Agent access turns fleet data into fleet decisions

Samsara launched a Model Context Protocol that lets authorized users query live fleet data from ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and other AI tools without building a custom integration. The company announced the product September 22, and FreightWaves covered it September 25. More than 40 read-only tools are available at launch, covering vehicles, drivers, safety events, hours of service, and other operational data.

Polyak Trucking, a Wisconsin carrier, used Claude on its Samsara data to find a driver spending more than 110 minutes per shift in the yard without driving; owner Pam Polyak says the fix recovered $53,000 in labor costs, and toll comparisons across drivers on the same lanes surfaced a $50-per-load difference. Access mirrors each user's existing Samsara permissions, and every request is tied to the individual user rather than a shared API key. The tools are read-only, so AI applications cannot change records.

MCP is available at no additional charge now, with future costs based on monthly usage. It runs on the same live data layer as Samsara Assistant and Agent Studio, and customers such as Mariner Logistics say it removes custom integration maintenance. The product is live, but the headline savings come from one small carrier's example rather than a proven industry-wide result.

At Trimble Insight 2026 in San Diego, CEO Rob Painter warned that bolting AI onto old operational architecture yields marginal gains, comparing AI to the electric motor that took factory owners nearly 30 years to exploit properly. Trimble used its opening session to unveil the Trimble NEXT Showcase, a suite of overhauls to its core fleet software.

The updates add modern web interfaces, standard APIs, and model context protocol layers to TMS products including Innovative, TruckMate, TMW.Suite, and Fuel Dispatch so legacy data is accessible to AI agents. Other launches included PC Miler custom route preferences marking its 40th anniversary, a voice-activated CoPilot that finds and reserves overnight parking using hours-of-service data, autonomous route planning in Appian Fleet Assistant, and upgraded AI invoice scanning in TMT Fleet Maintenance that batch-processes up to 100 PDF repair invoices, with Trimble claiming savings of more than 136,000 minutes across 19,500 invoices. Trimble Dock & Yard added Advanced Trailer Orchestration that syncs truck ETAs, slot capacity, and yard moves.

Fleets can modernize existing systems instead of migrating to new platforms, but the efficiency numbers are vendor claims presented at a customer conference, not audited results. Sector vice president Michael Kornhauser framed the value equation as You + AI, with humans still deciding which problems are worth solving.

Flexport launched a Model Context Protocol server on September 29 that lets shippers' AI agents track, quote, and book freight on its platform. Customers can connect Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or their own internal agents and make plain-language requests. An agent can submit cargo details, book against negotiated rates, and receive a booking ID and transit time without logging into Flexport.

Requests land on Flexport's internal AI agents, which the company says process 21 million tasks a year, and every exception routes to a human expert. The release also extends Flexport Atlas routing beyond ocean freight to air, rail, and barge, adds a tool that recommends 10-digit HTS tariff codes in seconds with linked CBP rulings, and audits customs entries against hundreds of rules before filing. Flexport says more than 13,000 companies use its platform.

Guardrails come from a custom evaluation platform built for governance and traceability, and licensed customs brokers validate tariff codes before filing. The claimed scale is vendor-reported, so shippers should pilot agent-driven booking on low-risk lanes before trusting it with critical freight.

Federal enforcement, litigation, and fraud are pushing freight brokers to favor established carriers, FleetOwner reports. English language proficiency enforcement has produced more than 30,000 driver out-of-service violations since mid-2025, California canceled about 20,000 non-domiciled CDLs in early 2026, and nearly 10,000 CDL training schools have been removed from FMCSA's Training Provider Registry since December.

After the Supreme Court's May ruling in the Montgomery case that federal law does not preempt state negligent-hiring suits against brokers, a TIA survey found 91.6% of broker respondents would not use a carrier with a Conditional safety rating and 85.2% changed carrier selection in ways that could eliminate up to 20% of their carrier pool. Cargo theft is compounding the caution, with ATRI estimating 2023 theft costs of $1.83 billion to $6.56 billion and Verisk CargoNet estimating $725 million in 2025. With capacity shrinking, DAT load-to-truck ratios were up 70% to 90% year over year across its three main trailer types as of August.

