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The Federal Highway Administration has divided $15.5 million between six states that are exploring alternative ways to fund highway and bridge projects.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent series of state-level grants will not only improve driver safety, but will also expedite the process of obtaining a commercial driver license, according to Tom Keane, director of the agency’s Office of Safety Programs.

While advancements in autonomous — or self-driving — cars get much of the attention, development of self-driving commercial vehicles is speeding forward.

While many trucking stakeholders have said for years that they support the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program in concept, not all are convinced that the recommendations of an elite academic panel of the National Academy of Sciences will plug all the holes in the program.

As efforts to renegotiate terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement shift from Ottawa to Washington, two trucking industry groups and the Teamsters union are taking aim at a provision in the current agreement that allows trucks from Mexico to operate in the United States.

The idea of highways being filled with self-driving cars may be alluring, but it has highway safety experts raising numerous questions about common contemporary issues like drunk driving, seat belt use and how other motorists might react to a car without a driver behind the wheel.

Guardrail maker Trinity Industries Inc. won’t have to pay a $663 million judgment that was awarded in a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging the company defrauded the U.S. government with a faulty highway guardrail safety system.

As the Obamacare reform debate rages on in full force, U.S. Sen. John Thune doesn’t have his sights set entirely on the headline-stealing topics of health care and tax reform. The always busy South Dakota Republican is also eyeing legislation for the growing autonomous vehicle market, or self-driving cars.