Inside Work Truck Week: The Commercial Tech Changing Camper Vans

Hey everybody, Matt here for AVC, and welcome back to AVC Chronicles!

Usually, you find us wandering around adventure vehicle expos and overlanding shows looking at the latest off-grid camper setups. But today, we are doing something a little different. We traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana for Work Truck Week.

Why is a camper van builder hanging out at a commercial work vehicle trade show? Because the fleet industry is where the major automotive manufacturers launch their heaviest tech and toughest materials. If you want to know what the future of camper vans looks like, you look at what the delivery drivers and tradespeople are getting first.

We ran around the show floor, talked to the big OEMs, and found some incredible new tech and materials that are going to change the upfitting game. Let’s break down the highlights.

Ford’s New Transit VIS System

We spent some time at the Ford booth talking to Max, and the biggest news for the Transit platform is the introduction of the Vehicle Integration System (VIS). This tech rolled out on Super Duty trucks recently, but it is officially hitting the Transit platform.

VIS is an integrated system that allows upfitters (and DIY builders) to control exterior modules like scene lights, strobes, and sensors directly from the factory Ford sync touchscreen. No more cutting holes in your dash to mount clunky auxiliary switches.

VIS Hardware & Specs At a Glance

Ford is giving us a massive amount of customization right out of the gate:

Feature	Specification / Capability
Touchscreen Buttons	32 soft buttons customizable across 4 digital pages
Power Outputs	12-pin layout (10 pins up to 5 amps, 2 pins up to 10 amps)
Digital Inputs	Up to 24 sensors (8 high, 8 low, 8 analog)

Beyond just turning lights on and off, you can program safety parameters into the vehicle:

• Upfitter Idle: This allows you to bypass the factory AEIS system, which automatically shuts the vehicle engine off after 30 minutes of idling. Perfect for running heavy systems while stationary.

• Vehicle Motion Inhibit (VMI): You can program the van so it literally cannot be shifted out of park if a specific sensor is tripped—like a ladder alert that honks the horn if your roof gear isn't stowed properly before you drive away.

Indestructible Walls: Polypropylene Composites

One of our main goals for this show was to hunt down unconventional materials that we can pull from the commercial freight world into the camper van space. We hit the jackpot with a composite wall company showcasing a unique polypropylene wall board.

They offer both a rigid sheet and a foam-core version. To show it off, they built an entire box truck body out of it—even the rollup doors and hinges are glued directly to the composite panels.

Matt's Take: We build a lot of mobile bike shops and rugged gear haulers. We’ve been searching for a commercial-grade wall liner that is lightweight, completely waterproof, easy to spray down, and tougher than aluminum. This stuff is the real deal. The rep literally hit the panel with a mini-sledgehammer right in front of me, and it didn't leave a single dent.

Mercedes Sprinter: The "Transparent Hood"

Over at the Mercedes-Benz booth, we caught up with Alex to look at what’s on the horizon for the Sprinter platform. While the overall body options and upfitting dimensions are staying beautifully consistent, the driver assistance tech is getting a massive upgrade.

The standout feature coming to the infotainment system is the Transparent Hood.

By utilizing the front, rear, and side cameras, the MBUX interface stitches together a live feed that dynamically projects what is directly underneath the front axle of your van. If you’re off-roading on tight trails, navigating rocky terrain, or trying to squeeze into an incredibly tight parking space, you can look at your screen and "see right through" the engine block to the ground below.

48V Air Conditioning & Pre-Laminated Hex Wood

A few other quick discoveries caught our eye while walking the floor:

• Dometic 48V Rooftop AC: You know ABC has heavily leaned into 48V power architectures for our electrical systems, usually using Velit units. Dometic is officially stepping into the arena with a new 48V rooftop AC unit featuring a build-your-own plenum design. They also showcased a seasonal floor-mount AC option if you don't want to add height to your roof.

• Ria Wood Phenolic Plywood: This is a European company with local distribution making multicore plywood (similar to Baltic Birch) with a gorgeous, rugged hexagon phenolic laminate already applied right from the factory. They had over a dozen color options—including a white mini-hexagon pattern that would make an incredible, lightweight substitute for our heavy 3/4-inch dark hex ply bed panels.

The Big Takeaway: "Steady She Goes"

The best news out of Work Truck Week for both professional upfitters and DIY home builders? The core body configurations across Ford, Mercedes, and Ram are staying exactly the same. In our world, "no changes" is a massive win. It means the floor patterns, wall kits, and cabinetry templates we’ve spent years perfecting are going to remain completely consistent for the foreseeable future. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Huge thanks to our friends at Go Code for hosting us in Indy and walking the floor with us. See you next time!