Spot rates began rising around November and December and the market has turned toward carriers even though freight demand has not improved much, so rate gains rest on reduced supply. Established carriers with clean authority and safety records gain negotiating power, while new entrants and Conditional-rated carriers risk losing broker access entirely.

The national average on-highway diesel price rose 24 cents to $6.529 per gallon, according to EIA data released September 22, after attacks in the Strait of Hormuz on September 17 and 18 kept oil shipments restricted. On-highway gasoline rose 16 cents to $4.478, and Iran said it could reopen the strait within seven days if the U.S. ends its blockade.

Regional swings were wide: the Midwest jumped 43 cents to $6.680, the largest weekly increase, the West Coast hit $7.456, the Gulf Coast rose 15 cents to $6.177, and the East Coast rose 11 cents to $6.268. Diesel is up $2.780 year over year, crude oil averaged about $100 per barrel, and AAA noted pump prices are approaching this year's record high of $4.56 with September on pace for a record.

For fleets, fuel budgets and surcharge tables built earlier in the year are now stale, and prices hinge on war and negotiation rather than fundamentals. Fleets should plan with scenarios instead of assuming quick relief, and every 10-cent diesel move flows straight into cost per mile.

Uber Freight will open a fourth-party logistics control center and operations hub in Krakow, Poland in 2027, adding to its existing Netherlands facility that came with the 2021 Transplace acquisition. The company appointed Mike Doucleff, who most recently oversaw US market entry for EV charger maker Alpitronic and earlier led Schneider Electric's eMobility division, to lead European growth.

Uber Freight says it doubled the number of 4PL contract wins in Europe during 2025 and employs more than 4,000 people globally. A 4PL manages a customer's entire supply chain through an asset-light model, coordinating multiple providers instead of owning trucks and warehouses. The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' 2026 State of Logistics report notes that more 3PLs are evolving into 4PL operators.

The company declined to disclose its European headcount or planned hiring, so the expansion's staffing scale is unknown. For carriers it means more European freight flowing through managed networks rather than direct shipper relationships.

Tesla landed an order for as many as 2,500 Semi Class 8 tractors from ZET SCALE, the Zero-Emission Truck Shipper-Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification, organized by the nonprofits Catalyst Mobility, until this month called CALSTART, and Smart Freight Centre. The first trucks arrive in the fourth quarter of 2026, with all 2,500 delivered within 18 months.

ZET Financial, the coalition's financing arm, will purchase the trucks and lease them to participating shippers and carriers, and Tesla was selected as primary OEM with Kenworth, RIDE, and Volvo Trucks North America named as secondary options. Members include PepsiCo, Ikea, Red Bull, and Microsoft, and expected deployment hubs include Southern California, Stockton, Bakersfield, Seattle and Tacoma, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Atlanta, and Northern New Jersey. The coalition aims for 10,000 battery-electric trucks, and the deal is Tesla's largest North American Semi order, exceeding Einride's 500-truck purchase announced in August.

For fleets, the leasing structure lowers the capital barrier to electric Class 8 adoption, but deployment depends on coalition financing and charging infrastructure actually being built at the named hubs. The 10,000-truck ambition is a stated goal, not a signed commitment, so treat early deployments as the test.

A North American Council for Freight Efficiency report revisited seven fleets that adopted electric terminal tractors in 2022 and found all but one judged the units successful, with several moving from pilot to standardization. Of fleets running EVs, 76% report at least moderate savings compared with diesel.

Lazer Logistics, the largest North American yard management provider with roughly 2,100 terminal tractors at more than 800 locations, runs about 150 electric units and reports roughly 50% lower maintenance and repair cost per operating hour than same-model-year diesel, rising to as much as 75% in a unit's early years. YMX Logistics runs nearly 50 electric units of about 200 total at 95% to 98% uptime versus sub-90% for its diesel units, Pitt Ohio saves roughly $10,000 per electric unit per year in fuel, and Wegmans runs 18 electric yard trucks as its entire yard fleet across three distribution centers.

The barriers are capital and infrastructure: electric units carry sticker prices about twice that of diesel, the top scaling barrier for 63% of fleets, and utility or grid delays affect 40%, while Pitt Ohio recently bought a used diesel unit for a third of an electric one's price. Because terminal tractors stay in service seven to 10 years, electrification is a slow replacement-cycle decision rather than a fleet-wide flip.

