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If startups are the Davids of the on-demand freight business, C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. is the Goliath - and Goliath isn't running from anyone.
Robinson, generally considered the country's largest freight broker, is updating and expanding its freight-hauling and logistics technology on multiple fronts to stay abreast of competitors, new and old.
Autonomous technology will likely alter the way commercial vehicles are designed from the inside out. The changes will facilitate drivers - who now have a single function while on the road - to evolve into operators and managers, expected to multitask from behind the wheel.
Some automakers are already mapping out the future. Mercedes-Benz, a division of German auto manufacturer Daimler AG, and Italian car and truck maker Iveco, released concept art hinting at how vehicles might change if no driver is required.
The return of the NFL season may translate to higher risk of collisions for waste drivers on their routes, according to data from video telematics provider Lytx. The company observed a spike in drowsy driving incidents among waste drivers at the return of televised NFL games in a four-year look-back at driving behavior in the waste industry.
A federal mandate requiring the use of tracking equipment, known as electronic logging devices, and a lack of parking are among the top complaints truck drivers have about their industry.
Other top peeves include figuring out how to adhere to federal hours-of-service regulations that dictate driving time, the challenge of finding safe overnight truck parking and profit-sucking delays at shippers and receivers.
Trucks.com conducted an informal survey of truck drivers and compiled the following list of the trucking industry issues they struggle with the most.
Daimler Vans USA is issuing a recall for more than 43,000 Sprinter vans that are equipped with faulty front passenger airbags.
The vehicles are the latest to be caught in a massive global recall of airbags built by automotive supplier Takata Corp. A defect may cause metal fragments within the airbag to explode in the event of a crash.
The problem has been associated with 12 deaths and more than 200 injuries in the U.S. alone, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
As more states legalize marijuana, it's becoming a growing issue for the trucking industry.
Recreational marijuana has been legal in Colorado since 2014, and drug tests indicate more drivers and job applicants are using the substance.
Even as more trucking companies and commercial driver's license schools are telling candidates not to fill out applications if they're going to test positive, failure rates are still as high as 60 percent, said Greg Fulton, president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Assn.
Whether you agree with him or not, there is rarely a shade of doubt as to where Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) trade group, stands on a particular issue.
With the first total solar eclipse to reach the continental United States since 1979 taking place on Aug. 21, warnings of heavy traffic disruptions have been issued in recent weeks.
In reality, states in the path of the eclipse, and companies that provide real-time routing, have been preparing for this rare event for many months.
The average age of the truck driver is 52 and each year that number continues to increase, according to Leah Shaver, COO at the National Transportation Institute. But as fleets are finding it more and more difficult to attract a younger driver base, partly because of an industry-wide image problem, what can they do to soften the blow of a deepening driver shortage?
America's retail giants have spent a decade ignoring signs of labor abuse in their supply chains, sometimes fighting government efforts to crack down, even as thousands of truckers were driven into debt and poverty, a USA TODAY Network investigation has found.
Target, Costco, Hewlett-Packard and many others have benefited from California port trucking companies that forced their drivers into debt, made them work up to 20 hours a day and sometimes paid them pennies per hour.