Two bills just dropped in the Senate that could reshape trucking faster than anything since deregulation. Plus: Russian hackers targeted your load board, flatbed rejection rates just hit 40%, and a robot is taking the Houston-Dallas overnight run.
This week: The Dalilah Law, a trucking bankruptcy that wiped out thousands overnight, a FreightGuard civil war on Reddit, and the payroll data that's predicting Q4 capacity.
Indiana pulled the trigger on carriers employing illegal CDL holders. Plus: tariff ruling could flood LA with imports, DC finally moves on double brokers, spot rates are outrunning contract, and more.
Plus: Bot Auto completes a humanless Texas run, TIA warns broker liability cases could reshape the industry, Tesla and Uber Freight team up on EV adoption, and more.
Good Wednesday morning. FMCSA data feeds vanish overnight, leaving industry blind on safety checks and fraud prevention as DOT stays silent. Today's feature outlines what we know so far.
Plus,
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🤖 Bot Auto Hits Autonomous Milestone. Autonomous trucking startup Bot Auto logged a major milestone: a completely human-less hub-to-hub validation run in Houston, TX. Unlike safety-driver “autonomous” demos, this was a true no-human-in-cab operation, with the truck navigating public highways under its own system. The achievement puts Bot Auto in rare company alongside Aurora and Kodiak, intensifying the race to prove full driver-out tech is viable. Industry observers say the demo validates hub-to-hub freight automation’s potential but note questions remain about scaling, regulation, and insurance.
⚖️ TIA Issues Warning Re: TQL Broker Liability Case. The U.S. Supreme Court will consider two cases, Cox v. TQL and Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, that could redefine broker liability. TIA warns inconsistent rulings pose an “existential threat” to small and mid-sized brokers, arguing federal oversight should remain with FMCSA. Attorneys for Robert Cox, whose wife was killed in a 2019 crash tied to TQL, counter that brokers must not be shielded from negligence. With circuits split, the Court’s decision could determine whether brokers face uniform liability standards or continue navigating conflicting precedents.
⚡ Tesla, Uber Freight Partner to Accelerate Semi Adoption. Tesla and Uber Freight have launched the Dedicated EV Fleet Accelerator Program to lower the cost barrier for electric Class 8 adoption. The program pairs subsidies on Tesla Semis with dedicated freight contracts and route planning built around Tesla’s Semi Charger network. Uber Freight says integration will maximize utilization from day one, while Tesla continues Megacharger deployments. The initiative coincides with Rebecca Tinucci’s move from Tesla’s charging division to CEO of Uber Freight, deepening leadership ties. Though pricing remains unclear, the partnership signals a significant push to accelerate long-haul electrification ahead of Tesla’s planned 2026 ramp-up.
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The freight world came across a major curve ball yesterday: FMCSA pulled large chunks of its daily datasets off the DOT’s public portal with no explanation.
What disappeared? Company census files, crash files, inspection and citation records, the very data brokers and compliance teams rely on to vet carriers and fight fraud. Monthly snapshots remain, but many daily updates are gone, leaving brokers and platforms that rely on that data lagging by 24+ hours.
As the news spread, many tried to figure out what may have gone wrong. There were suggestions that the outage could be tied to the phase-out of MC numbers and the FMCSA's ongoing registration modernization under the new Motus system.
Still, many read it as either incompetence or an intentional dodge as pressure builds over fraud and registration reform.
Without daily refreshes, insurance renewals, roadside inspection ratios, and fraud screening tools risk running on stale data.
A couple of weeks ago, a broker DM’d FreightCaviar saying, “FMCSA hasn’t updated BASIC Safer data in 35 days. How are we supposed to set thresholds or contracts without current info?”
Meanwhile, tech providers like GenLogs are taking advantage of the window to position themselves as the safety net. CEO Ryan Joyce wrote: “Stale data = stolen loads. WGenLogs still has daily data on almost every carrier on the road.”
As of this morning, the DOT and FMCSA remain silent. Is this a temporary glitch? A policy shift linked to registration modernization? Or a defensive move amid growing fraud investigations?
Until Washington explains, the industry is left with tumbleweeds where critical safety data used to be, and a lot of unanswered questions.
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🍬 M&M Crash Spill. A crash on I-80 near Knowlton Township ripped open a trailer of M&Ms, spilling candy across the highway. No injuries reported, but cleanup required a detour
đź›’ Kroger Store Closures. Kroger officially began closing 60 underperforming grocery stores across multiple states. The company said the cuts are part of a cost-saving plan after its failed Albertsons merger and recent job reductions.
🤝 Food Merger Talks Move Ahead. Performance Food Group and US Foods are in early talks on a merger that could create a $100 billion food distribution giant, surpassing Sysco’s market share.
🌱 Soybean Shift Hits. China has sharply reduced U.S. soybean imports in favor of South America, threatening more than farmers. Analysts warn that the shrinking exports could cut trucking jobs, rail shipments, and port operations nationwide.
⚖️ Bill Targets Lawsuits. A new congressional bill seeks to shield truckers and carriers from “weaponized litigation” in nuclear verdict cases over $5 million, pushing for federal standards to reduce excessive liability awards.
🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER
FREIGHT HUMOR
Two bills just dropped in the Senate that could reshape trucking faster than anything since deregulation. Plus: Russian hackers targeted your load board, flatbed rejection rates just hit 40%, and a robot is taking the Houston-Dallas overnight run.
This week: The Dalilah Law, a trucking bankruptcy that wiped out thousands overnight, a FreightGuard civil war on Reddit, and the payroll data that's predicting Q4 capacity.
Indiana pulled the trigger on carriers employing illegal CDL holders. Plus: tariff ruling could flood LA with imports, DC finally moves on double brokers, spot rates are outrunning contract, and more.
The Supreme Court ruled Trump's tariffs illegal. Plus: an Illinois official took $300K and handed out illegal CDLs, cartel violence may affect your Mexico freight, 550 CDL schools just got shut down, and more.
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