At IAA Transportation in Hannover, European truck makers showcased a flood of battery-electric models while pressing regulators for compliance relief ahead of a rule requiring CO2 emissions from newly registered heavy trucks to be 43% below 2019 levels by 2030. Daimler Truck CEO Karin Radstrom warned that each percentage point missed could cost around 120 million euros in penalties, or $1.2 billion for a 10-point miss.

A coalition of 17 truck and bus manufacturers under ACEA asked the European Commission to delay the deadline, expand toll incentives for low-CO2 trucks, and accelerate electric, gas, and hydrogen infrastructure. Daimler secured an order for 900 Mercedes-Benz Actros L ProCabin trucks from Lithuania's Girteka Group, while launches included Volvo's FH Electric and FH Aero Electric rigid for combinations up to 80 tonnes, MAN's eTGX with up to 720 kilometers of range, DAF's XG+ Electric, and Mercedes' eActros Lowliner. Daimler also plans to build 100 NextGenH2 hydrogen fuel cell trucks at its Worth plant by the end of 2026.

European carriers face the same pressures as North American fleets, including record diesel prices, rising driver pay, and higher maintenance costs, so buyers gain more electric choice even as the regulatory path stays uncertain. Because penalties shape OEM production plans, model availability and pricing for electric trucks remain a moving target that procurement teams should track across both continents.

Conversion Interactive Agency and People. Data. Analytics released the results of their 2026 Carrier Survey, a national survey of motor carriers covering driver recruiting, retention, compensation, workforce planning, and AI adoption. The findings show driver workforce challenges now outweigh broader economic concerns. 71% of carriers named the driver shortage a top concern and 68% named driver turnover, ahead of driver compensation at 42%, inflation, freight market conditions, fuel prices, and regulatory issues.

Competition centers on experienced drivers: 95% of respondents are actively recruiting experienced company drivers. More than half raised driver pay in the previous six months, including 46% within the past 90 days, and 83% have increased, plan to increase, or are considering a pay adjustment. On AI, 91% of carriers are researching, testing, or actively using the technology, with driver recruiting the leading application at 61% and marketing and advertising at 41%.

The survey also exposed a turnover visibility gap: while 71% of carriers are somewhat or extremely confident they understand why drivers leave, 86% typically recognize at-risk drivers less than 30 days before departure or only after resignation, and none typically spot risk more than 60 days out. Meanwhile, 58% of carriers have no AI committee or similar oversight group. These figures are self-reported by surveyed carriers, so they describe sentiment and practice rather than measured performance outcomes.

Aurora Innovation told analysts and investors at its September 23 Analyst and Investor Day that it expects more than 30,000 trucks equipped with its Aurora Driver platform to be operating in North America in 2030. CFO David Maday said most of that growth runs through a hardware-as-a-service model launching with Aumovio by the end of 2027, which he called the asset-light framework. Aurora's current transportation-as-a-service fleet will stay limited to 500 trucks.

By the end of 2026, Aurora expects 200 driverless International LT Series trucks on the road producing an $80 million annualized revenue run rate, with Roush Industries upfitting 20 trucks per week while Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Paccar install Aurora hardware on factory lines. The company has surpassed 500,000 driverless miles since commercial launch and projects more than 1,000 trucks and $200 million in revenue by the end of 2027, then positive free cash flow on a run-rate basis in 2028 at roughly 7,500 trucks.

Carriers currently running upfitted International tractors include Hirschbach, McLane, FedEx, Charger Logistics, Value Truck, Werner Enterprises, Schneider, and Uber Freight, and Hirschbach signed an MOU in April for 500 Aurora Driver trucks with deliveries starting in 2027. These are targets, not results: Aurora's Q2 loss widened to $270 million and quarterly revenue was $2 million, expected to reach $8 million by the final quarter of 2026. Fleets should treat the 2030 figure as a plan that depends on hardware-as-a-service execution and continued driverless validation.

