Regulations

The annual State of the Industry address at the American Trucking Associations’ MCE conference is a time for the president to highlight all that is good about trucking. Delivering his second address as president, Chris Spear noted some of the legislative accomplishments of the association, took aim at some of the industry’s critics, and called for unity.

When the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) announced in late August that it would delay out-of-service orders for ELD violations until April 1, 2018, many cheered the decision. According to Collin Mooney, executive director of CVSA, many assumed that meant officials would not enforce the ELD rule at all until April. That is simply not true.

Hyperloop companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a new, high-speed form of transportation, but regulatory frameworks haven’t yet caught up with their technology.

While the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued an exemption to the electronic logging device (ELD) rule for certain rental vehicles, the exemption has opened up several questions, including whether there is a potential loophole in the rule.

Protests on both coasts in the past few days have placed truckers in the spotlight. Truck drivers in California and Washington, DC, staged protests to highlight the implementation of the electronic logging device (ELD) rule.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted a three-truck platooning test in Centreville, VA, last week, along I-66. The test, using Volvo Trucks, was designed to the effectiveness of autonomous and vehicle-to-vehicle communications technologies.  

Nearly 30% of carriers are not yet in full compliance with the upcoming electronic logging device mandate and 15% said they will not be fully compliant at the deadline, according to the latest Morgan Stanley ELD survey.

Seven fleets will participate in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s Run on Less program to showcase the benefits of fuel-saving technologies.

As the industry prepares for the December enforcement of the electronic logging device rule, there remains one area of the law that continues to create confusion for drivers – personal conveyance. What is personal conveyance and why does it cause so many problems?

Commonly considered a driver protection rule, the federal coercion rule institutes large fines for companies that pressure drivers to drive in violation of federal regulations, including hours of service. But is it working?

A Chinese e-commerce company wants to make deliveries weighing as much as 1 ton with drones. JD.com is already delivering smaller packages in rural villages. Also in the news, FMCSA officials will be meeting to discuss regulatory relief for the industry and GM is facing allegations it used defeat devices to bypass diesel emissions regs on its pickups.