Business

DALLAS — Fourteen major trucking fleets operating more than 53,000 tractors and 160,000 trailers achieved almost half a billion in fuel savings last year by adopting a variety of fuel-efficient technologies, according to an annual fleet fuel study released by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency.

WASHINGTON  — Congressional Republican leaders will not consider raising taxes on gas and diesel fuels as a way to back transportation programs in a short-term measure and in a multiyear bill, the chairman of the Senate transportation policy panel told Transport Topics on May 5.

LAS VEGAS — Freightliner unveiled Inspiration, the first legally licensed autonomous-driving truck in the United States on May 5, in a video spectacular splashed on the walls of Hoover Dam.

The next highway funding extension Congress approves should require the tax-writing panels to come up with a plan that ensures long-term funding for highways and transit projects, the Transportation Construction Coalition said May 6.

DALLAS — Frito-Lay North America has reduced its diesel fuel consumption significantly since it began adding natural gas, electric and high-efficiency diesel trucks to its fleet over the past 10 years, a company executive said.

PRINCETON, N.J. — Truck makers’ increasing emphasis on powertrain integration and remote diagnostics will have a heavy influence on the telematics industry in the years ahead, an official at Daimler Trucks North America said.

Michigan voters have overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the state sales tax from 6% to 7% as the key element in a sweeping transportation funding plan now dead.