CVSA Hazmat Blitz Places 14% of Inspected Trucks Out of Service
Five-day surprise inspection initiative in June found shipping-paper violations, placard errors, and cargo-securement failures across 4,900 inspections.
Hank Rivers
Equipment, OEM & Electric Vehicles
Hank Rivers covers truck hardware, tractors, trailers, engines, drivetrains, emissions aftertreatment, battery-electric and hydrogen trucks, charging infrastructure, telematics hardware, ADAS, tires, APUs, recalls, and the maintenance economics that decide what a fleet actually spends per mile. Former fleet manager. He treats OEM press releases like used-truck listings until proven otherwise.
Aurora claims autonomous trucks could prevent 490 deaths yearly by 2035
Driverless freight developer cites third-party safety-case review and commissioned crash analysis, but projections assume scaled deployment and continued…
Hankook Tire wins International's top supplier award for quality, delivery
Tennessee-built Smart AH37 and DH37 tires cited for consistent performance, communication, and adaptability in OEM partnership.
Can a trailer pay for itself by selling power back to the grid?
Electric axles, roof solar, and battery storage let trailers recover energy during braking and generate power on the road. One project claims 7,000 liters of…
Digital color tools cut fleet truck repaint time by 15%
PPG's spectrophotometer and cloud platform eliminate test-panel cycles in collision shops, speeding fleet livery repairs.
Michelin regional tire cuts rolling resistance 9%, targets 1M-mile casing
New tread compound and reinforced bead aim to survive high-torque starts and stop-and-go cycles in pickup-and-delivery work.
DTNA Recalls 2,404 Cascadias and 49X Trucks for Wrong Modulator Valve
Dealers installed incorrect brake modulator valves during earlier recall repairs. Normal service braking still works, but ABS may fail if corrosion sets in.
Calstart Rebrands as Catalyst Mobility, Merges with Forth
The California clean-transportation nonprofit absorbed Portland-based Forth and will open a Pacific Northwest regional office.
Mexican Heavy-Duty Truck Exports to U.S. Jump 117% in August
Freightliner and International drove the surge, shipping 13,950 Mexico-built Class 8 units north as USMCA review and tariff uncertainty loom over the…
Volvo completes rollout of unattended software updates across North America
Drivers can start updates during breaks and leave the truck while software installs, eliminating service-center visits for routine programming.
ZF targets 2031 for USMCA-compliant AxTrax 2 e-axle production in U.S.
Supplier aims to localize electric-axle manufacturing and integrate brake-by-wire into the AxTrax 2 platform as part of North American expansion.
AI route optimization cuts empty miles, not just fuel cost
Fleets using AI to match loads and optimize networks are eliminating deadhead runs before they happen, turning emissions reduction into a dispatch decision.