This week in trucking: Rear impact guard milestone, truck tech lawsuits

Here are the headlines from this week in trucking as of March 19.

Listen to the news on this week's episode of The Fleet Lead podcast here or search for The Fleet Lead on your favorite podcast app.

Summaries of the stories are below:

Another House bill mandating English proficiency just passed committee

A federal bill that would formalize driver English requirements recently passed the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. HR 7758, called The Dalilah Law, would also introduce stronger guardrails for state CDL issuance.

The bill will have to pass the House, Senate, and the president to become a law, which, with the current state of the union, is not too likely.

Stoughton Trailers successfully completed a 40-mph rear impact guard crash test

A major trailer safety milestone: Trailer manufacturer Stoughton Trailers met requirements for a 40-mile-per-hour rear impact collision for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s TOUGHGUARD award program. The crash test was performed in late December: A 2014 Honda Accord crashed into the rear impact guard of a Stoughton trailer at 40 mph at a dangerous angle—and the impact guard successfully absorbed the collision energy and helped protect the driver.

Trailer manufacturer Hyundai Translead is bringing manufacturing to the U.S.

Hyundai Translead announced that it is investing over $450 million dollars to establish two trailer manufacturing facilities in Illinois.

In the storied Motive-Samsara legal battle, Samsara recently won $30 million

Truck fleet technology companies Samsara and Motive have been exchanging blows in legal disputes for years. In the latest development, Samsara recently won $30.3 million from a complaint against Motive. A federal arbitrator made a sealed decision that required Motive to pay damages relating to its 2023 study, which was conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

The Motive-funded study compared Motive’s product to others on the market, including Samsara. Samsara filed a complaint in early 2024, alleging breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition, false advertising, and more.

In fuel this week, diesel prices shot up 21 cents and continue to rise

The national average on-highway diesel price surpassed $5 dollars and 7 cents per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Administration (EIA). Diesel reached over $5 dollars for the first time since 2022. The Iran war continues to impact oil distribution with no clear resolution in sight.