The Daily Dash: Big boys of autonomous trucking

The Daily Dash is a quick look at what’s happening in the freight ecosystem. In today’s edition, we highlight a young company as it competes in the growing market of autonomous trucking, an exclusive report about Mother’s Day flowers and more.

The High Five

1. Kodiak Robotics is one of several Silicon Valley autonomous trucking software developers. But it gets less attention than players that started earlier. It also lacks the fundraising and manufacturer partnerships that competitors have. Alan Adler’s feature story

2. With Mother’s Day this weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have been busy making sure commercial shipments of imported flowers are pest-free. CBP agriculture specialists in Laredo, Texas, have examined more than 7.3 million stems of flowers leading up to Sunday. Noi Mahoney’s report (with behind-the-scenes video from the border)

3. Aaron Terrazas of Convoy put a headline on his commentary about the latest employment numbers in the trucking sector: “Where did all the drivers go?” It was his reaction to the report showing seasonally adjusted jobs in the truck transportation sector were down to 1,480,300 from the March figure of 1,481,800. John Kingston’s story

4. The nation’s largest flatbed truckload provider, Daseke, reported first-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings per share of 4 cents Friday. The result was a penny better year-over-year and ahead of analysts’ expectations for a net loss of 5 cents per share. Todd Maiden’s quarterly earnings report

5. The California Trucking Association is planning to appeal the appellate court decision that removed the injunction keeping the trucking industry from being impacted by the independent contractor law AB5 in that state. In a recent motion, attorneys for the CTA said they were seeking an en banc hearing. John Kingston with more