A survey released today by a leading third-party logistics provider came to the rather unsurprising conclusion that larger trucking firms have been more engaged in installing electronic logging devices (ELDs) than their smaller brethren.
The survey, conducted over the past few months by Dallas-based Transplace, canvassed more than 400 motor carriers of various sizes. It found that 81 percent of large fleets—firms with more than 250 trucks—had achieved full ELD implementation. The survey found that the remaining 19 percent were working toward full implementation, which, barring a court decision to overturn the rule, is scheduled to take effect across the industry on Dec. 16, 2017, according to Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations.
By contrast, only one-third of fleets with less than 250 trucks have fully installed ELD equipment and systems, the survey found. About 29 percent have begun the implementation process, while the remaining 38 percent have no immediate plans to begin implementation, according to the survey.
Many large fleets have voluntarily installed ELDs in their cabs over the past few years. Many reported initial cost and productivity hiccups, but those problems have generally disappeared. Smaller fleets and owner-operators, which operate by the seat of their pants and are already burdened with significant costs, may find the cost and productivity hits to be too much to manage.
Still, ELD implementation is seen as imposing a uniform hit if and when the rules are finalized, the survey found. About 56 percent of large carriers expect their capacity levels or their equipment utilization to decline. Smaller carriers appear to be more concerned, with 64 percent expecting their fleet utilization to be negatively affected, according to the survey.
An anticipated decline in fleet utilization could stem from drivers exiting the industry as a result of the mandate. Slightly more than half of the respondents said they have lost drivers who did not want to operate under ELDs. Most noted that the driver attrition has been minor, the survey found. However, one carrier respondent said it lost half its drivers when it switched from traditional paper logs to electronic logs.
According to the survey, 45 percent said ELD compliance, which covers buying and deploying the equipment, would translate into a per-unit cost of about $700. About 18 percent said the cost would range between $500 and $700 per unit, while 19 percent expected the cost per unit to fall between $300 and $500. The cost estimates do not include any hits from diminished productivity; analysts have said fleet productivity will take a low- to mid-single-digit hit due to ELD implementation.
For supporters of ELD implementation, the survey brought some positive news. Of the carriers that have installed ELDs, 84 percent of large fleets and 56 percent of smaller fleets have reported a reduction in the frequency of federal driver hours-of-service (HOS) and logging violations. About one-third of all respondents said they expect ELD compliance to improve their fleet-monitoring efforts. ELDs will track a vehicle's location, but not a driver's whereabouts at a given point in time.
Many smaller operators may be hanging back to see how the legal battle over ELDs plays out before deciding whether to commit. A hearing was held yesterday in federal appeals court in Chicago to hear arguments in a suit filed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which represents owner-operators and micro fleets, to block the rules. OOIDA has argued that an order to install an ELD device for prolonged use without a warrant represents an unconstitutional search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment.
Because drivers must still manually input changes in their duty status, the rule fails to comply with a congressional statute requiring ELDs to accurately and automatically record those changes, according to OOIDA. As a result, the devices are no more reliable than paper logbooks for recording hours-of-service compliance, it said.
In 2011, the group convinced the courts to block rules governing ELD implementation on grounds they failed to do enough to protect drivers from the possibility of harassment by fleet owners and operators. The modified final rule contains significant driver-protection provisions, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the DOT sub-agency that crafted the regulations.
Norita Taylor, an OOIDA spokeswoman, said the group is confident it can get the rules overturned again.
In a statement, Ben Cubitt, Transplace's senior vice president, consulting and engineering, said most carriers, regardless of size, expect a "noticeable impact to utilization and capacity" from the ELD mandate. The challenge, Cubitt said, will be to "find the right balance of good safety practices without causing a significant disruption to the transportation industry."
A move by federal regulators to reinforce requirements for broker transparency in freight transactions is stirring debate among transportation groups, after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a “notice of proposed rulemaking” this week.
According to FMCSA, its draft rule would strive to make broker transparency more common, requiring greater sharing of the material information necessary for transportation industry parties to make informed business decisions and to support the efficient resolution of disputes.
The proposed rule titled “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions” would address what FMCSA calls the lack of access to information among shippers and motor carriers that can impact the fairness and efficiency of the transportation system, and would reframe broker transparency as a regulatory duty imposed on brokers, with the goal of deterring non-compliance. Specifically, the move would require brokers to keep electronic records, and require brokers to provide transaction records to motor carriers and shippers upon request and within 48 hours of that request.
Under federal regulatory processes, public comments on the move are due by January 21, 2025. However, transportation groups are not waiting on the sidelines to voice their opinions.
According to the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), an industry group representing the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, the potential rule is “misguided overreach” that fails to address the more pressing issue of freight fraud. In TIA’s view, broker transparency regulation is “obsolete and un-American,” and has no place in today’s “highly transparent” marketplace. “This proposal represents a misguided focus on outdated and unnecessary regulations rather than tackling issues that genuinely threaten the safety and efficiency of our nation’s supply chains,” TIA said.
But trucker trade group the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) welcomed the proposed rule, which it said would ensure that brokers finally play by the rules. “We appreciate that FMCSA incorporated input from our petition, including a requirement to make records available electronically and emphasizing that brokers have a duty to comply with regulations. As FMCSA noted, broker transparency is necessary for a fair, efficient transportation system, and is especially important to help carriers defend themselves against alleged claims on a shipment,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement.
