IRU attends the 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles event this week offering actions to reverse the driver shortage. 

IRU’s lead in Brussels, Matthias Maedge, gave a wide-ranging interview on the side lines of the IAA, explaining the IRU roadmap to alleviate the driver shortage. 

Maedge described how manufacturers, fleet managers, logistics operators, associations, governments and drivers themselves and IRU developed a roadmap with five key actions to take to attract more people to the profession and improve working conditions.  The roadmap will be on the agenda at the IRU World Congress in Oman from 6-8 November. 

The five key actions include: simplify job entry, improve working conditions, enhance the profession’s image, highlight innovations and recruit women and young people. 

The IAA is one of the leading trade conferences on commercial vehicles worldwide with participants from 48 countries taking part in this year’s edition. The 2018 IAA  looks at the future of commercial vehicles. IRU President Christian Labrot delivered a keynote speech at the event and Acacia Smith from the Brussels team also participated today on a panel session on autonomous vehicles.