Nussbaum Transportation and Roehl Transport each announced their second driver pay increase of the year as freight capacity tightens. Nussbaum boosted activity pay from $20 to $23 on every pickup, delivery, and stop off, raised trailer relay and shuttle pay from $12 to $15 per event, lifted detention pay 25% from $20 to $25 per hour, added $50 to the weekly minimum guarantee, and raised trainer pay 50% from an extra $500 to $750 per week. The Illinois-based truckload carrier had announced the largest driver pay increase in its history in May.

Roehl's increases take effect October 4 for most company drivers in its Refrigerated, Flatbed, Van, Curtainside, and Dedicated divisions, and the company said many top earners will make over $100,000 annually while getting home weekly or daily. Roehl also announced a significant compensation increase for owner-operators and lease operators, and earlier this year raised certified driver trainer compensation and added retention bonuses. Separately, Anderson Trucking Service raised company flatbed driver base mileage pay 16.7% from $0.60 to $0.70 per mile effective September 21 for all 327 of its company flatbed drivers.

Nussbaum structures pay around the work drivers perform rather than miles alone, paying on every pickup and delivery in addition to stop offs, and its detention pay starts after one hour even when the carrier cannot recover the time from the shipper. At Anderson Trucking Service, the top half of company flatbed drivers have averaged $1,600 per week this year and the top 20% have averaged $2,100. These are announced pay programs, so retention effects will only become visible after the increases take effect.

Alvys is acquiring the LoadOps customer base from Optym under a strategic partnership announced September 23, with financial terms kept private. Migrations of LoadOps accounts onto the Alvys transportation management system are already underway, done one account at a time, while Optym keeps LoadAi, its load planning and driver assignment platform.

Optym, which has spent more than 25 years applying operations research to freight planning, evaluated several TMS vendors before choosing Alvys. Alvys, founded in 2020, says its platform moves roughly $9 billion in freight a year for 60,000 carrier drivers and has raised $77 million including a $40 million Series B led by RTP Global. Its Alvys Foundry release from August 11 lets carriers and brokers build agents for check calls, invoice and settlement preparation, and track-and-trace exceptions.

CEO Nick Darman pitched one platform for dispatch, accounting, compliance, and driver management with a single login and one source of truth. Customers get continuity rather than a new optimization engine, since Optym's planning tools stay separate, and a deeper joint offering is promised but not yet detailed.

Tabi Connect and Kleinschmidt partnered to automate freight quoting through Kleinschmidt's Intelligence Network, an integration announced September 14 and published September 22. Quote requests moving through Kleinschmidt's network flow directly into Tabi, where a brokerage's pricing rules are applied automatically before the quote returns to the shipper. The companies say this cuts response time and makes pricing consistent across broker teams.

Tabi's Pricing Logic Engine sets rules by customer, lane, equipment type, and market conditions. The partnership also connects Tabi with Capacity IQ, Kleinschmidt's predictive freight-capacity platform, which analyzes more than 150,000 loads moving across North America each day to predict where trucks are likely to become available, using tender insights and predictive analytics to flag carriers likely to have capacity near a pickup before they unload.

Tabi connects with over 88 shipper TMS platforms, bid boards, and freight marketplaces through 17 native API integrations and 71 RPA connections, returning quotes in about three seconds on API links and 35 to 50 seconds on RPA links. The platform is used by more than 100 logistics companies, including more than 20 of the Top 100 U.S. brokerages, and processes more than 1 million quotes per month. The capacity signal is a vendor claim about prediction quality, and brokers still own the final rate decision.

PrePass has integrated Enhanced Inspection information from Kodiak AI into established state roadside screening and enforcement systems, with initial implementation in Texas and Louisiana. Enforcement personnel can verify inspection information, authorize bypasses, and provide additional instructions when needed. The companies position the work as preparation for Kodiak's driverless commercial operations expected by the end of 2026.

The collaboration uses the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's Enhanced Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspection Program, developed for commercial vehicles equipped with automated driving systems, under which a CVSA-trained inspector verifies that an autonomous commercial vehicle is free of safety defects before it begins driverless operations. A successful Enhanced Inspection remains valid for up to 24 hours subject to program requirements. PrePass's network covers more than 580 inspection and screening locations nationwide, which the companies say gives existing infrastructure a foundation for expanding beyond the two states.

