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The benefits

By leveraging AI, fleets can:

• Reduce the administrative burden through automation.
• Accelerate onboarding by minimizing manual data entry.
• Improve accuracy by eliminating human error in document review.
• Enhance compliance and safety behavior monitoring with real-time alerts for expiring certifications, missing documents, or elevated safety risk.

Specific AI applications include:

• Machine learning automation of document verification, license checks, and other repetitive tasks;
• Chatbots to guide drivers through onboarding and document preparation with increased engagement and minimal confusion; and
• Predictive analytics to target high-risk drivers from camera-detected unsafe driving patterns and incident history.

Maintaining company safety standards is just as critical to driver retention as compliant DQ files. Even with the vast amount of data from cameras and vehicle telematics, AI can quickly identify the drivers who need interventions to avoid future crashes and violations.

Preparatory actions

Before deploying AI, companies should take several preparatory steps:

Data quality assessment: AI systems rely on accurate data. Ensure all driver records, compliance documents, and historical data are digitized and standardized. Consider transitioning to an online fleet management system (FMS) ahead of using AI.

Regulatory alignment: Confirm how AI tools will help maintain compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations and privacy laws.

Stakeholder training: Educate human resources teams, safety managers, and operations on how AI will integrate into workflows.

Vendor evaluation: Choose AI solutions with proven success in transportation organizations, robust security features, and transparent algorithms. Where possible, avoid using multiple AI vendors’ offerings where one cohesive product could be more efficient. Where possible, integrate AI with the FMS and current workflows, instead of using AI as standalone software with one more login to remember.

Pilot testing: Start with a small-scale implementation on a narrow DQ file task or driver safety performance area to identify gaps and refine processes before full deployment.

Watchouts

While AI tools offer significant benefits, there are critical considerations:

Bias and fairness: AI models trained on incomplete or biased data can lead to discriminatory outcomes. Regular audits in this area are essential.

Over-reliance on automation: Automated systems may incorrectly flag drivers as non-compliant or miss issues. AI should assist, not replace, compliance experts. Promoted as a decision-support tool without the intention of replacing decision-makers, can help build trust and reduce concerns about an "AI takeover."

Data privacy risks: Sensitive driver information must be protected with strong encryption and access controls. Adhere to biometric information privacy laws where digital fingerprints, iris scans, voice recognition, or other biometrics are in use.

Regulatory changes: AI systems must adapt ahead of and be ready for FMCSA and state-specific requirement changes. Use experts to ensure regulatory changes are incorporated by the effective dates of changes to avoid costly penalties.

Keys to remember: Success using AI to ensure only qualified drivers work for a carrier depends on careful planning, data accuracy, and ongoing subject matter expert oversight. By addressing these prerequisites and watchouts, fleets can harness AI responsibly to build safer, more efficient operations.

Plates in sync

If 2025 was a great year for your safety objectives, congratulations. It’s no easy feat. It might be a good time to see what contributed to this accomplishment. In other words, take a step back and look at how you got there and ask whether these activities will generate the same results in 2026. There are always areas to improve upon and issues that will surface that didn’t exist prior.

One caution: Guard against complacency. You may have all the plates spinning now, but can you keep up the momentum? Do you need to adjust which plate(s) you’re spinning, change the number of plates, and/or ask for assistance? Can your metrics tell you which plate needs your immediate attention, and can you predict the one after that?

Moving on from 2025

Maybe 2025 wasn’t your company’s best year for safety. Don’t let that discourage you. There’s a lot to keep track of.

Take your safety experiences from 2025 to figure out what worked or didn’t work. Safety improvement models stress identifying a deficiency, applying a solution, and then measuring whether the issue was corrected. If the plate falls again, you know your solution wasn’t the root cause. Try again until the plate is stabilized. Once the violation or risk is diminished, move on to the next wobbly plate.

Focus: ELD applications

While the agency calls the change a “complete overhaul of the [ELD] vetting process,” it remains focused solely on verifying the accuracy and completeness of ELD provider applications. It falls short of implementing a third-party certification system like Canada’s, which many experts believe would provide a more robust guarantee of ongoing compliance and device integrity.

The new process comes in a year when the FMCSA has revoked 30 ELDs so far, surpassing last year’s total of 21 and nearly doubling the number revoked in 2023. ELDs are typically revoked with no warning, leaving users scrambling to replace them before a 60-day deadline.

The vetting process

Loopholes in the previous vetting process allowed ELD providers to register non-compliant devices, or even re-register devices that had been revoked. The FMCSA’s new process introduces a multi-layered review, including:

• Initial review: Verification of contact information, technical specs, and device images.
• Fraud detection: Cross-checking applications against active, inactive, revoked, and in-process lists.
• Categorization: Applications are sorted into four categories based on their degree of compliance and documentation, as they advance to the approved stage.

What it means — and doesn’t mean — for carriers

The new vetting process aims to block fraudulent or non-compliant devices before they ever reach the FMCSA’s Registered ELD list. This may reduce — but not eliminate — the risk of sudden device revocations and the scramble to replace them.

However, the enhanced vetting process does not mean motor carriers can sit back and assume all devices on the Registered ELD List are fully compliant or immune to future issues. While the FMCSA’s new process is more rigorous, it is not a guarantee of ongoing compliance or performance.

Carriers still bear responsibility for due diligence — selecting ELDs from trusted providers with a proven track record of regulatory compliance and industry support. By partnering with reputable vendors, carriers can better protect themselves from unexpected disruptions and ensure their operations remain in line with federal requirements.

The bottom line

For motor carriers and drivers, the FMCSA’s new ELD vetting process means fewer compliance headaches, less risk of sudden device removals, and a more trustworthy ELD marketplace. However, the lack of third-party certification means carriers must still do their homework when selecting an ELD provider.

Key to remember: The FMCSA has announced a new ELD vetting process that promises to prevent non-compliant devices from reaching the Registered ELD list.