Highway Mandates ELD Hookup for All Carriers by July 5
Compliance platform sets deadline after Montgomery ruling shifts broker liability. Ninety percent already connected; remaining carriers face booking failures.
Highway, the carrier compliance platform, is requiring all carriers on its system to connect their electronic logging device (ELD) to the company by July 5, 2026. The policy responds directly to the Supreme Court's Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II decision, which held brokers liable for crashes involving carriers they hired.
What happens if my ELD isn't connected to Highway by July 5?
Carriers without a valid and active ELD connected to Highway will fail broker connections after the July 5 deadline. According to a memo Highway circulated in mid-June, brokers may refuse to override the requirement and book loads with carriers that lack ELD integration.
Brittany Graft, Highway's chief operating officer, told FreightWaves the policy was first communicated to carriers about a week after the Supreme Court handed down Montgomery in early June. "Brokers are now held to an increased standard of liability, so one of the things they now really need to understand very simply is that the carrier they tendered the load to is the one picking up the load," Graft said.
Why brokers are demanding ELD hookups post-Montgomery
The unanimous Montgomery decision clarified that brokers can be found liable or negligent for crashes involving carriers they hired. Before Montgomery, circuit courts split on the question. The nine justices resolved the conflict: yes, brokers face liability.
"Given the Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC ruling by the Supreme Court, brokers are requesting heightened visibility into the motor truck carriers they hire to haul loads," Highway's memo states. "More and more brokers will be demanding validation that the carrier booked on a load is the carrier picking up the load."
Highway has grown sharply in recent years by providing brokers assurance they are dealing with the carrier they hired, not a fraudulent actor or non-existent company trying to steal freight.
Ninety percent of Highway carriers already connected
About 90 percent of carriers on the Highway system already have their ELD connected, according to Graft. The memo itself says only a "majority" are connected. That means roughly 10 percent of Highway carriers face the July 5 cutoff.
Graft said brokers previously had "differing levels of requirements." Some did not mandate ELD connection during onboarding. A large carrier with a stellar reputation and other means of proving legitimacy may not have needed the ELD hookup, she said, "but the broker may keep that requirement in place for the ones they are more sure of."
What data flows from an ELD to Highway
Information flowing from an ELD to Highway provides the identity of the carrier and its level of insurance, Graft said. The connection establishes visibility brokers now demand to defend their vetting process in court.
Graft raised the prospect of a broker being asked in litigation, "tell me, why did you do that?" when explaining why they overrode an ELD hookup requirement. Brokers that might have waived the requirement before Montgomery are less likely to do so now, she said.
"What we've seen coming out of the decision is that they want to continue to drive that number higher and are pushing for that visibility," Graft said. Brokers still often push for visibility with carriers they know, and the ELD connection can establish that level of assurance.
Compliance step for carriers on Highway
Carriers on the Highway system should verify their ELD is connected and active before July 5. The memo warns that broker connections will fail without a valid hookup. Brokers reserve the right to load whoever they want, Graft said, but the post-Montgomery environment makes overrides less likely.
Carriers not yet on Highway face no new requirement from this policy. The July 5 deadline applies only to carriers already using the Highway compliance platform. Fleets evaluating whether to join Highway should expect ELD integration as a condition of onboarding going forward.
For carriers comparing ELD options, integration with broker compliance platforms like Highway is now a selection criterion alongside FMCSA registration status, driver app usability, and monthly cost per truck.
