Freightliner's new truck, Revolution
 

Aero-innovations cameras/ LED lighting, lower CG low engine placement, cold-rolled aluminum frame construction, automatically changing 6 -4 wheel drive for better economy. How about removing the passenger door & replacing it with a workstation. So much for hitching a ride or truck-stop canoodling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQLFT...layer_embedded

But how are you supposed to affix a metric butt-ton of lights to it?

Seriously, why not have something that fills the gap between the cab and the trailer? Or maybe have that fairing at the cab top move down somehow to cover the rear if the tractor isn't actually pulling anything?

The roof should be made like a pop-up camper so that it can be lowered when there is no trailer behind it. All that frontal area is not helping mileage.

The rake of the windshield could be a greater angle too.

The trouble is....it's still a Freightliner.
Something about making a silk purse out of a pig's ear....

Correct but if you're not pulling a trailer, you're not making money

True that. I still see tractors not pulling anything on my highway commute, though. Granted, it occurs about once every 2 days or so, but it still happens.

You also have a lot of flatbed trailers out there, and other types that aren't the tall rectangular box on wheels.

Fastrak
 

Yeah, a flatbed is the most versatile type out there, but you can't do LTL so easily (loadlocks between sections, or tied off to wall track), etc. The "system" is about controlling costs at the level of the distribution center (capital costs). By comparison the trucks are disposable.

On the other hand, there is probably a way to make best use of a rolling tarp system like this for flat [open] trailers (where there is a permanent header board up near the cab):

Tarpstop Fastrak - Tarpstop Fastrak

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...uh, looked to me like aerodynamics was the "last" thing considered, not the "first."

That looks like a really well thought-out design. They reworked the entire thing to fit their customer profile, and seem to have pulled it off very well. It may not be a teardrop shape, but the interior improvements far outweigh it, since the drivers actually live in the truck for days at a time.