Arkansas Trucking Association

Electric vehicles registered in Arkansas are up 43% in the first five months of 2022 from the end of 2021, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. And if supply could match demand, that number would likely be even higher, according to DFA spokesman Scott Hardin.

While ‘freight broker’ is currently defined on the FMCSA website as “a person or an entity which arranges for the transportation of property by a motor carrier for compensation; a broker does not transport the property and does not assume responsibility for the property,” the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed late last year requires the FMCSA to issue new guidance on the definition of by Nov. 15, 2022.

FMCSA’s chief technology officer, Pavan Pidugu, is on a mission to revamp the agency’s outdated legacy systems by 2028. Pidugu, who joined FMCSA in 2020 after stints at Walmart and Target, candidly said the system is cumbersome, not user friendly, invites processing errors and is decades behind the fast-moving world of technology.

He has already successfully implemented new user-friendly IT systems to streamline roadside inspections, the motor carrier registration process and the agency’s medical examiners registration website.