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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.

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.

U.S. truck makers, new startups and independent engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. have helped generate the early buzz on electrified trucks, cleaner emissions and less reliance on diesel fuel. Now, that buzz is generating buzz.

For all of the hysteria pundits have heaped on Washington in recent weeks, the current state of affairs really isn't abnormal. Here's a look ahead to the week for trucking on Capitol Hill.

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.

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.

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.

While asset-tracking devices are finding increased adoption with intermodal container fleets, uptake for that venerable old workhorse of the intermodal supply chain — the chassis — faces different challenges.

While intermodal may be playing catch-up in the real-time freight visibility race, the consensus among industry watchers is that the gap is closing — fast. You can thank the Internet of Things revolution and the emergence of “in the cloud” software and database platforms.