Clean Truck Tech, Video Safety and More on Display at MCE
Latest Innovations Were Demonstrated on the Streets of San Diego
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SAN DIEGO — Heavy-duty trucks powered by renewable natural gas and hydrogen and the latest video-based safety systems were among the commercial vehicle technologies showcased outside the San Diego Convention Center as trucking leaders convened for American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.
Clean Energy, the largest supplier of RNG for the transportation market, debuted its new demonstration truck powered by the biogenic fuel at MCE 2025, which runs Oct. 25-28.
The Freightliner Cascadia day cab, equipped with the new 15-liter Cummins X15N natural gas engine, offers a range of more than 750 miles and performs similarly to a diesel truck while providing environmental sustainability benefits.
RNG is cleaner burning than diesel and can achieve net negative carbon intensity by capturing and repurposing emissions from dairy farms and landfills that otherwise would have been released into the atmosphere.
Clean Energy exhibits its new demo truck, a Freightliner Cascadia with the Cummins X15N engine powered by renewable natural gas, at MCE2025 in San Diego. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Clean Energy Vice President Brett Lindsay said the introduction of Cummins’ 15-liter natural gas engine has closed the power and torque gap with diesel, which is broadening the appeal of RNG in the heavy-duty trucking industry.
“With the 15-liter and RNG, when you have that combination, it’s certainly opened up a lot of opportunities for the fleet market,” he said.
Lindsay said the fuel savings from RNG typically can pay for the additional cost of the natural gas engine and fueling system in about 30 months.
Professional driver Fernando Castanon shares his thoughts while offering me a ride-along in Clean Energy’s new demo truck, a Freightliner Cascadia with the Cummins X15N engine powered by renewable natural gas. — Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger)
While providing a ride-along demonstration on city streets near the convention center, professional driver Fernando Castanon said the RNG tractor performs much the same as the diesel models he has driven throughout his 10-year driving career, but is noticeably quieter.
“It’s not as noisy,” said Castanon, who works for Impact Transporters of Fresno, Calif. “It feels better on a longer drive listening to the radio. You feel more at ease.”
Video safety technology provider Lytx brought its own demo truck to the conference to illustrate how its in-cab system can enhance driver safety.
Lytx is offering ride-alongs in a demo truck equipped with its video-based safety technology at MCE 2025 in San Diego. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
In a brief ride-along in downtown San Diego, Lytx field test engineer and test driver Merle Palmer demonstrated how the video safety system detects driver distractions such as mobile phone usage and issues audio alerts in the cab to proactively address risky behaviors. The system also recorded footage during a hard braking demonstration.
Even in a down freight market, proactive fleets continue to invest in safety technology because it pays for itself by reducing risk, preventing crashes and exonerating drivers from false claims, said Lytx CEO Chris Cabrera.
“It’s a tough market and margins are tight, but we’re saving them money in addition to saving lives,” he said, referencing the persistent threat of nuclear verdicts against trucking companies.
Test driver Merle Palmer demonstrates how the video safety system detects driver distractions such as mobile phone usage during a ride-along in downtown San Diego. — Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger)
During the conference, Lytx also is promoting its recently announced Dynamic Risk suite of features, designed to help fleets proactively address safety risks through real-time insights on road and weather conditions.
Dynamic Risk will introduce alerts on potential hazards such as heavy winds, strong rain and the presence of pedestrians and roadwork, the company said.
Netradyne shows the evolution of its Driver-i dash cam hardware in a custom-wrapped RV parked outside the San Diego Convention Center during MCE 2025. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Nearby, Netradyne highlighted its own video safety technology and showed the evolution of its Driver-i dashcam hardware inside a custom-wrapped recreational vehicle.
The hardware included the company’s recently launched Driver-i D-810, which is much smaller than previous models and can connect with up to eight onboard cameras.
The system can provide analytics on video from not only road-facing and driver-facing cameras, but also an array of blind-spot, backup and cargo cameras, for instance, including embedded cameras installed by the vehicle manufacturer, said Adam Kahn, Netradyne’s chief business development officer.
“It’s more views, more visibility,” he said.
At the same time, advances in AI are enabling Netradyne customers to more easily review and identify events and information captured by video, providing significant time savings, Kahn added.
A view of the hydrogen tanks and fuel cell that power the zero-emission Hyundai Xcient tractor on display at MCE 2025 in San Diego. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
In another exhibit outside the convention center, Hyundai Motor Co. offered MCE attendees a closeup look at its hydrogen fuel cell Xcient tractor, a Class 8 cabover model with a range of up to 450 miles.
Mack Trucks showcases its new Anthem model outside the San Diego Convention Center during MCE 2025. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
The zero-emission trucks are in operation today at the Port of Oakland in California, at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing plant near Savannah, Ga., and in other countries across the globe.
Meanwhile, Mack Trucks provided ride-along experiences in its newly redesigned Mack Anthem model geared toward regional-haul applications. Serial production is set to begin at the start of 2026.
Bulk food-grade carrier Foodliner displayed a tractor and tank trailer outfitted with Aperia’s Halo Connect i3 tire management system. The technology platform provides automatic tire inflation, tire pressure monitoring and data analytics for all wheel positions on the tractor and trailer.
Foodliner and its sister company Quest Liner rank No. 70 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.
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