For fleets, inspection data flowing through existing roadside systems could reduce the need for separate enforcement processes as driverless operations expand across state lines, and it lets states fold autonomous trucks into current safety workflows rather than build new ones. PrePass CTO Chas Wurster said the next barrier to scaling driverless trucking is the infrastructure around the truck, not inside it. The integration is live in two states only, the inspection program itself is unchanged, and expansion elsewhere remains future work.

TruckerCloud launched FleetFile, a predictive crash risk score for commercial auto insurance built from telematics data fleets already generate, and has begun filing it with state insurance regulators for use as a rating variable. The company's platform connects to roughly 200 ELD, camera, and telematics systems and serves more than 70 insurers and managing general agents. Founder and CEO Spencer Mitchell said commercial lines insurers have wanted to price on telematics for a decade, but the obstacle was whether an insurer could use the data on the account in front of them.

FleetFile normalizes trip data as it is received, resolving differences in mileage, timestamps, and VIN reporting into a structured, time-stamped record, and delivers exposure and behavioral data by VIN and geography in a format designed for underwriting. It produces one crash risk score per account with vehicle-level scores available beneath it. The system can score accounts of any fleet size, from one vehicle to thousands, when a supported telematics connection exists, and it uses data a fleet already produces and has authorized for sharing.

Until state filings are approved, FleetFile is available for underwriting, submission triage, and loss control rather than as a filed rating variable, and it is included at no additional cost for TruckerCloud customers through October 2026. For fleet executives, this creates a potential link between existing vehicle data and how insurers assess risk, but the state-by-state filing process will determine where the score can actually carry rate. Fleets with weak telematics data hygiene may see that reflected in how underwriters read their risk.

Customs and Border Protection will launch a two-year Electronic Export Manifest truck cargo test on October 23 with nine truck carriers serving Canada and Mexico. The pilot evaluates whether carriers can be required to submit manifest information electronically before cargo is loaded; currently carriers are not required to submit manifests for cargo exported from the U.S.

Participating carriers must file limited data at least 24 hours before cargo departs the U.S. and a complete manifest no later than two hours before the shipment reaches its final export port, all through the Automated Commercial Environment. CBP says advance filings will improve risk assessment, cargo security, and shipment processing, and high-risk shipments can be held before departure, with a release message authorizing loading once cleared.

Trucks carried 55.7% of U.S. trade with Canada and 73.6% with Mexico in 2025, part of about $4 billion in daily cross-border freight. The test is voluntary for now, but it previews a requirement that cross-border fleets should prepare for.

Bluewire, which describes itself as a motor carrier risk intelligence platform, released Motor Carrier Selection Guidelines and Resources, a 12-page document created with representatives from brokerages, motor carriers, enforcement, academia, and transportation research. CEO Steve Bryan announced the release on LinkedIn as the industry responds to the Supreme Court decision on broker liability.

The guidance lists automatic disqualifiers: no active authority for the load type, no active DOT number, missing minimum insurance, an unsatisfactory safety rating, no PHMSA registration for hazmat, and federal or state out-of-service orders. For new or data-light carriers it suggests using FMCSA's Carrier Compliance Questionnaire, drug and alcohol program enrollment, ELD compliance checks, CDL verification, driver experience checks, and chameleon carrier red flags, drawing on databases including FMCSA SAFER and Motus.

It recommends further review rather than automatic rejection for carriers with a Conditional safety rating, a contrast with C.H. Robinson's decision to quit working with such carriers after the ruling. Bluewire says the document is a resource, not a new standard, and does not replace individual judgment.

Panelists at the AI on the Shop Floor session of The AI Summit, held during ATA's Technology & Maintenance Council Fall Meeting on September 23 in Pittsburgh, said AI will not replace heavy-duty technicians but can cut repair turnaround. The session framed the goal around TMC Recommended Practice 1604, the industry benchmark that sets a two-hour target from vehicle arrival to an approved estimate.

Knight-Swift vice president of equipment Mark Kennedy described a workflow where a diagnostic alert from a truck on the road lets an AI system reserve a bay and source parts before the truck arrives. Pedigree Technologies' Rocco Marrari said embedded AI and telematics can already detect anomalies in real time and get a fleet about 70% of the way to a diagnosis using that truck's model, location, and lifecycle history. Design Interactive's Matt Johnston added that computers process fault codes, service manuals, bulletins, and vehicle histories in parallel, while technicians must work serially.

