WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is calling on a select group of commercial truck drivers who could help shape future hours-of-service regulations.
The agency is seeking 18 drivers to participate in a six-week “pre-testing” phase designed to fine-tune two upcoming pilot programs: the Flexible Sleeper Berth and the Split Duty Period. Participants will be paid $600 for completing all study tasks, according to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), which is collecting data on behalf of FMCSA.
The pilots were first announced in June 2025 as part of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s “Pro-Trucker Package” and support President Trump’s April 2025 executive order, Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers, FMCSA stated.
“The goal of these programs is to test alternatives to the current hours-of-service requirements which have the potential to improve the lives and working conditions of American truck drivers through greater flexibility, while simultaneously maintaining equal or greater levels of safety,” the agency announced on Monday.
Working with VTTI researchers, FMCSA aims to use this pre-testing to ensure that training materials and data collection tools are practical before the pilot programs are rolled out nationally.
The recruitment is split into two distinct categories:
- Flexible Sleeper Berth (9 Drivers): The agency is looking for drivers who currently utilize “8/2” or “7/3” split sleeper berth options. These participants will test even more versatile splits, specifically “6/4” and “5/5” configurations, over the six-week period.
- Split Duty Period (9 Drivers): This group will focus on the 14-hour driving window. The FMCSA wants to test the impact of “pausing” that window for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of three hours. This extra break could be taken off-duty, in the sleeper berth, or while on-duty (not driving) during cargo pickups or deliveries.
Drivers interested in applying to participate in the limited pre-testing should visit FMCSA’s Hours-of-Service webpage.
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