As more data is being shared between trucks and trailers, the trucking industry is working to standardize the connections of the future. In the meantime, fleets are looking for solutions — some of them low-tech — to ensure trucks and trailers talk to each other now.
The standard U.S. configuration is a seven-pin J560 electrical cable along with two pneumatic cables used for braking. But Robert Braswell, executive director of the American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council, recalled a survey of TMC fleets where roughly 30% said they were using a second electrical cable in at least some applications.
