Diesel technician jobs are becoming more high-tech and specialized as truck manufacturers progressively adopt digital componentry. The profession is suffering from a worker deficit, and fleets find themselves hiring recruits fresh from technician school.

This small country is a big player on the freight scene and is considered one of the most prominent logistics hubs for products entering and exiting the European Union.

AMSTERDAM — The long and arduous path to Brexit has been rife with political wrangling, but companies and government agencies have been preparing for disruption despite the uncertainty of the outcome.

Increasingly, fleet managers must choose between investing in more technician tools and training or outsourcing the most time-consuming maintenance tasks that involve complex parts.

Manual transmissions in Class 8 trucks once reigned among fleets and seasoned drivers, but they now represent a minority that is rapidly shrinking.

Millennials and Generation Z have grown up surrounded by sophisticated technologies — such as video games and augmented reality — that now are making the transition from personal pastime to business tools.

Technology adoption in the trucking industry typically focuses first on the back office and in the cab of the truck, but the proliferation of internet-connected devices and onboard sensors in recent years has increasingly pulled the trailer into the forefront of the conversation.

Improvements to truck tire technology in recent years have created a collection of products that man­ufacturers often tout as their most ­advanced, longest-wearing and most fuel-efficient tires ever. But many motor carriers choose to analyze those factory-­tested claims in their own real-life settings before committing to adding the products to their entire fleet.

The terms artificial intelligence and automation pepper discussions about the transportation industry’s future, often closely followed by mentions of autonomous vehicles. But while self-driving trucks are still in their infancy, AI already is influencing the back ­office’s digital transformation.

The cost of fuel consistently ranks among the top three expenses for trucking fleets, putting fuel economy at the top of fleet managers’ minds. Increasing fuel efficiency and consequently reducing operating expenses is a major reason fleets turn to vehicle lightweighting, especially on components such as truck wheels.