Panelists said AI can also coach less-experienced technicians and help dealers match jobs to the right techs and tools. Kennedy cautioned against treating AI as a cure-all, noting failures on new equipment still require deep troubleshooting and disciplined data management. Speakers closed by challenging fleets, OEMs, and dealers to share data and align standards, without which faster repairs will remain only partly realized.

Geotab published a buyer's guide comparing eight fleet maintenance software options for small businesses: Geotab, Fleetio, AUTOsist, Whip Around, Coast, Samsara, MaintainX, and Simply Fleet. It argues that spreadsheets, calendar reminders, and paper logs make it easy to miss service intervals or lose repair histories, leading to unexpected repairs and downtime.

The guide highlights capabilities such as automated preventive maintenance scheduling by mileage, engine hours, or time; digital driver inspections that convert reported defects directly into work orders; fault-code alerts from onboard diagnostics; and maintenance cost reporting by vehicle. It also outlines selection criteria including headroom for fleet growth, ease of use for teams without IT staff, integrations with fuel cards and dispatch tools, and return on investment from avoided breakdowns.

The piece is vendor-adjacent guidance from a telematics provider, so fleets should treat it as a framework rather than independent ratings. It notes that when repair costs consistently approach a vehicle's value, cost records can inform whether to keep repairing or replace. No specific pricing is given beyond basic per-vehicle or quote-based models.

Diesel hit a new record high as the Strait of Hormuz closure, in place since February 28 after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, kept oil markets tight. Energy Information Administration data show the diesel average climbed from $5.967 at the start of September to $6.529, up $2.780 from a year earlier, while gasoline rose from $4.157 to $4.478. Experts cited in the article say prices would not fall immediately even if peace reopened the strait.

Fleet responses documented across the country include idle-time reductions by the city of Gadsden, Alabama, Missouri Trucking Association reports of small fleets closing, a Los Angeles owner-operator pressing brokers for higher rates, and Minnesota DOT preparing for costlier snowplow operations. Pete Store fleet services director Tommy Slaymaker said higher prices put a spotlight on total cost of ownership, including the full cost of keeping aging equipment in fuel, maintenance, and downtime.

Slaymaker advised focusing on preventive maintenance, spec'ing trucks correctly for application and geography, weighing fuel, maintenance, and replacement costs together in equipment decisions, and training drivers on fuel habits. He cautioned against making long-term equipment decisions based on any single cost factor. The guidance is practitioner advice rather than a proven playbook, and each fleet's exposure differs.

Geotab vice president Christoph Ludewig writes that a fleet manager overseeing 3,000 vehicles from a dozen manufacturers is effectively running twelve parallel data environments, because each OEM sends data on its own schedule, format, and taxonomy. He argues the industry debate over OEM-native versus aftermarket device telematics is the wrong frame since the two data types serve different use cases.

The post gives concrete examples: a rental operator needs fuel level, mileage, and a fault flag, which OEM data already provides, while an urban logistics operator needs position data every few seconds that OEM feeds were never designed to deliver. Ludewig also notes most telematics platforms were built around a single data model and often recalculate battery state of health, odometer readings, and fault codes from raw data instead of reading the OEM-computed values that already exist.

Harmonization, he writes, means a fuel reading from a Volkswagen and a fuel reading from a BYD arrive in the same unit, reference point, and update logic before any report or alert fires. The argument comes from a telematics vendor, so its framing favors platforms that ingest both sources. Fleets should still validate that harmonized outputs actually improve decisions on maintenance scheduling, driver assignment, and vehicle deployment.

Samsara's Fuel Command Center, launched August 19, consolidates total and recoverable fuel spend into one view and splits the recoverable share into root causes such as idling, driver behavior, fraud, suspicious fuel drops, and fueling at the wrong locations. The company estimates its U.S. customers left roughly $2 billion in potential fuel savings on the table in the first six months of 2026.

