Editorial

If you pay them, will they come? Motor carriers have been boosting driver pay at a steady clip lately. It seems that a week can’t pass without a company announcing that it’s boosting compensation, be it on a per-mile basis or through bonuses and incentives.

The trucking industry is definitely having a moment. Recently, an industry executive spoke from the White House about the positive effects federal tax reform has had on his business, and a noted industry economist predicted that trucking likely has several good years ahead of it before the threat of an economic downturn might rear its ugly head. Plus, sales of new trucks just keep rising.

The adoption of federally mandated electronic logging devices has been a major transition for the trucking industry, but at this point it appears that most longhaul truckers are now using the technology to track their hours of service. While it’s still too soon to get a complete sense of where the industry stands with respect to ELD compliance, the early indications have been positive as enforcement tightens.

As of April 1, truck drivers may now be placed out of service for failing to record hours of service using an electronic logging device. There are a few exceptions, but the soft-enforcement phase of the ELD mandate is behind us, and the situation is more real for some drivers: Plug in an ELD, or pull off the highway.

The decision by Uber to halt testing of its autonomous trucks in the wake of a fatal accident involving one of its pilot autonomous cars was a prudent move, and one that demonstrates how the relentless pace of technological innovation sometimes needs a pause.

In fairly short order, truck manufacturers have made a series of announcements about new and updated vocational trucks that soon will be hitting the markets.

Automated driving technology has been a consistently hot topic in the trucking industry over the past few years, but the glare of the spotlight was particularly bright last week at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s annual meeting and beyond.

Year after year, the annual meeting of the Technology & Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations has been a must-attend event for those looking to learn about the latest trends in truck maintenance. As this year’s meeting convenes in Atlanta, that remains true.

There’s no shortage of catchy phrases to describe the sights and sounds of the trucking industry: what’s “under the hood” or “down the road” or who’s “behind the wheel,” for example. These themes are also handy for describing issues confronting the industry that cropped up in relation to some recent and upcoming industry events.

Now is the time to get serious about fixing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, which means it’s also time to raise fuel taxes to pay for it.