The future is electrified, connected, autonomous. Erik Neandross (TRC) anticipates ACT Expo 2026

President of TRC’s Clean Transportation Solutions (CTS) group, Erik Neandross is one of the most influential professionals when it comes to sustainable mobility in the U.S. In view of the next edition of ACT Expo, scheduled in Las Vegas from 4 to 7 May, we had the great opportunity to have a chat with him. While taking stock of the incoming ACT Expo, we could also discuss about the trends and prospects of cleaner transportation in quite a challenging era. Let’s start with the decision to move the exhibition from Anaheim to Vegas.

ACT Expo 2026, Erik Neandross speaking

Mr Neandross, why have you decided to go back to Las Vegas for ACT Expo 2026?

“The show has grown over the years to the point where it doesn’t fit in a lot of the venues that we’ve used previously. We had about 200 commercial vehicles, and lots of big trucks on display last year, both inside and outside. And the exhibits can get pretty large and then also have a facility that can accommodate the size of a crowd that we have and have the hotel rooms and also be relatively accessible via direct flights. So, you know, Vegas really checks all the boxes.

Also, the flip side is that a lot of our exhibitors and sponsors, they are often in Vegas for other shows, so they know the venues, the hotels, all the after show engagement activities, opportunities to have private dinners with clients and do all those things which are another important element of the show. But there’s more”.

Please tell us…

“The other thing I think is important is that when we have done the show historically in California, we get a little bit of a badge that it’s a California show, and at this point it’s not right. This is an advanced technology show that’s applicable to all North American commercial transportation. So, just physically being outside of California, I think is also a little bit of an important signal for us. So, for all those reasons, it’s a great home for ACT Expo and we’re excited to get back there”.

Is it also a matter of available space for test drives and vehicles?

“Yeah, the ride and drive, the exterior element where people can get in and ride or drive the vehicles, it really works well in Las Vegas. They have a great open space where we can stage that people can drive around, they can go outside on the streets. It just works well”.

A great experience for both exhibitors and sponsors

I was impressed last year by the huge work made in terms of marketing, communication and visibility opportunity for the exhibitors. Is it a key to the success of the exhibition itself?

“As the producers of the show, we spend a lot of time trying to focus on the exhibitors and sponsors having a great experience and making sure that they’re seeing value. It costs them a lot of money not only to come book the space, but to have a team of people to build a big booth, to do all the things that they have to invest in, particularly if they’re bringing large equipment, large trucks. It’s really critical for us that they have a good experience and they have engagement with customers.

Our recipe, if you will, for the show is actually very simple. It’s to have as many buyers there as there are sellers, because if the buyers are talking to the sellers, the sellers are going to be happy and have a great experience. We spend a lot of time focusing on the fleets and providing an opportunity and making it as easy as possible for them to attend. Beyond that, there’s a lot of B2B engagement that happens as well amongst the suppliers. That has become a big part of the show in addition to the end use customer”.

Why is it important for you to make the exhibition popular even outside North America?

“Every year we see more international attendees and exhibitors. Ultimately, the North American commercial vehicle market outside of China, I would assume, is really the largest commercial vehicle market in the world. At the same time, there’s some interesting, exciting, and innovative things happening, particularly in Europe right around zero emission technology policy deployments, et cetera. I think there’s an opportunity for our audience to learn from what’s been successful and what’s worked in international markets and especially markets like Europe, Asia and others. I believe we had more than 50 countries represented last year at ACT Expo, and that number seems to be growing year over year. Xe hope that that will continue this year, we expect it will“.

So much going on in the North American commercial vehicle market…

What’s going on in North America, so far?

“There’s just so much going on in the North American commercial vehicle market these days. This will be sort of our biggest show yet in terms of areas of focus around advanced technology, because it’s not only natural gas and propane and hydrogen and fuel cell and electric vehicles, but there’s a heavy emphasis on advanced diesel technology.

And then we get into this whole digital world with connected vehicles, software-defined vehicles, predictive analytics, predictive maintenance, over-the-air updates, autonomy, a whole array of safety technology. That’s all a big part of the show this year”.

