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Without a doubt, 2018 was a banner year for trucking and almost every other form of freight transportation. Business investment took off, hiring picked up and freight volume soared with both domestic and international shipments sharing in the bounty.

BILLINGS, Mont. — President Donald Trump’s administration miscalculated the potential benefits of putting better brakes on trains that haul explosive fuels when it scrapped an Obama-era rule over cost concerns, The Associated Press has found. A government analysis used to justify the cancellation omitted up to $117 million in estimated future damages from train derailments that could be avoided by using electronic brakes.

A deeper dive into trucking data showed a big year for the industry across three specific sectors, particularly after July. The numbers also portend glad tidings for 2019.

Autonomous vehicle pioneer Anthony Levandowski has formed a new software company called Pronto. Its first aftermarket product, Copilot, provides camera-based self-driving technology for the Class 8 market.

Marangoni Tread North America, a full-service retread products supplier, announced it had begun expanding its tread manufacturing plant in Tennessee.

Daimler Trucks North America on Dec. 20 delivered to Penske Truck Leasing the first in a series of electric trucks Penske plans to deploy in California and the Pacific Northwest.

On our Dec. 19 LiveOnWeb program, we were “Plugging Into an Electric Future” as we assessed the rapid escalation of development and deployment of electric vehicle technology.

Sales of medium-duty trucks in November barely budged from a year earlier, rising just 1.4% and boosted primarily by a modest gain in the lighter classes, WardsAuto.com reported.

Because taxes went down, almost everything else that drives the trucking industry went up in 2018. Look back at a newsy year for the industry.