Good day,
ELD ‘hard enforcement’ will begin on April 1st—noncompliant trucks will be taken off the road for 10 hours and CSA scores will be affected. There has been a substantial amount of non-punitive enforcement of the mandate since its “soft launch” on December 18.
Steve Bryan, president of data analytics firm Vigillo, dismissed speculation that the ELD mandate would lead to a significant number of drivers leaving the industry. He said data he has studied data that for the first time shows that the total number of interstate and intrastate carriers has crossed 1.6 million, clearly not a sign of a mass exodus of drivers.
Did you know?
At its flagship conference IBM Think 2018, IBM revealed the world’s smallest computer: a processor complete with hundreds of thousands of transistors, RAM, a solar cell, and a communications module that is about the size of a grain of sand.
Quotable:
“It is hard for me to think next Sunday that [HOS violations are] just going to taper off. I think these things are going through the roof.”
-Steve Bryan, president of Vigillo
In other news:
For U.S. farmers, China tariffs’ timing is brutal
China is the second largest importer of American agricultural goods after Canada, and everyone from pork producers to railroads carrying grain to port could be hurt by retaliatory tariffs. (Wall Street Journal)
Uber sells Southeast Asia business to Grab after costly battle
Ride-hailing firm Uber has agreed to sell its Southeast Asian business to bigger regional rival Grab, the firms said on Monday, marking the U.S. company’s second retreat from an Asian market. (Reuters)
US Customs has announced an e-commerce strategy to cope with rising volumes
According to one source, over 125 million e-commerce packages entered the US last year on express carriers, with another 330m packages brought in by the US Postal Service. (The LoadStar)
Global trading giants dip toes in China oil futures on debut day
Commodity giants Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group were among foreign participants as the yuan-denominated futures started on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange Monday. (Bloomberg)
Tax reform bill will cost Kansas City Southern $25M per year
A new tax aimed at overseas income earned by U.S. technology and pharmaceutical firms is hitting unexpected places, including Kansas City Southern. (Wall Street Journal)
Final Thoughts:
Is there a connection between the Uber pedestrian fatality in Arizona and the recently settled Uber-Waymo lawsuit? Waymo sued Uber over trade secrets stolen by former Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski, specifically trade secrets about Waymo’s advanced LiDAR sensors. Early on in the autonomous vehicle industry, Velodyne, a California-based LiDAR manufacturer, was really the only game in town. Both Waymo and Uber used the company’s sensors to help their autonomous cars map their surroundings and detect obstacles.
Since then, Waymo has stopped using Velodyne sensors and invested millions in developing its own hardware and software: this is the technology that Uber was caught trying to steal. Judge Alsup forbade Uber from copying Waymo’s hardware, and said that Waymo still has the right to sue Uber if Uber tries to copy Waymo’s proprietary software. Due to this case’s outcome, Uber was forced to keep using Velodyne’s HDL-64E LiDAR sensor—which isn’t even the most advanced sensor made by Velodyne—on their self-driving cars in Arizona, along with Uber software.
John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, remarking on the Arizona fatality, said that “our car would have been able to handle it.”
Hammer down everyone!
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