Kenworth’s vehicles have only continued to grow more complex, including some models with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and further developing their electric vehicle capabilities. With these developments, remote diagnostics are becoming ever-more critical for maximizing uptime and vehicle health–which is why Kenworth is now enabling access to their subscription-based remote diagnostics platform, TruckTech+ Remote Diagnostics, via Paccar Solutions’ web portal.
Brandon Alexander, marketing manager for ThinkCar, reported increased demand for remote diagnostics and their accessories, a phenomena which will only increase with the advent of new asset technologies.
“Elements such as ADAS require specialized expertise to perform the calibration process after a repair has been completed,” Alexander said.
Having remote diagnostics monitoring an asset can save time before, during, and after such installations by allowing maintenance to prepare before the vehicle even arrives. Even more so, these tools help technicians prepare for active issues in these systems, helping protect the safety of all drivers on the road.
“This ability to perform remote diagnostics is very helpful in determining the severity of the issue and if the vehicle can continue to be driven,” Alexander explained.
This is particularly true given that Kenworth Class 8 T680, T880, and W990 trucks now have the option of including Kenworth Lane Keeping Assist, an ADAS that was first introduced last year. The program helps monitor whenever the vehicle is drifting in its line, providing “nudges” to help keep the asset centered as well as Torque Assisted Steering.
With Kenworth’s Lane Keeping Assist and Torque Assisted Steering, ensuring that fleets have easy access to the health of these programs is critical, as well as the ability to monitor their subscriptions so that their remote diagnostic capabilities don’t lapse when they are most needed.
Currently, the company reports that over 130,000 of Kenworth’s trucks have been enrolled with TruckTech+, meaning that these fleets also have access to Paccar Solutions’ web portal. This allows them to renew their TruckTech+ subscriptions, manage their payments, monitor subscription expiration dates for individual trucks, fleets, and even future units as well.
Doing so allows fleets to make more efficient decisions regarding their vehicle maintenance, both for active vehicle faults and regular maintenance.
“Additionally, we have developed predictive maintenance based on artificial intelligence models and big data due to the vast [amount] of information collected every minute from the vehicles,” said Bruno Gattamorta, VP of sales and marketing for Cojali USA Inc. “We need to give the fleets actionable information to make educated decisions.”
TruckTech+ provides this insight to subscribers, including alert code notifications that range from service intervals to alerts to pull over immediately. The system also supplements these codes by providing potential service locations, the current issue, and possible solutions for a vehicle along with standard engine health information and vehicle tracking.
Currently, TruckTech+ is a standard application on Class 8 Kenworth trucks with Paccar MX engines and Cummins diesel and natural gas engines and is optional on Kenworth T180, T280, T380 and T480 medium-duty conventional models with PACCAR PX-7 or PACCAR PX-9 engines. The T280, T380 and T480 models also offer the remote diagnostics system when specified with a Cummins Westport L9N natural gas engine.