������ý

FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs speaks at CES 2026 in Las Vegas this month. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)

WASHINGTON — Innovation and research are the key tenets of a strategy that can help promote safety and efficiency throughout freight corridors, the country’s top trucking regulator said at an industry conference.

“The public must believe that new technologies and new approaches are safe or safer than what they have today. Research is how we earn that trust,” said Derek Barrs, the recently confirmed administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, during a Jan. 12 address at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting.

From automation linked to vehicle-to-everything formats to data-driven telematics, the Department of Transportation’s research portfolio is helping to guide a wide-ranging safety platform, Barrs said.

“FMCSA’s approach is grounded in a simple principle: Safety and innovation are not opposites,” he said. “Innovation can enhance safety, improve efficiency and strengthen public trust. That trust is essential in all that we do.”

Coordination with state and local stakeholders, as well as industry leaders and academia, will continue to enable the agency’s forward-looking safety agenda. Safety improvements derived from consistent research can pave the way for more parking availability for the nation’s truck drivers as well as ensuring the workforce operates on a more efficient supply chain, the administrator said. Barrs also pointed to ongoing efforts, in collaboration with agencies throughout the federal government, to amplify the use of existing technologies.

How is the advancing safety, automation, & American leadership in emerging technologies? Join this morning for a moderated discussion with USDOT leaders on research, innovation, & policy priorities shaping the future of transportation. — TRB (@NASEMTRB)

Promoting efficiency in the movement of freight is also atop FMCSA’s priorities. Last month, the agency announced changes to the vetting process for electronic logging devices, or ELDs, used by commercial drivers. Doing so, the agency explained, would further ensure noncompliant devices are blocked from FMCSA’s registered ELD list.

“American families deserve to feel safe sharing a road with semi-trucks, and we want truck drivers to have the best tools to maximize those safety precautions,” Barrs said in December. “By strengthening our review process for ELDs, we are ensuring the industry can rely on trusted equipment and that hardworking drivers are prioritizing their health and well-being, so they are best prepared to keep driving America’s economy forward.”

FMCSA also is working to help trucking tackle the growing problem of cargo theft, specifically through technological applications that hold potential for delivering results. “We have to combat this and research, and that knowledge is needed for us to be able to move forward,” Barrs told the TRB audience.

House lawmakers recently scheduled consideration of the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, known as CORCA, a bipartisan measure that would establish a multi-agency division tasked with fighting sprawling global cargo theft rings. The bill would establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center at the Department of ������ýland Security.

American Trucking Associations is among the industry groups sounding the alarm about cargo theft. ATA President Chris Spear, speaking with federal lawmakers in December, noted that vast volumes of freight are being stolen via electronic means and redirected.

“A lot of it is being shipped out of the country,” Spear told members of Congress. “This goes way beyond hit-and-run type of theft — straight theft — that we’ve seen in over 100 years with trucks. This is a very complex, digitally driven renaissance.”

According to an American Transportation Research Institute report, cargo theft costs the freight industry $18 million each day in direct and indirect losses, with 74% of stolen goods disappearing forever. ATRI’s report also found that cargo theft costs motor carriers between $1.83 billion and $6.56 billion annually in direct and indirect costs.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) introduced the bill earlier this year. “These criminal organizations are not only harming small businesses and retailers in our communities, but are also putting American consumers at risk of violence and fraud,” Joyce said in April. “These crimes also have more widespread consequences for public safety, as these organized groups often resell stolen goods to finance other illicit activities, including drug and human trafficking operations.”

The 105th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, scheduled for Jan. 11-15, features thousands of local, state and federal policymakers, regulators, administrators, researchers, industry representatives and academics at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.