Additional pushback came from the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), a network of transportation professionals in small business, which said the potential rule didn’t go far enough. “This is too little too late and is disappointing. It preserves the status quo, which caters to Big Broker & TIA. There is no question now that FMCSA has been captured by Big Broker. Truckers and carriers must now come out in droves and file comments in full force against this starting tomorrow,” SBTC executive director James Lamb said in a LinkedIn post.
The “series B” funding round was financed by an unnamed “strategic customer” as well as Teradyne Robotics Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Ranpak, Third Kind Venture Capital, One Madison Group, Hyperplane, Catapult Ventures, and others.
The fresh backing comes as Massachusetts-based Pickle reported a spate of third quarter orders, saying that six customers placed orders for over 30 production robots to deploy in the first half of 2025. The new orders include pilot conversions, existing customer expansions, and new customer adoption.
“Pickle is hitting its strides delivering innovation, development, commercial traction, and customer satisfaction. The company is building groundbreaking technology while executing on essential recurring parts of a successful business like field service and manufacturing management,” Omar Asali, Pickle board member and CEO of investor Ranpak, said in a release.
According to Pickle, its truck-unloading robot applies “Physical AI” technology to one of the most labor-intensive, physically demanding, and highest turnover work areas in logistics operations. The platform combines a powerful vision system with generative AI foundation models trained on millions of data points from real logistics and warehouse operations that enable Pickle’s robotic hardware platform to perform physical work at human-scale or better, the company says.
Bloomington, Indiana-based FTR said its Trucking Conditions Index declined in September to -2.47 from -1.39 in August as weakness in the principal freight dynamics – freight rates, utilization, and volume – offset lower fuel costs and slightly less unfavorable financing costs.
Those negative numbers are nothing new—the TCI has been positive only twice – in May and June of this year – since April 2022, but the group’s current forecast still envisions consistently positive readings through at least a two-year forecast horizon.
“Aside from a near-term boost mostly related to falling diesel prices, we have not changed our Trucking Conditions Index forecast significantly in the wake of the election,” Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, said in a release. “The outlook continues to be more favorable for carriers than what they have experienced for well over two years. Our analysis indicates gradual but steadily rising capacity utilization leading to stronger freight rates in 2025.”
But FTR said its forecast remains unchanged. “Just like everyone else, we’ll be watching closely to see exactly what trade and other economic policies are implemented and over what time frame. Some freight disruptions are likely due to tariffs and other factors, but it is not yet clear that those actions will do more than shift the timing of activity,” Vise said.
The TCI tracks the changes representing five major conditions in the U.S. truck market: freight volumes, freight rates, fleet capacity, fuel prices, and financing costs. Combined into a single index indicating the industry’s overall health, a positive score represents good, optimistic conditions while a negative score shows the inverse.
Specifically, the new global average robot density has reached a record 162 units per 10,000 employees in 2023, which is more than double the mark of 74 units measured seven years ago.
Broken into geographical regions, the European Union has a robot density of 219 units per 10,000 employees, an increase of 5.2%, with Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia in the global top ten. Next, North America’s robot density is 197 units per 10,000 employees – up 4.2%. And Asia has a robot density of 182 units per 10,000 persons employed in manufacturing - an increase of 7.6%. The economies of Korea, Singapore, mainland China and Japan are among the top ten most automated countries.
Broken into individual countries, the U.S. ranked in 10th place in 2023, with a robot density of 295 units. Higher up on the list, the top five are:
The Republic of Korea, with 1,012 robot units, showing a 5% increase on average each year since 2018 thanks to its strong electronics and automotive industries.
Singapore had 770 robot units, in part because it is a small country with a very low number of employees in the manufacturing industry, so it can reach a high robot density with a relatively small operational stock.
China took third place in 2023, surpassing Germany and Japan with a mark of 470 robot units as the nation has managed to double its robot density within four years.
Germany ranks fourth with 429 robot units for a 5% CAGR since 2018.
Japan is in fifth place with 419 robot units, showing growth of 7% on average each year from 2018 to 2023.
Progress in generative AI (GenAI) is poised to impact business procurement processes through advancements in three areas—agentic reasoning, multimodality, and AI agents—according to Gartner Inc.
Those functions will redefine how procurement operates and significantly impact the agendas of chief procurement officers (CPOs). And 72% of procurement leaders are already prioritizing the integration of GenAI into their strategies, thus highlighting the recognition of its potential to drive significant improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, Gartner found in a survey conducted in July, 2024, with 258 global respondents.
Gartner defined the new functions as follows:
Agentic reasoning in GenAI allows for advanced decision-making processes that mimic human-like cognition. This capability will enable procurement functions to leverage GenAI to analyze complex scenarios and make informed decisions with greater accuracy and speed.
Multimodality refers to the ability of GenAI to process and integrate multiple forms of data, such as text, images, and audio. This will make GenAI more intuitively consumable to users and enhance procurement's ability to gather and analyze diverse information sources, leading to more comprehensive insights and better-informed strategies.
AI agents are autonomous systems that can perform tasks and make decisions on behalf of human operators. In procurement, these agents will automate procurement tasks and activities, freeing up human resources to focus on strategic initiatives, complex problem-solving and edge cases.
As CPOs look to maximize the value of GenAI in procurement, the study recommended three starting points: double down on data governance, develop and incorporate privacy standards into contracts, and increase procurement thresholds.
“These advancements will usher procurement into an era where the distance between ideas, insights, and actions will shorten rapidly,” Ryan Polk, senior director analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Procurement leaders who build their foundation now through a focus on data quality, privacy and risk management have the potential to reap new levels of productivity and strategic value from the technology."