Trucking news and briefs for Monday, March 17, 2025:
Kenworth adds ADAS options to T680
Kenworth recently announced three packages of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) options and Bendix features available for Kenworth T680s. Kenworth will now offer three ADAS packages for the T680: ADAS, ADAS Pro, and ADAS Premier.
All ADAS packages include the latest version of the Bendix Fusion system, which offers updated Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with ACC Stop and Auto Go, a new Pedestrian Autonomous Emergency Braking (PAEB) feature, and High Beam Assist.
These features are all supported by a new forward-looking camera. The new High Beam Assist feature automatically deactivates high beams based on conditions.
Along with these new features, the Bendix Fusion system includes previously available technologies such as Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Multi-Lane Autonomous Emergency Braking, Highway Departure Braking (HDB), and Stationary Vehicle Braking (SVB), Lane Departure Warning, and Bendix Blindspotter Side Object Detection.
In addition to the Bendix Fusion system, all ADAS packages include Tire Pressure Monitoring, which provides real-time information about tire health and can alert drivers to potential issues.
ADAS Pro and ADAS Premier include Lane Keeping Assist, which helps to keep the truck and trailer in its lane, as well as Torque Assisted Steering, which helps to improve the driving experience by reducing the effort needed to turn the steering wheel.
ADAS Premier includes everything from ADAS Pro, as well as Kenworth’s DigitalVision Mirrors.
“Driver assistance systems contribute in helping to reduce driver fatigue and enhancing the ease of operating commercial trucks," said Kevin Haygood, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing. "These new ADAS offerings will give our T680 customers more options to select features that support safe driving practices and also enhance the overall driving experience.”
Former truck driver pleads guilty to fraudulently obtaining government benefits
A former truck driver pleaded guilty on Feb. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut to charges of fraud related to a scheme to obtain Social Security, unemployment and food stamp benefits.
According to the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, Ricardo Santiago, between 2002 and 2024, held jobs with more than 20 employers and earned more than $500,000 in income, including from work as a truck driver with a CDL for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration-regulated companies.
OIG reported that Santiago concealed this income from federal and state government agencies by providing employers false identification, including a Social Security number (SSN) and card belonging to another individual, and a false Social Security card.
Beginning in 2002, Santiago collected over $316,000 in Retirement Survivors Disability Insurance benefits by falsely representing that he was unable to work due to disability. Santiago also made over $18,000 in purchases using food stamps he received by falsely claiming that he earned no income from employment beginning in 2017.
In addition, from April 2020 to February 2021, Santiago received over $36,000 in unemployment insurance benefits by using an SSN belonging to another individual and claiming that he was unemployed but available for work and physically able to work.
DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with Social Security Administration-OIG, Department of Labor-OIG, and U.S. Department of Agriculture-OIG.
Moving company employees sentenced for fraud scheme
An employee of various New York-based moving companies was sentenced to time in prison and co-conspirators were ordered to pay restitution for their roles in a household goods moving fraud scheme.
On February 19, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York sentenced Kristy Mak to two years in prison, one year of supervised release, a $30,000 forfeiture, and a $100 special assessment.
On December 11, 2023, a jury convicted Mak and co-conspirator Andre Prince, both former employees of various moving companies, including Brooklyn-based Great Movers, Inc., of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent moving company scheme.
Between at least January 2017 and August 2020, the defendants worked for multiple moving companies that operated under various names, including Great Moving USA, Green Movers, and New City Moves. Mak, a customer service representative for the companies, and Prince, a member of the sales team and supervised by Mak, lured customers to these movers by posting fake reviews online and directing sales associates to low-ball the costs of moving household goods.
After customers signed a contract and, in some cases, after movers loaded the customers' belongings onto trucks, the movers would suddenly add new fees. Customers could not reach the sales associates about these additional fees and drivers threatened to hold customers’ goods hostage unless they paid them.
The court ordered defendants Mak, Prince, Kristen Smith and Paula Jones to pay $1,795,950 in restitution, apportioned evenly among their victims.
The investigation into the scheme was conducted by the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
