Tightening broker liability standards are forcing motor carriers to find new ways to prove their safety records, driving an industry-wide shift toward real-time data and artificial intelligence, industry experts say.
Following a recent Supreme Court ruling that increases pressure on brokers to vet their carrier partners, transportation sectors are facing heightened scrutiny. The shift presents a unique challenge for the vast majority of the market: more than 80% of the nation's 780,000 active motor carriers are unrated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Gary Johnson, Head of Safety and Compliance Strategy at Motive, noted that advanced telematics and AI analytics are becoming "the great equalizer" for smaller fleets. Instead of relying on slow-moving Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scores, smaller operators are leveraging real-time behavioral data to market themselves to risk-conscious brokers.
While utilizing these platforms requires carriers to surrender a degree of privacy, experts argue the transparency is a net positive. Beyond securing premium freight, real-time data monitoring helps fleets manage workforce workflows, reduce insurance premiums, and mitigate liability risks.
Ultimately, Johnson said he expects the pressure to foster a more level playing field where safety and operational efficiency dictate success.
Contents of this video
00:00 10-44 intro
00:53 Vetting Carriers
03:01 Technology Integrations & Proving Safety Records
04:45 The Great Equalizer: Technology & Data
06:01 On-road Performance
09:16 Carrier Level Data & Privacy
Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
Now that brokers are required to do more to ensure that the carriers that they use are safe, how can fleets prove their safety record? Hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm Jason Cannon and my co-host is Matt Cole. Arecea Supreme Court ruling requiring that brokers do a better job vetting their carrier partners was a major deal, but there are other aspects of transportation where that kind of vetting happens every day.
Speaker 3:
Any fleet that rents or leases a truck or trailer is going to have their safety program evaluated by the asset owner and any motor carrier that enters into a partnership with larger motor carrier too is going to be scrutinized. And those layers of scrutiny are a good thing.
Speaker 1:
I worked on the industry side for many, many years and we or I had a team that actually that's exactly what they would do is you want to make sure and vet out who is going to be touching your freight. I mean, because we all knew that there is that potential of liability. So now with that being opened up, it's really no different. We'd always run into the challenges from certain parts of, let's say the brokers or certain parts of those touching the freight being contacted or the pressures. I hate to use pressures, but there's always pressures in the freight movement business. Well, now by adding in that liability component or that puzzle piece, I'm hoping that it will really ease the stresses that are out there. And by easing those stresses, it's really going to open it up by saying, okay, we all have a part of this pie.
The fingers are all in this pie right now. So because of that, it's my opinion that I think we're going to see things flow hopefully a lot easier and a lot better. Being in this industry for 40 years now, my opinion is absolutely. I think I'm with you 100% with you. I think this is a good thing. I think it sort of brings everybody into the same playing field. I think no longer is there a position that, "Hey, how would I know? " And that's where as now as somebody that supports the technology field that there's advantages to this. And I think this is where people have to rely on their technology, taking the technology front no different than what we provide at Motive and the advanced technologies to really help them manage it. And because of that, you're going to see improvements with carriers.
I think they'll be smarter. I think they're going to be better business people because of it. And at the end of the day, they're going to be way safer and that's how you're going to combat some of these liabilities or even these rate increases.
Speaker 2:
So how does a carrier make a case that it is a safe operator, especially if it's one of the 80 plus percent that aren't even rated by FMCSA? Well, that answer lies in technology integrations.
Speaker 1:
Obviously there's a lot of parts to this machine, that being the machine, it's key. And the one thing that I'd say is the reliance on technology is going to be the, obviously I'd say the driving force here, it'd be that engine. And because of that, the data part of this is always going to be the fuel for it. So because of that engine, the fuel and the interaction, it comes down to the technology and the platforms working together to actually provide that consistency. I know we just used the D word data. A lot of people are just going to be all freaked out about, well, geez, how much is data? How much can we consume? But that's the beauty of advanced technology, the AI portion of it today, no different than AI analytics like we have with our solution. I mean, it easily absorbs and it easily then works the data so then that can be partnered or integrated with other systems so that those can identify which carriers can be used.