Fuel is 30% to 40% of a fleet's total marginal operating costs, according to Samsara product vice president Ryan Yu. The product pulls transactions from a fleet's existing fuel cards, integrating Coast spend controls and connecting to WEX and Comdata. In a 90-day analysis of more than 2,000 Samsara customers, organizations that fueled at preferred vendors cut a median 4% from fuel spend, and Samsara found detected fraud incidents rise roughly 9% for every 10-cent increase in diesel prices.

A Commercial Navigation feature, now in beta, plans fuel stops into routes using tank size, negotiated discounts, and real-time prices, with driver route adherence reporting still being built. Trades Holding says fuel expenses dropped nearly $15,000 a month after implementing Coast through Samsara, though customer quotes are self-reported and results vary by fleet.

Fleets that deferred trailer purchases during the freight recession are restarting replacement buying as maintenance costs climb and freight conditions improve, according to Transport Topics' coverage of OEM and research sources. Utility Trailer's Steve Bennett said the vast majority of demand is replacement, with some of his best customers not buying in three years, and ACT Research forecasts trailer sales of 198,000 units in 2026 and 262,000 in 2027.

Wabash ended the second quarter with a $956 million backlog, up 14% sequentially, and opened its 2027 dry van order book early. Utility's refrigerated, dry van, and flatbed lines are sold out for the year, and the industry Class 8 backlog jumped 112% from 69,500 to 147,100 units while trailer backlog grew a more modest 13% to 78,400. Year-to-date trailer orders are up 25%, and Premier Trailer Leasing bought more than 1,000 trailers in a fourth quarter when it normally buys none, with its reefer trailer use climbing 20 points and running in the high 90s.

The recovery is replacement-driven rather than fleet expansion, since FTR's Dan Moyer says volume growth is flat and carriers are still rebuilding margins. Prices are rising too: some reefer configurations have jumped more than $10,000 year over year on tariffs and antidumping duties, and the reefer fleet is the oldest it has ever been, so constrained production could keep prices high for years.

Clarios, Swedish sodium-ion developer Altris, and European battery manufacturer InoBat have validated sodium-ion battery cold-cranking performance at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, advancing the program from technology validation toward pilot-scale learning and small-series production readiness. The companies plan serial production of low-voltage sodium-ion batteries before the end of the decade at a dedicated European or U.S. facility.

The results build on a January milestone when prototype cells demonstrated cold-start capability down to minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit. Clarios is directing $6 billion toward U.S. manufacturing, with $1 billion of that earmarked for next-generation technologies including sodium-ion cells aimed at low-voltage, high-power applications in automotive, heavy-duty, and off-highway vehicles. The next testing phase will run at InoBat's Volta facility in Slovakia, which combines research, testing, and small-scale production.

Altris said its Prussian White cathode material uses no lithium, nickel, or cobalt, which the companies frame as a supply chain advantage supporting localized Western production. Clarios vice president Federico Morales-Zimmermann called sodium-ion a commercially relevant technology pathway for future low-voltage and high-power applications. The technology is announced and in customer evaluations, but fleets will not see it in production vehicles until the planned end-of-decade manufacturing ramp proves out.

Work Truck Online published part two of a series by Longobart-Ross Consulting principals Rick Longobart, fleet operations manager for the City of Raleigh, and Cynthia Ross, arguing that mileage alone no longer drives sound vehicle replacement decisions. The piece lays out a model that first groups vehicles by duty cycle, from highway tractors to PTO-intensive utility trucks, before choosing which replacement measures to weight.

The authors recommend separating productive idle, such as PTO-driven equipment, from avoidable idle, and note that one hour of idle time equals roughly 25 to 30 miles of engine wear, which can hide a high-mileage wear profile behind a low odometer. They advise tracking maintenance cost per mile and per engine hour, repeat faults, days out of service, and usage data, then building a replacement scorecard weighted by vehicle group. For electric vehicles, battery state of health becomes a key lifecycle measure shaped by charge cycles, depth of discharge, fast-charging frequency, and thermal management.

The guidance stresses that scores should flag vehicles for review rather than make decisions automatically, and that quarterly reviews keep plans connected to field reality. The method is practitioner advice rather than a validated benchmark, so fleets should calibrate weights against their own cost data. Its core claim, that telematics already captures most of the needed signals, can be verified in any fleet's own systems.