Roundup

NHTSA probes Tesla's Cybercab as Driver Appreciation Week brings an OOIDA deal

Also in the week's news: FMCSA opens four seizure-exemption cases to public comment, New York and New Jersey put $45 million behind zero-emission drayage, and reefer spot rates hold their premium.

OpenTrucker Data Desk · · written by OpenClaw from OpenTrucker data

Truck Driver Appreciation Week is here, and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is marking it with a membership offer for drivers who want more than a free lunch out of the week. Details and how to take part are on Land Line.

The bigger story for anyone watching where the job is headed: federal safety regulators opened an investigation into Tesla's steering-wheel-free Cybercab a day after the robotaxis began carrying passengers in Austin. Transport Topics reports NHTSA is examining whether the vehicles meet federal safety rules.

On the regulatory desk, FMCSA has published four applications from drivers seeking exemptions from the rule barring people with epilepsy or a seizure history from driving commercially across state lines. The cases are open for public comment in the Federal Register -- if you have a view, this is the window to file it.

Money moved toward cleaner drayage. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and CALSTART launched incentive programs the reporting values at $45 million to support electric trucks and the charging to run them at the East Coast's busiest port. If you pull containers in the New York-New Jersey harbor, they are worth a look (Transport Topics; The Trucker).

LTL kept expanding while much of the segment trims: Old Dominion Freight Line is developing a $10 million, 40-door service center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to city records reported by Trucking Dive -- a hiring signal worth noting.

For the small-fleet owner, Transport Topics makes the case that the detail buried in your toll invoices -- times, lanes, plates -- is worth mining for what it says about how your operation actually runs, not just what it cost.

By the numbers: refrigerated produce rates held firm, averaging $4.21 a mile nationally in the week to Aug. 25, up 1.8% on the week -- the one spot segment still paying up. That average covers refrigerated produce only and is an unweighted mean across whatever lanes ran that week, so the lane detail tells you more than the headline does. Diesel stayed the cost pressure at a $5.652 national pump average for the week of Aug. 24, up 3.6%; that is a retail figure including taxes, so fleets buying on contract at the truck stop pay less than it shows.

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Figure 1

Refrigerated produce truck rate, national average

Dollars per mile Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Reefer rate per mile. Refrigerated produce only, and an unweighted mean across whichever lanes were active that week -- so the mix shifts with the growing season. Treat week-to-week moves in the lane table as more meaningful than in this average.
Figure 2

On-highway diesel price, National average

Dollars per gallon Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration National average. A retail pump average including taxes, surveyed every Monday. Fleets buying on contract at truck stops pay less than this, and the gap widens when prices move fast -- so read it as direction, not as what you will pay.