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ROCKVILLE, Md. — A proposed federal rule that would allow motor carriers to drug test their drivers and prospective employees using hair samples continues to wind its way slowly through the bureaucracy, but could be made public as soon as early next year.

Federal trucking regulators are nearing completion of a formal notice that they plan to delay implementation of the Entry Level Driver Training rule by up to two years after it was set to go into effect on a limited basis Feb. 7.

Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little has issued an executive order that will permit motor carriers to transport hemp through the state that in recent months has been a risky proposition for truck drivers.

A 2018 fatal pedestrian crash involving an Uber Technologies Inc. automated vehicle in Arizona indicates that the challenges of self-driving vehicle operations have not yet been solved, and underscores a lack of sufficient federal and state oversight of developmental automated vehicle testing, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Nov. 19 hearing in Washington.

The Federal Highway Administration has issued a proposed rule to improve oversight of U.S. bridge inspections by incorporating a risk-based approach and encouraging the use of such technological advancements as unmanned aerial systems and sonar.

The California Trucking Association has amended its 2018 independent contractor federal lawsuit to challenge a new state labor law that the association claims would prevent thousands of motor carriers from contracting with owner-operators.

About 13.5% of commercial motor vehicles inspected in the U.S. and Canada during 2019 Brake Safety Week in September were removed from roadways for brake-related violations, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced Nov. 12.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s information systems and the sensitive data they contain are “not effective” in all critical “maturity levels,” according to a new audit issued by the DOT Office of the Inspector General.

Federal indictments unsealed last month in Utah allege that 10 individuals participated in a decadelong scheme to pay a senior FedEx Ground manager in the state $1 million in bribes to steer business to trucking companies complicit in the plan, netting the companies hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent and unauthorized contracts.

The California Air Resources Board has proposed a regulation requiring that manufacturers sell a set percentage of zero-emissions battery-electric and fuel cell trucks beginning with model year 2024.