We see the U.S. administration is not backing up cleaner transportation. What’s the impact of this trend on the state of health of the exhibition?

“It’s an interesting question. Certainly, we’ve seen a change in support and the policies and the incentives and the regulations and those sorts of things at the federal level. Interestingly, what that does is it really forces everyone to focus on the technology providing value to the customer.

We’re no longer in a scenario where it’s either mandated by regulation or incentivized, so technology now needs to stand on its own. I think the core of ACT Expo is we really try to focus the value through education, through the exhibitions, through everything that we’re doing.

What we’re trying to do is educate the customer on how, where, when can they see a technology investment translate into a return on investment and a positive economic case in addition to the environmental side. We’re all about sustainability, but it first has to be economic sustainability and then environmental sustainability can follow. So, given the change that we’ve seen in the US at the federal level, it really puts a magnifying glass on the value that these technologies can provide. And that then is the focus of our show”.

Are the bigger groups in North American transportation actually backing up the event? How important is their commitment?

“Yeah, absolutely. What we’ve heard for the last several years is that the future is going to be increasingly electrified, connected and autonomous. And so those are the ways that you get to fossil free increased productivity, efficiency and safety.

While the focus on battery electric trucks might not be as hyper-focused as it was two years ago, given the regulations, these companies are still investing in electric drivetrains, but they’re also investing in digital, connected and safe systems. All these things are sort of aligning and coming together. I sometimes use an analogy to picture all this“.

Oh, interesting…

“The analogy I use sometimes is a sort of horse race, where you have an electric horse, a digital horse, an autonomous horse, and maybe a safety horse. Last year the electric horse might have been a little bit out in front because that was more the focus of the industry. This year the electric horse maybe is not in first place and it’s the digital horse or the connected or the safety horses may be getting a little bit more of the spotlight, but there’s still a lot of races to go, let’s say. We’re not at the finish line yet”.

Sustainable trasformation is not easy at all

More newcomers in sustainable transportation (Brightdrop and Bollinger, for instance) have recently shut down their businesses. What’s your opinion on this trend? Are traditional manufacturers the only ones which are strong enough to face the current challenges?

“You’re right, some of them did not make it in the end, and it’s due to various reasons, a lot of which is they just don’t have the capital and it’s very, very expensive to be a new manufacturer on the market. On the other hand, those that have survived, and I’d highlight Rivian and Tesla as two great examples, the product that they’re delivering is fantastic and is going to put competitive pressure on the other manufacturers to make sure that they have an equivalent or better product that performs better and costs less.

Let me say I’m excited to see as we move into this very value-focused market, how those competitive forces drive the industry forward and take the place of the regulatory drivers that we maybe had two years ago. The ones you mentioned were two very different scenarios, but I think it is indicative of the change in the market dynamics and resulting in that.

Like you said, those that continue to press forward and have great product, as I mentioned, Tesla, Rivian, they seem to be surviving and proliferating and bringing new vehicles and new platforms to the market that are really compelling from that customer value perspective”.

It’s the first year for RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian, to talk at ACT Expo. What do you expect to hear from him?

“We’re very excited to have RJ and to hear about their experience, how they’ve been navigating the changes in the market, where they’ve seen success, where they see future sales and growth opportunities, particularly in the commercial world. I couldn’t think of a better speaker to come talk about the perspective of a startup EV manufacturer that is working to survive and succeed in the world today“.

In a few words, what’s going to be different this year compared to last year and the previous years at ACT Expo in Las Vegas?

“ACT Expo will be very similar to prior years. We’re going to have a lot of additional focus this year on the areas of digital technology, so connected vehicles, the use of AI to process data, the ability to do over-the-air updates to improve the performance of vehicles, the use of digital and other technologies to improve safety and reliability, efficiency, uptime.

Some of the electric vehicles out there today are full software-defined vehicles, whereas the advanced diesel or the natural gas or propane or others, they’re increasingly working to apply software and to evolve them to a software defined vehicle. But they are still part mechanical and part digital. To sum up, we’re in this interesting transition as we move from kind of a mechanical-based platform into a digital-based platform”.