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The future of rail transportation literally may be up in the air. Entrepreneurs and engineers from around the world have proposed radical concepts for hauling freight and passengers, including a multistory flying train, a supersized blimp and super-high-speed trains.

Daimler AG is developing an autonomous electric vehicle that can toggle between a people carrier and a delivery van as the German manufacturer seeks an edge over rivals such as Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and Deutsche Post AG in shaping the future of mobility.

HOUSTON — Trimble has acquired some of the biggest names in the trucking technology sector over the past several years. Now the global technology firm is taking steps to more closely unite those businesses, including PeopleNet, TMW Systems, ALK Technologies and 10-4 Systems, to provide an end-to-end platform under the Trimble brand.

Bryan Berg drives a semi with a 13-speed transmission, and he’s been double-clutching and shifting gears in his rig for 30 years. He’s not about to start driving a truck that shifts automatically.

The fledgling world of AI hedge funds is claiming one of its first casualties.

The turmoil at Tesla Inc. reached a fever pitch, as the news that two senior executives are leaving Elon Musk’s electric-car maker emerged just hours after he smoked marijuana during an hours-long interview streamed live online.

With $40 million in new investments announced Sept. 6, Chicago-based e-commerce logistics company ShipBob is eyeing an expansion — starting with a new fulfillment warehouse in Cicero and a push to hire 100 people in the next year.

WASHINGTON — The small role Congress currently plays in policy for autonomous vehicle technology could eventually slow, or impede, progress for states and firms testing such systems, a key House transportation authorizer warned on Sept. 5.

Florida posted the biggest surge among states in the use of heavy-duty trucks with clean diesel engines in 2017, notching an 81% jump compared with a year earlier, according to data from IHS Markit. This increase came as fleet confidence in the technology took hold and more freight-hauling opportunities opened up in the nation’s fourth-largest state economy, other experts said.

An “incursion” nine months ago that shut down the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners still is causing delays in registering new examiners and backlogs for medical examiners to upload truck driver examinations, officials said.