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TMCSuperTech is the highlight of TMC's fall meeting. (Blake Franko/American Trucking Associations)

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Competition, connection and communication will be the theme throughout American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council Fall Meeting and National Technician Skills Competition.

Titled “Ensuring Trucking’s Future Success,” the fall meeting will convene in Raleigh, N.C., on Sept. 14-18, and will be highlighted by the two-day , which will mark the 20th anniversary of the competition.

Last year, Doug Nickles of FedEx Freight became the seventh multiyear champion and the first two win back to back since Eric Vos in 2016.

This year, TMCSuperTech2025 will feature two tracks across 27 track stations: a two-day consolidated professional track for all types of technicians and a one-day student track. In conjunction, the fall meeting will feature TMCFutureTech, the national student competition. The competitions will have more than 90 professional and more than 20 student entrants this year.

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Last year, Doug Nickles became the first back-to-back TMCSuperTech grand champion since Eric Vos in 2016. (Blake Franko/American Trucking Associations)

“It should be a very interesting, robust competition,” TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell said of TMCSuperTech2025, adding it will include new skill stations such as advanced driver assistance systems and HVAC.

He noted that for attendees this year, the main attractions will be the two technical sessions: Next-generation tractor-trailer connection and Controlled Area Network (CAN Bus) troubleshooting.

“[With these two sessions], we want to learn how to bring market efficiencies to the industry proactively because if we don’t do that, we’re going to have chaos, and nobody needs that,” Braswell said. “We’re looking down the road five, 10 years. We are addressing those issues, and others, in the here and now.”

In the CAN Bus session, for example, Braswell explained that attendees can explore better ways of tackling the diagnostics.

“Nowadays, it used to be that a repair would be five minutes of diagnostics and several hours of repair,” he said. “Now it’s the other way around: several hours of diagnostics and five minutes repair. It’s still just as important either way.”

Working with TMC leadership, Braswell said the goal is to strike a balance between addressing immediate, practical issues and preparing fleets for longer-term, more advanced technologies and strategies.

He explained that while the sessions cover technical topics relevant to maintenance professionals, TMC also aims to address broader industry trends and challenges, such as the impact of tariffs and trade deals on fleet operations.

He noted, for example, that it was only a few years ago that the idea of electric vehicles was a trending concept. Now, interest is contracting. However, TMC will hold a session on EV charging infrastructure and planning and optimization.

“Despite the political stuff going on, we still think you need to plan for what is going to be an equipment future with electric vehicles one way or the other,” Braswell said. “We take this time to get it right as we plan for adoption, maybe not this year, but maybe five, 10 years.”

He explained that building such infrastructure brings other issues such as finding an electric provider while meeting the sustainability and environmental requirements that will be covered during the study group sessions.

“You must plan for that in advance,” Braswell said. “We’re still maintaining a watchful eye on these issues. There’s still a future for electric vehicles.”

Other notable sessions include a focus on proactive corrosion protection strategies that would help fleets keep their existing vehicles on the road longer, which, Braswell noted, is a response to the hesitancy to purchase new equipment due to economic uncertainties.

“For example, if you’re worried about tariffs and the price of aluminum or steel going up, it makes you hesitant to buy new trailers and tractors,” he said. “If you can keep the steel and the aluminum from corroding, you don’t have to replace [equipment] as fast.”

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A competitor demonstrated her skills during the TMCFutureTech event at TMC's fall meeting in 2024. (Blake Franko/American Trucking Associations)

The fall meeting also will feature more than 110 task force group meetings to develop and validate industry standards also known as Recommended Practices. For example, Braswell noted RP 1210B, which refers to a technical standard for diagnostic communication on heavy-duty vehicles, relating to regulations established by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s a standard that you use on pretty much any handheld tool or your laptop that you do diagnostics with. It is being revised,” he said.

In addition, the meeting will premiere a new task force session on quality control for body and equipment upfitters. Braswell noted the session is critical since upfitters often are the final-stage manufacturer and legally responsible for meeting safety and emissions standards.

“If you’re buying a complete chassis, you’re going to do an upfit for your application. How do you control the integration of that?” he said. “We’re developing guidelines to ensure some quality control of that area, and we think that’s an important thing to do.”

Other RP sessions will include ADAS training, trailer refrigeration, infrastructure and a new task force on transfer of asset ownership.

After its two-year Raleigh residency, the TMC Fall Meeting will be held in Pittsburgh in 2026.