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Press Release:October 26, 2006FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE U.S. Xpress to Equip Entire Fleet with ALK’s CoPilot Truck Innovative Carrier Provides Onboard, Voice-Guided GPS Navigation for Drivers PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY – OCTOBER 26, 2006 - ALK Technologies today announced that U.S. Xpress, Inc. will deploy ALK’s CoPilot® Truck GPS navigation system across its entire fleet of more than 5,000 power units. U.S. Xpress, Inc. will become the largest major motor carrier to provide its drivers with spoken, truck-specific, turn-by-turn directions. Demonstrations of CoPilot Truck are available at ALK’s booth 1104, during the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition in Dallas, Texas, October 29th-31st. U.S. Xpress, Inc., based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is one of the largest truckload carriers in North America and an acknowledged industry pacesetter, particularly in technology innovation. The company recently decided to adopt CoPilot Truck company-wide. ALK is the industry’s leading developer of profit-driving routing, mileage and mapping software solutions, including PC*MILER® the industry-standard mileage application. CoPilot Truck is a comprehensive solution that gets drivers where they need to go while avoiding restricted roads, tunnels and bridges. This eases the frequently intense hassle of driving a large truck in unfamiliar territory. CoPilot Truck provides confidence for new drivers and peace of mind for veteran drivers who are now always aware of exactly where they are and how far it is to their next turn and destination. CoPilot Truck combines ALK’s PC*MILER 20 routing and mapping with the real-time precision of GPS navigation to guide drivers turn by turn to virtually any street-level address in the U.S. and Canada. A driver is alerted to upcoming turns by voice from the speaker of the truck’s in-cab device. CoPilot Truck guides drivers around roads, bridges and tunnels with truck restrictions. The ability of CoPilot Truck to automatically recalculate routes based on dynamic factors such as traffic, construction or accidents is a key benefit for drivers and carriers. “Drivers should not have to stop to look at an atlas and redirect themselves,” said Jeff Seibenhener, vice president information technology for U.S. Xpress. “If they actually do get off route, for whatever reason, CoPilot Truck will determine a new route for the driver. Basically it should never allow them to get lost.” Seibenhener said that U.S. Xpress staff personnel tested CoPilot extensively on business and personal trips before installing the application on company trucks. “We tried to get lost,” he said, “but so far no one has been able to.” Seibenhener further explained that U.S. Xpress chose to implement CoPilot for overall operational efficiency, and specifically to better utilize driver time and fuel use. “A big part of the decision to go with CoPilot was to help retain and attract drivers,” Seibenhener said. “We interviewed drivers, ex-drivers and driver liaisons and found that directions were among the top three issues they had. So we’re addressing a top-three issue with our drivers.” U.S. Xpress drivers who tested CoPilot Truck on the road are enthusiastic. “We have received excellent feedback,” Seibenhener reported. “We even had a team that was due a new truck. They turned down the new truck in order to keep CoPilot installed in their current in-cab unit.” U.S. Xpress selected the ALK application for a number of reasons, including the fact that CoPilot Truck data resides on the onboard device. That differs from a competing system that delivers driving directions to the truck cab from the provider’s remote server. “Competing systems require that whenever you want to detour or reroute, you incur the cost of the communication back to the host application,” Seibenhener said. “We felt CoPilot Truck’s more dynamic and cost effective functionality was a better fit for us.” Also in contrast to the competition, ALK offers a CoPilot Truck software development kit that enables U.S. Xpress to customize views and functionality of CoPilot Truck. For example, points of interest including truck stops and tourist attractions are available in the CoPilot Truck database; but they can be blocked if the company so desires. U.S. Xpress also has the ability to control CoPilot Truck options wirelessly. “We can automatically configure CoPilot on the truck remotely. When we haul a hazmat load, we can turn on hazmat routing on the fly. The same thing is possible with routing for high value products,” Seibenhener said. “We are very pleased that U.S. Xpress has chosen CoPilot Truck to enhance driver satisfaction, customer service, operational efficiency and their bottom line,” said Ed Siciliano, ALK vice president, sales and marketing. “CoPilot Truck has already proven its value to many owner operators who recognize its contribution to their small businesses. Now larger fleets are using CoPilot Truck for the same efficiency on a much larger scale. U.S. Xpress is known for its meticulous selection and application of technology in our industry. The adoption of CoPilot Truck for driver satisfaction and for their bottom line is the bellwether of a growing trend.” ALK’s truck-specific version of CoPilot has been the most accurate, most intuitive in-vehicle GPS navigation and route guidance solution in the industry since its introduction in 2001. CoPilot Truck, long a favorite of business-savvy owner-operators, is also available in versions for both laptop and handheld computers, and remains the only in-cab, truck-specific route guidance solution with spoken directions. It does not require a mobile communications system or wireless Internet connection. For more information on CoPilot Truck, visit www.CoPilotTruck.com. About U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc. Additionally, U.S. Xpress has an 80% ownership interest in Arnold Transportation Services, Inc., which provides regional, dedicated, and medium length-of-haul services with a fleet of approximately 1,500 trucks, and Total Transportation of Mississippi and affiliated companies, a truckload carrier that provides medium length of haul and dedicated dry-van service with a fleet of approximately 500 trucks primarily in the Eastern United States. U.S. Xpress has a 49% equity ownership interest in Abilene Motor Express, Inc., a truckload carrier that provides medium length of haul and dedicated dry van truck services, primarily in the eastern United States with a fleet of approximately 170 trucks. Please visit the Company's website at www.usxpress.com. About ALK Technologies More than 21,000 companies use ALK’s PC*MILER Solutions, including ninety percent of the “Top 100” North American motor carriers and ninety six percent of the “Top 50” global logistics companies. The U.S. Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also rely on PC*MILER Solutions. ALK provides consulting, customized information systems and packaged software solutions. For more information, visit www.alk.com. # # # The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
For more details, visit www.alk.com or www.alk.eu.com
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