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Don’t worry, you haven’t fallen, but the turnip truck is about to start driving itself.

WASHINGTON — Congress needs to ensure autonomous vehicle technology operates under a national directive instead of a patchwork of guidelines from the states, a key House authorizer said Sept. 13.

Equipping the country’s freight and commercial trains with technology designed to automatically slow down or stop trains traveling at dangerous speeds would improve safety, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board told Congress Sept. 13.

Diesel fuel still has a large role to play in achieving greater emissions reductions in heavy-duty trucks, experts said during a recent conference in San Francisco. Separately, they urged more in-use testing of engines to verify the gains, and increased use of renewable diesel, which is chemically similar to petroleum diesel, but cleaner.

In written comments reacting to potential changes to federal driver hours-of-service rules, truckers clearly favor a potential plan by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to give them more flexibility with their driving and workday hours.

More than one of every five trucks that received comprehensive Level I inspections during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s International Roadcheck this summer were taken out of service, CVSA reported on Sept. 12. CVSA said that the out-of-service rate for the 45,400 Level I inspections was 21.6%, a decrease from last year’s 23% rate.

As billions go into building driverless everything — from cars to buses and airplanes — France is taking a cheaper shortcut to autonomous transport.

Self-driving cars virtually have made every mistake imaginable inside the office of Applied Intuition. But that's a good thing, according to the autonomous technology company.