WASHINGTON — Three federal rulemakings that have cost implications for truckers and motor carriers are on the short-term horizon for a former top official at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Earl Adams, who served as FMCSA’s deputy administrator and chief counsel under former administrator Robin Hutcheson, led a team at the agency that is developing the first major set of rules for high-level automation in heavy-duty trucks.
The result of that effort — a proposed rule on autonomous driving systems (ADS) — is on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s calendar for rollout in December.
Combined with a final rule on automatic emergency braking (AEB) and a proposed rule to set a federal top speed for trucks, they rank as the most anticipated regulations on Adams’ radar.
“Whether the outcome of the election is a Trump or a Harris administration, I think you’re going to continue to see significant efforts to collect data around AV [autonomous vehicle] systems already deployed on the roads,” Adams told FreightWaves in an interview.
ADS guard rails
Adams, now a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells, said the Trump administration took an industry-driven approach toward the development of autonomous vehicle operations by encouraging feedback from the companies that could benefit from them the most.
The Biden administration, in contrast, “was focused on leveraging technology to get safer outcomes,” he said. “We were willing to establish guardrails – that is, an actual rule – as opposed to letting the industry dictate what would happen, and I spent the better part of my two and a half years in the administration trying to develop those guardrails.”
Higher costs for training and certifying individuals performing enhanced inspections for higher levels of automation are expected to be considered in the proposed rule, as well as the potential for sidelining trucks and their drivers with additional inspections that could reduce the amount of time available for revenue-generating service.
Adams cautioned, however, that given recent and growing concerns from labor, getting an AV rule proposed next year could prove difficult even in a Harris administration.
Automatic braking rule to set new standards
A final rule regulating a specific type of automation — braking — has been scheduled for publication in the Federal Register in January, to be issued jointly by FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The rulemaking “is expected to establish performance standards and motor carrier maintenance requirements for AEB systems on heavy trucks and accompanying test procedures for measuring the performance of the AEB systems,” according to a rule summary.
“I’ll be looking to see if they actually move forward on that,” Adams said. “We have a braking rule in place now for passenger cars, but we saw an opportunity to work hand in glove with NHTSA to extend that to trucking.”
The National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC), which represents thousands of small-business motor carriers, contends that technology mandates such as AEB will ultimately raise costs for shippers and consumers, due to higher capital costs for new trucks.
“Further, more expensive, new model trucks slow turnover of older trucks,” said NASTC President David Owen, in comments submitted on the AEB proposed rule.
Owen also asserts that the safety case for mandating AEBs has not yet been adequately assessed nor has the technology been perfected. For example, when AEB’s activate suddenly, it can catch a truck driver by surprise, he said.
“The suddenness of the device’s action causes near-misses and may require evasive action on the professional driver’s part. At present and for the foreseeable future, AEBs present more of a threat to road safety than a solution.”
Speed limiter anxiety
An even more controversial rulemaking on the horizon for trucking that Adams is keeping tabs on is a requirement by FMCSA to limit the top speeds of heavy-duty truck engines equipped with electronic engine control units. That speed limit is to be determined by a proposed rule slated for May 2025.
Much of the criticism FMCSA received was from smaller truck owners and owner-operators, who believe that limiting speeds would make it more difficult to compete with larger carriers – many of which already employ speed limiting devices in their fleets – and would put them out of business.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which strongly opposes speed limiting devices, also contends that they are also unsafe due to increasing speed differentials that would occur with other vehicles on the highway if there was a mandated top speed for heavy trucks.
Adams acknowledged that the FMCSA “received a lot of criticism for the speed limiter proposed rule,” he said.
“But even now, looking back nine months or so to when I was at the agency, we approached this without bias or preconceived ideas, whether speed limiters are good or bad,” he said. “It was an extremely apolitical approach to a technology that has been around for years among fleet owners.
“What was on our mind was the fact that we have 40,000 deaths on the highways per year, with 3,000 coming from commercial trucks, and a large percentage of those were speed-related. So if we can use technology to limit the speed and thus can save lives — that’s the reason we took this on and are so committed to trying to solve it.”
Joe
As a truck driver I fully support more regulations, but not just for trucks. Dynamic speed limiters for everyone should be considered.
Bobby Holland
The Problem is you don’t put the janitor in charge of the CEO so why put Fmcsa in charge of Truckers they never done our job. I think they should have to have a minimum of 10years in a Tractor Trailer over the road to hold there position then they will see that what he just said but isn’t smart enough to realize is 3000 trucks over 40000 accidents it’s not the Trucks fault all the time it’s The cars, motorcycles, pickups who need idiot speed limiters.
If I drive 55 in California the vehicles running 80 will cause the accident so think about that you will end up with more wait times and more accidents even CHP has admitted we aren’t the problem it’s the vehicles not the Commercial Vehicle’s.
Darin
And these rules are why you have a truck driver shortage because we are sick and tired of every 2 or 3 months here we go again new rules and laws leave us alone and let us do our jobs and deliver our loads also politicians that have never done the job knows nothing about what we deal with day to day out here on the road and for the speed limiters get out on I -40 or I-30 and see what a cluster speed limiters are already causing more backups and road rage which causes more accidents.
WilC
Again, every study done regarding speed limiters for big trucks shows that the speed differential between semis and regular cars will increase fatalities. For whatever reason the FMCSA ignores their own study that shows this outcome and continues to promote speed limiters for all semis. Since Chevron deference is gone hopefully groups like the OOIDA will be able to bring effective lawsuits against unelected FMCSA bureaucrats.
Steven R Manson
40000 deaths with 3000 committed by big trucks……and you feel the best answer is to limit the least problematic? That’s like allowing votes to be determined by the least voting it got. Yall held a committee and the only 9nes supporting it was big fleets cause then it would even the playing field in the time/distance field but would eventually run solo and small fleets out of the cotention.. QUIT KILLING THE MIDDLE CLASS
Barak Speed
This is what happens when you have clowns running a bureaucratic branch of government. The FMCSA dictating rules a regulations and mostly likely have never seen the inside of a truck or have driven one. FMCSA needs to ran by people who know what it takes to drive a truck and has experience.
Tim Richmond
Speed limiters should be on all vehicles then not just class 8 vehicles.
My truck is limited to 70mph which is just fine.
But the 4 wheelers go zooming past me at 80-85 are not the problem?
Let’s have these people who propose these rules actually drive for a living while doing everything that we do in a day. Not just some little day cab jaunt, really get on the road and see what the real world is like.
And also have the road inspection people have a cdl so they can inspection the truck not the driver. You want to write me a ticket than have the knowledge of what your doing.
Don cavin
I don’t see how speed limiters will help all that much, when the drivers of cars and pickups cause the accident to begin with by pulling out in front of a commercial vehicle or road raging them. Commercial vehicles can barely make load deliveries on time as it is so let’s make it worse by slowing them down. Which in turn causes less pay. Pay has gotten worse with elogs as it is. I would like to see these people making these rules try to survive on a commercial truck drivers pay.