I mean, what are we at today over 780,000 motor carriers in the United States? Well, you think about that, that's a lot of data. So you need to rely push to be rely on the technology that has a platform approach, that has a true integration that can really work the data to provide it so that the decision can be made on the proper safe carrier to utilize.
Speaker 3:
Gary says that technology and data could wind up being the great equalizer for smaller carriers when it comes to proving their safety history against their larger counterparts.
Speaker 1:
Let's be honest. I mean, there are a ton of great, safe, small carriers out there. A lot of these small carriers are already utilizing the technology approach. So I'll still go back to that driving force here. You are going to need to utilize what you can from a resource standpoint, meaning the data, meaning the technology, making sure that a platform that you're managing and that's where we see a lot of the partnerships with small carriers because they need one platform to actually manage all that aspect of safety, operational maintenance and data. And then utilize that to your advantage. Instead of looking at an investment of technology being a negative, it's a positive because it's really going to help with workflow, your workforce management. It's going to be able to really have you operate as a true coach in a professional athlete team here because you have the ability to really manage that small business.
Speaker 2:
An added bonus is that carriers can generate and influence their data a lot faster than they would ever be able to move their CSA score or their carrier rating. To
Speaker 1:
Be honest, the majority of what we are being used to is sort of that, what I'd say, regulatory front. It's the CSA data. It's obviously the scores, the conditional ratings or the rating system process. But we know that the driving force of all that is your on- road performance. And let's talk about it. You got the great carriers that are in a great standing, but then you also have the carriers that do have some challenges in their on- road performance. And then of course, you got those that are very, very much challenged and we see that in the news all the time. That being the case, I still believe a lot of that regulatory data is going to be the fall on, but let's be honest too, you got insurance process in here, the insurance are doing more on the behavioral side. So you still want to focus on changing your performance by improving your performance.
So that's why it's a bigger picture in my view, especially with this rating, is that you want to be out there. You want to be the person that is a relied to carrier to actually transport this freight. So by being that, you want to always be that athlete, that team that is performing. How do you do that? You go after your behaviors, you go after to improve your scores because that's going to drive eventually. You're right, that's a slow moving ship a lot of times because of the way that is set up, but you still don't ever want to give that up. You want to continue to see that focus because there's always that other aspect to it, the insurance premiums, the risk liability. So you still want to approach it from a, we're going to always want to be better, but you got to be focused on that.
And I do believe that because the smarter approaches will always want to position themselves. So those carriers that want to position themselves as the go- to, they're going to tie in more of this behavioral front, meaning I can prove in other ways, especially with what I have, that I am the safest carrier out of everybody. I think that's where we're eventually going to get to. And I have seen carriers, the successful carriers, the successful owner operators, I've seen them do and take the approach like any others have. And what they do is they take advantage of it. So meaning they take the technology in this case and they position it as, look at, you can track me, you can see that I'm safe out on the highways. They really have marketed even when they're accessing freight venues or freight avenues, that they really take that as your example, as a marketing campaign to say, "Hey, out of the whole pool of 780,000, I am in your top five." And because of that, I've seen those taking that advantage be smarter and they always seem to come out on top with that approach.
Speaker 3:
The trade-off with granting access to carrier level data is the loss of a degree of privacy, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.
Speaker 1:
There's going to be a bigger view to the entire holistic approach to this. And because of that, I think you're going to see the competitiveness of saying that, "Hey, I'm going to open myself up up a little bit more." I always try to look at the positives of anything that comes out or changes in the industry. I think this is one that I believe we'll probably see some doors of those being more transparent through the transparency, but we'll see even the changes of no longer are we going to be running night and day against hours of service to get the freight in so we look good. I think it's going to be, I'm the best carrier because I'm safe, because I operate efficiently, I am well received and respected, and because of that, that comes the transparency. So absolutely. I think the transparency part of this is going to be a key to setting yourself apart from any other carrier out there.
Speaker 2:
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