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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released the results of a study led by the American Transportation Research Institute that quantifies the potential return on investment offered by three types of onboard truck safety systems.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week took the first step toward creating a national cap-and-trade system, proposing a new rule that would establish a federal system for reporting carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases produced by large stationary and mobile sources.

The Environmental Protection Agency will require onboard diagnostics systems on at least one engine family per manufacturer starting in 2010.

Your story on the demise of RigMaster comes as no surprise in a sector of the truck market that has seen a drastic downturn of new business, mostly exacerbated by tightening of credit markets (2-9, p. 4).

PeopleNet, Chaska, Minn., said Feb. 24 it launched its tethered trailer-tracking system, known as Trailer ID.

Mobile communications provider Xata Corp., Minneapolis, said Feb. 24 it had integrated ALK Technologies’ CoPilot Truck navigation system into its Xatanet and MobileMax software.

Transportation technology firm TransCore said Monday that it has launched a customer support and information Web site catered to trucking companies using Class 8 trucks.

The number of Class 8 trucks operating in the United States increased by 60,000 at the end of the fourth quarter from a year earlier, reversing the first-ever decline of 17,000 that research firm R.L. Polk & Co. reported at the end of the third quarter.

As the needs of trucking companies become more specialized, so do the tires they are running. Over the past decade, available tire options have increased, meaning fleets can choose the tires best suited for their specific applications.

President Obama called on Congress to approve legislation creating a cap-and-trade system aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Obama spoke on Feb. 24 to Congress in a joint session and invited spectators, who included the chairman of American Trucking Associations.