Trucking Through Time: From Horse-Drawn Wagons to Autonomous Vehicles

Recently updated on August 12th, 2024

When you spend a lot of time in the cab of your truck, you may forget how far transportation has come since the early beginnings of trucking. What would once take days for a horse-drawn wagon to travel, we can do in an afternoon. What we can do in a long-haul trip was virtually impossible. From horses to steam to the cutting-edge technology of today, the industry has gone through a fascinating transformation in living memory and beyond.

This post will take you on a journey through time and touch on some of the major milestones in the tremendous advances in logistics that humans have developed and that you, as a trucker, are speeding onward into the future as a part of. LubeZone is proud to play an important role in keeping these special vehicles running properly. Enjoy this exciting history of trucking, and don’t forget to stop by LubeZone for your truck’s optimal performance.

The Early Days: Horse-Drawn Wagons

The dawn of the trucking industry started with horse-drawn wagons pulled by strong horses bred specifically for the job. The horses, led by a coachman, would carry goods, people, or mail — sometimes for days or weeks to their destination. The wagon was a major improvement that created all sorts of new opportunities for trade and was central in settling the American West as they transported settlers and their belongings into the wild unknown.

While a great improvement, there were challenges: transportation went as fast as the horses and the weight of the goods transported was limited to the horses’ abilities. Long journeys could take weeks or months, and things like weather or road conditions could slow travel or bring it to a complete halt. In some cases, these obstacles became hazardous.

In addition to the limitations of the actual transportation, the fact that it relied on horses further complicated things. Coachmen had to take routes that would ensure the horses had access to food and water, which were not often the most direct routes. Sure, horse-drawn wagons were important, but they also really highlighted the need for improvement.

The Advent of Steam and Internal Combustion Engines

Near the end of the 18th century, steam-powered vehicles redefined what was possible in the transportation world. These vehicles, known as steam wagons, were self-propelled, which was a significant departure from relying on draft animals. They had more power and could haul heavier loads, which meant that more goods could be transported in less time and over longer distances. When transportation was no longer reliant on animal labor, the whole world of transportation was turned upside down.

But, much like the animals they replaced, steam wagons had notable limitations. They were bulky and expensive and required frequent stops to add water into the boiler. These limitations made it clear that there was more work to be done — and the combustion engine was invented in response.

The internal combustion engine set the pace for the trucking industry we know and love today, introducing reliability, efficiency, and ease of operation into the equation. They could travel much longer distances with less fuel and, due to the mechanical advantage, could haul much heavier loads. It was here that modern trucking was born, and the rapid development that built off of this engine is directly responsible for the world of transportation, both commercial and non, today.

The 20th Century: The Golden Age of Trucking (300 words)

The 20th Century: The Golden Age of Trucking

The 20th century, as a result of the invention of the internal combustion engine, was the golden age for trucking. Trucks got faster, more reliable, and able to carry heavier loads over distances previously thought impossible.

In the early 1900s, trucks were most often used for short trips like shuttling goods between railway depots and local delivery destinations, but as the interstate highway system developed, long-haul trucking became the default. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 authorized the creation of 41,000 miles of interstate highways that were quickly adopted by the trucking industry. These high-speed corridors enabled the long-distance trucking that keeps our economy running today.

As more trucks took to the highways, technology advanced in terms of both design and manufacturing in order to continue to grow the industry. Trucks became more powerful, larger, and ever more efficient as advances like air brakes, power steering, and diesel combustion engines accelerated safety and performance. When refrigerators were first installed in trailers, a whole new world of possibilities opened in a way that completely revolutionized the American food supply chain.

These developments, as well as countless others, had impacts that cannot be overstated on the growth of our nation and the economy. Trucking facilitated reliable and consistent trade that connected remote, once-isolated areas with urban centers, and that flow of goods also led to a flow of economic development. The trucking industry itself directly led to the creation of millions of jobs and millions of others indirectly.

The 20th century was as transformative for trucking as it was for the United States, and each supported the other in this growth. From technological advances to never-before-seen infrastructure development, these changes set the stage for the globalized trucking industry we know today.

The New Revolution: Technology and Trucking

It won’t come as a surprise since you, as a trucker, are living in it, but the digital revolution has, again, completely changed commercial trucking. Everything from logistics to navigation has been streamlined and optimized with tools like fleet management systems and GPS, and both have become completely indispensable since their introductions. GPS provides precise route guidance, but furthermore, it can make real-time adjustments based on upcoming traffic and can also allow fleet managers to track vehicles. When these locations are run through a management program, the entire shipping operation can be further optimized and provide deep insights into the entire supply chain.

As AI makes its way into the logistics industry, vast amounts of data can be analyzed to identify patterns and trends that will help logistics managers improve their operations, reduce costs, and pass those savings along to the end consumer.

Not only is technology revolutionizing the way we track and manage trucks — it’s changing the trucks themselves. Modern trucks are more efficient than ever before, thanks to things like advancements in engine technology, alternative fuels, and “smart” programs that can keep a truck running in the most efficient way possible. Hybrid and electric trucks are also becoming more common, which are reducing the industry’s carbon footprint and opening up a whole new world of possibilities.

On-board safety technology like collision mitigation systems, lane-departure warnings, and driver monitoring systems are improving collision outcomes by acting in milliseconds to make decisions that may take a human a 10th of a second to make, and in this time are correcting steering, braking, or making other decisions that are decreasing fatality rates and keeping more drivers safely on the road.

Apps, which only 15 years ago were clever and novel toys, are making life easier for truckers in more ways than could be listed here. Apps can do things like give weather updates, traffic alerts, and routing plans, as well as help a driver find parking spaces, track activities that once required paperwork, and even communicate more efficiently with dispatchers. They can help you find the best rest area to park your rig for the night, help you learn about where you are passing through (like this we wrote about The History of Laredo, Texas), and tell you where to stop for a great meal based on other truckers’ reviews.

The Road Ahead

So, all of this begs the question: where do we go from here? It’s hard to predict the future, and any trucker climbing into a rig powered by a newly invented internal combustion engine would have NEVER imagined something like collision mitigation, real-time GPS, or AI copilots, so it’s really anyone’s guess what happens next.

One thing is for sure: we can expect more innovation as things like autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy sources continue to make their way into the trucking industry. These advances will bring about unexpected improvements to things like efficiency, safety, environmental stewardship, and quality of life, but what those specifics will be and the mechanisms that achieve them are up to our imaginations for now.

The trucking industry has always, and will always, find the best ways to adapt to change by integrating advancements and making our world a better, more comfortable place in the process.