The purpose of the International Forum for Heavy Vehicle Transport & Technology is to promote and support the developmant of road freight transport technology, safety and policy and to  facilitate information exchange between researchers, policy makers, regulators, road agencies and the transport industry. It does this by running regular international symposia, electronic discussion groups and other relevant initiatives.

The first International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions (HVWD) was hosted by the Roads and Transport Association of Canada in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 1986. The Forum was founded as the International Forum for Road Transport Technology (IFRTT) in 1992 in Cambridge, UK, during the third HVWD Symposium. The first Chair of IFRTT was Byron Lord of the US Federal Highway Administration.

The symposia would later become the International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology (HVTT) and more recently the Forum was renamed the International Forum for Heavy Vehicle Transort & Technology (HVTT Forum) to better align with the symposia.

The current President of the HVTT Forum is Gavin Hill of Transport Certification Australia (TCA).