We’ve all heard adages like “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again," “Nothing ventured, nothing gained," and “Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.”

I have uttered each of these, and I’m sure you have too. Yet with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Motus rollout facing issues, these sayings feel truer now than ever.

FMCSA deserves credit for attempting something the trucking industry has needed for years: modernization of its registration systems. The agency’s new Motus platform is intended to replace a patchwork of aging registration tools with a single, secure portal that allows carriers, brokers, and other regulated entities to manage registrations, operating authority, and compliance obligations through one centralized system. According to FMCSA, Motus was designed to strengthen oversight, improve efficiency, reduce fraud, and provide a more user-friendly experience for industry stakeholders.

Those are worthy goals, and the industry fully supports them. In fact, today’s FMCSA has taken an aggressive and welcome approach to enforcement to remove the negative aspects of our industry, with freight fraud and chameleon carriers squarely in the crosshairs.

Unfortunately, the rollout of Motus shows that a good idea isn’t guaranteed to be successfully executed, a pattern time and again with the Clearinghouse, the Medical Registry, and more.

Our industry has long struggled to introduce new systems designed to improve data accuracy and, in the case of Motus, strengthen identity verification to eliminate fraud; however, the rollout has been far from seamless.

The irony is that Motus was intended to make regulatory compliance easier. From the outset, users have faced challenges such as login issues, insurance filings disappearing or changing, inactive operating authority, or the site simply not working. FMCSA itself acknowledges that users must create individual profiles, complete identity verification, and then establish or claim company accounts before registering.

That may sound straightforward on paper. In practice, many trucking companies operate with limited administrative staff and little time to decipher shifting registration requirements. Every additional step creates another opportunity for confusion, delay, or error.

To FMCSA’s credit, Motus is designed to improve data integrity, reduce duplicate records, and provide better visibility into regulated entities. The agency has also highlighted the need for stronger identity verification to combat fraud, a growing concern across the transportation sector, and no reasonable stakeholder would oppose those objectives.

Fraudulent carrier identities and cargo theft schemes have become increasingly serious threats. The industry needs stronger protections, and federal regulators must safeguard the integrity of the registration process. Motus aims to address those vulnerabilities through modern technology and stronger security controls.

But good security must be balanced with usability.

A successful registration platform should not merely satisfy federal requirements; it should work effectively for the people who depend on it every day. Carriers need clear instructions, responsive customer service, and a transition process that minimizes operational disruption. When users struggle to access accounts, verify identities, or understand a new process, the result is frustration, not modernization.

FMCSA still has time to fix this. The agency is openly acknowledging the system’s shortcomings, listening to the entire industry—carriers, brokers, registration service providers, and industry associations—and working to deliver the system as promised.

Modernization is necessary and long overdue. The ultimate measure of Motus will not be the sophistication of its technology or the strength of its security architecture. It will be whether carriers can complete essential registration tasks efficiently, accurately, and without unnecessary obstacles.

The trucking industry supports modernization but cannot afford anything that makes compliance harder rather than easier. The agency is working overtime to correct this process. While it’s easy to criticize the rollout, we should acknowledge that FMCSA and its staff are working diligently to fix the problems.

For an industry with over two million registered motor carriers and a growing network of supporting organizations, fixes with Motus don’t happen overnight; they require a strategic, step-by-step process that can take a long time.

FMCSA launched Motus with the promise of creating a more efficient and secure registration environment. Refining Motus for a seamless user experience will take time.