Trucking news and briefs for Monday, March 9, 2026:
TCA names 5 Professional Drivers of the Year
Five truck drivers have been named 2026 TCA Professional Drivers of the Year.TCA
The Truckload Carriers Association has named five truck drivers the organization’s 2026 Professional Drivers of the Year.
Chosen from a competitive group of nominees, the five drivers were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the trucking industry, their unwavering commitment to safety, and their exceptional leadership both on and off the road. Each driver received $20,000 and was greeted with a standing ovation during the awards ceremony.
The 2026 TCA Professional Drivers of the Year are:
- Tommy Cash, CAST Transportation (South Park Motor Lines)
- Nick Barboza, Covenant (CCJ Top 250, No. 36)
- Marcia Luchenbill, Knight Transportation (No. 3)
- Richard Fertig, Smith Transport Inc. (subsidiary of Heartland Express, No. 28)
- Jesus Acevedo-Soto, Swift Transportation (No. 3)
According to TCA, Cash is one of only 32 drivers nationwide entrusted with hauling legacy nuclear waste for the U.S. Department of Energy’s WIPP program. Cash’s career behind the wheel spans more than four decades. Since starting in 1983, he has logged an estimated 3.675 million miles, hauling everything from fuel and milk to flatbed and refrigerated freight. Over 43 years, his commitment to safety has remained unmatched, a standard he holds himself to with pride.
For 27 years with Covenant Logistics, Barboza has built one of the company’s strongest safety records, driving more than 3.5 million miles and earning membership in Covenant’s elite 120 Club – the equivalent of circling the globe 120 times without a preventable accident. He achieved it while serving as a trainer, guiding new drivers through their earliest and most vulnerable days on the road.
With nearly 650,000 career miles, and over 193,000 accident-free miles in the past two years, Luchenbill is widely regarded as one of the most reliable and safety-minded drivers in her fleet. She consistently qualifies for Knight’s safety bonus and demonstrates disciplined decision-making, particularly on demanding routes with dense traffic. As an Army veteran, Luchenbill’s professionalism earned her selection as a Knight Fleet of Heroes driver, one of the company’s highest honors.
Smith Transport driver Fertig doesn’t describe himself as extraordinary – he’ll tell you he’s just “doing his job.” But after decades behind the wheel, over 3 million safe miles, and a reputation that stretches from dispatch offices to loading docks across the country, the trucking industry sees something more: a professional who embodies the very best of what it means to be a driver. A 23-year Army veteran, Fertig has built a career defined by safety, reliability, and quiet leadership.
Acevedo-Soto, nicknamed “Avocado” as a playful twist on his last name, became Swift’s youngest Million Mile Driver at age 28, an extraordinary milestone that earned him a custom avocado-themed truck. He is also a multi-time Diamond Driver, a distinction achieved by maintaining elite safety, fuel efficiency, and mileage standards for 36 consecutive months.
Nominations for the 2027 TCA Professional Drivers of the Year will open this fall.
PlusAI targets 2027 for commercial autonomous trucks launch
PlusAI on March 5 announced the release of SuperDrive 6.0, the latest version of its autonomous driving software engineered for commercial-scale deployment.
With the new release, the company said it moves closer to its planned fully driverless commercial operations launch using factory-built autonomous trucks in 2027.
The new release introduces crucial capabilities for commercial freight operations, including night driving and construction zone handling. By boosting the speed of its AI model training by 10 times, SuperDrive 6.0 also enables rapid feature deployment and validation.
The new update was built on over 7 million miles of real-world driving across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, PlusAI added.
“SuperDrive 6.0 isn’t an incremental update; it’s a major advancement of what an autonomous ‘brain’ can do,” said David Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of PlusAI. “By adding night driving and construction zone handling, autonomous trucks with SuperDrive could achieve 24/7 commercial operations. By doubling our predictive accuracy and supercharging our AI development pipeline, we have the potential to accelerate our development and expand our operating environment faster. From internal validation of a major feature to its deployment into commercial freight operations can take just weeks.”
Autonomous trucks integrated with SuperDrive 6.0 are already moving commercial freight in Texas, the company noted. In addition to overall performance boost, the construction zone handling capability on SuperDrive 6.0 is active, and PlusAI expects to release night driving in the coming weeks for 24/7 commercial freight operation on customer routes.
Wyoming sets $1K fine, expands enforcement for ELP
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon last week signed a bill into law that codifies English language proficiency for truck drivers into state law, establishes fines for ELP violations, and allows any police officer in the state to test for and enforce ELP in the state.
House Bill 32 passed overwhelmingly in both chambers of the Wyoming legislature and was signed into law by the governor on March 5.
Text of the new law prohibits commercial motor vehicle drivers from operating in the Cowboy State if they cannot “demonstrate proficiency in the English language.” Any CMV operators found to be in violation would be fined $1,000 and prohibited from operating a CMV in Wyoming until they can demonstrate proficiency in English.
Violating that prohibition would result in a misdemeanor charge and, if found guilty, result in another fine of $1,000 or 90 days in prison, or both.
Additionally, the law gives authority to “the highway patrol division, any other enforcement officers designated by the department and any peace officer of any county or municipality” -- essentially any police officer in the state -- to enforce provisions of the law and issue citations for violations of it.
