Operation

15:04 Bringing Drivers Through Change

18:45 Targeting the Real Safety Risk

21:21 Pilot, Measure, Scale

24:54 Everything Connected Around the Vehicle

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

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Sometimes the smartest freight route is A to C to B. Lacy Greening, Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at Arizona State University and a semifinalist in the DOT's ARPA-I Innovation Challenge, studies the hidden math of middle-mile freight — the hubs, lanes, and consolidation decisions that determine how goods actually move across a network. In this episode, she explains why freight networks often make moves that look wrong until you understand the math, how locally smart decisions create network-wide problems, and why the future of AI in logistics isn't replacing optimization — it's helping fleets replan faster without breaking the rules of the real world.

Lacy Greening on LinkedIn

ASU School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

DOT ARPA-I Innovation Challenge

The Fleet podcast

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

If your organization depends on a fleet of vehicles, it's time to think about your fleet as a strategic asset. Learn more at elementfleet.com.

0:00 Why “free shipping” depends on the middle mile

3:10 The technology is there. The coordination isn’t.

4:27 Why packages “carpool” through the network

8:36 Speed, cost, and the promise behind delivery times

10:41 The 50% savings hiding in consolidation

14:03 Why every company needs a different logistics network

16:39 Why your shipment goes the wrong direction on purpose

19:23 What smaller fleets can learn from Amazon

21:04 Zone skipping and the power of using someone else’s network

23:09 The hidden constraints behind every delivery promise

29:31 Customers don’t just want fast. They want accurate.

35:26 What if logistics worked like the internet?

40:10 Where AI can actually help fleet networks

47:58 Why the most optimized network can become the most fragile

51:52 Why AI still needs human operators

Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.