ATA 2016 Conference: Second Day

Pat Thomas, ATA's chairman and vice president of state government affairs for UPS, opened the second day of the trade group's 2016 conference in Las Vegas.

Andrew Card, White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush, recounted some of the harrowing moments on Sept. 11, 2001, when the terrorist attacks began. "That was a moment when a President has to meet obligations you don't really want to meet; when you ask for sacrifices you would never invite on anyone," he said.

Seeing Machines showing off its Guardian driver fatigue and distraction detection system.

Newly-installed ATA President and CEO Chris Spear wasted no time staking out the trade group's position on several issues, notably highway funding, in often blunt terms: "Sound public policies such as funding our nation's infrastructure are being suffocated by a bunch of cubical-dwelling idelogoues."

Rebecca Brewster (left) president of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) and Derek Leathers, president and CEO of Werner Enterprises and an ATRI board member, discussed ATRI's annual "top ten" lst of industry concerns. Regulations held the top 3 spots for 2016.

Love's Travel Stops brought a big booth to ATA's annual gathering.

Love's included a CNG-powered truck as well.

A row of different servoce offerings from Love's.

Espar's D2 bunk heater. Kenworth announced at the show that it is now offering a larger version of this heater, the D4.

Kenworth is also now offering as an option FlowBelow's Tractor AeroKit.

For truck drivers working in slippery conditions, this footwear might be helpful.

Air Weigh's display relied heavily on neon.

Continental brought a lot of tires to ATA's annual gig: here from right to left are the Conti Crosstrac HA 3 steer tire; Conti Hybrid HS3 regional/long haul steer tire; and Conti HDL2 driver tire.

Continental also showed off its City Service HA3 tire (ar left) with a retread version on the right that sports the same tread pattern.

EpicVue showed off its in-cab satelllite TV system for truck drivers. Does anyone in the background look familiar?

Why that's former NFL quarterback Warren Moon!

Noregon showed off its TripAdvisor system at ATA's conference.

TruckStop.com showed off its plethora of data products at the trade group's annual get together.

Stonreridge brought a Class 8 demonstrator truck into its booth.

Etienne Horcombe puts a truck driver simulator developed by Fifth Dimension Technologies (5DT) through its paces.

Rep. Jeff Denham, a Republican representing California's 10th district, shared a few words on trucking, logistics, and regualtions.

FMCSA's Scott Darling provided a status updated regarding of several key industry regulations.

Democratic polling wizard Peter Hart shared his thoughts about the current presidential election cycle.

Then Republican polling maestro Neil Newhouse offered his presidential election thoughts.

A gathering of industry experts discussed the often-forgotten shortage of diesel truck technicians and ways to fix it.

Göran Nyberg (left) president of Volvo Trucks North America, and Wade Long, director of product marketing, talked about the OEM's new factory-installed collision mitigation system option now available on VNL and VNM tractors.

Zonar showed off some its many technologies at ATA's annual show.