Top 3 Trucking News Today: A 77-Cent Diesel Price Gap, FMCSA’s Plan to End ELD Self-Certification and September Trucking Jobs (October 4, 2026)

This weekend’s stories are about control: over what you pay for fuel, over which logging devices can be trusted, and over how many trucks and drivers a fleet keeps on the road. A telematics company puts a number on how much diesel prices differ from one station to the next, FMCSA confirms it is rewriting the rules for ELD approval, and fresh September data gives a read on trucking employment, turnover and pay.

1. Diesel Can Differ by 77 Cents in the Same Town as Geotab Launches a Fleet Fuel Card

Telematics provider Geotab launched a fleet fuel card on October 1 in partnership with payments company AtoB, FreightWaves reports. The pitch rests on Geotab’s own data: diesel prices can differ by as much as 77 cents a gallon between stations in the same town, which works out to roughly $58 on a 75-gallon fill. The company also says fleets with fewer than 100 vehicles choose the lower-priced option only 17% of the time, and it estimates potential savings of about $4,700 per truck per year, based on 200 fill-ups.

The card ties fuel purchases to vehicle location data and includes a fraud guarantee of up to $250,000 for eligible accounts. It joins similar products released this year, including WEX’s SecureFuel in July and Samsara’s Fuel Command Center in August. The backdrop is a national diesel average of $6.382 a gallon for the week ending September 28, about 70% higher than a year earlier.

Why it matters: The savings figures are a vendor’s estimates, and actual results depend on lanes, discounts and how far out of route a cheaper station sits. Still, the main point holds without buying anything: at today’s prices, where you fuel can matter as much as how much you burn. Owner-operators and dispatchers can compare prices along the route before the tank gets low, weigh any detour miles against the savings, and check that a card’s fees do not cancel out the discount.

2. FMCSA Says It Is Writing a Rule to End ELD Self-Certification

FMCSA Deputy Administrator Jesse Elison said the agency is working on a new rule to end the system that lets electronic logging device makers certify their own products as meeting federal technical standards. Speaking at the National Motor Freight Traffic Association’s cybersecurity conference, he called ELDs a vulnerability for the industry and said he has never heard anyone argue that self-certification has worked, according to Truck News and Transport Topics. We covered his comments on the Motus registration system from the same event on October 2; the ELD plan is the new piece.

Elison gave no timeline, though he described the effort as one of Administrator Derek Barrs’ top priorities. In the meantime the agency has tightened vetting: since early 2025, nearly 100 devices have been removed from the registry and only one or two new providers have been approved. He also said the difficult part is designing a replacement process that works for the industry.

Why it matters: If a device is revoked, carriers using it have to switch to a compliant one, which costs money and time. A stricter approval process should make it harder for tampered logs to compete with honest ones, but it could also mean fewer providers and higher prices. For now, check that your ELD still appears on FMCSA’s registered list, ask your provider how it would handle a new certification requirement, and avoid long contracts with vendors that cannot answer.

3. September Data: Trucking Payrolls Edge Up, Driver Turnover Falls

Federal data released October 2 put truck transportation employment at 1,473,100 in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 0.2% from August and 0.1% from a year earlier. The wider picture is less firm: unemployment across the transportation sector was 4.7%, not seasonally adjusted, compared with 4.3% in September 2025 and above the 4.0% national rate.

Payroll data from Superior Trucking Payroll Service points the same way for its sample of fleets. Its fleet growth index rose 0.19% in September, a third straight monthly gain but a much smaller one than August’s 1.63%. Monthly driver turnover fell to 8.15% from 9.37% in August and 15.06% a year ago. Its driver pay index slipped to 154.13 from 158.08, yet remains 16.61% higher than last September.

Why it matters: Capacity is not rushing back. Fleets are adding trucks slowly, drivers are staying put more than a year ago, and pay is well above 2025 levels even after cooling from its June peak. For shippers and brokers, that suggests capacity stays tight heading into the holiday season. For carriers, holding on to drivers is cheaper than replacing them, and pay offers should be measured against a market that has moved up over the past year.

The Bottom Line

Fuel remains the largest swing cost, and more companies are selling tools to manage it. Regulators are moving toward tougher ELD approval without a date yet. Employment data shows a cautious industry rather than a growing one. Watch Monday’s weekly diesel average, any formal FMCSA notice on ELD certification, and whether October hiring holds.

Neal’s Take

What I take from today’s stories is that small, steady decisions matter more than big moves right now. A fuel card can help, but the numbers are the vendor’s own estimates, so I would compare prices on my own lanes first and count the fees before signing up. On ELDs, a stronger approval process should support carriers that log honestly, and it may also bring cost and disruption for fleets on devices that do not make the cut, so I see both sides and would confirm my device’s registry status now. The jobs and turnover numbers tell me fleets are careful, which seems reasonable with diesel where it is. In practice, I would watch Monday’s diesel figure, keep an eye out for FMCSA’s ELD proposal, and focus on keeping the good drivers I already have.

— Neal Cvetkovski, Founder of LOAD TIDE. Personal opinion, not legal or financial advice.

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Sources: FreightWaves, EIA, Truck News, Transport Topics, AJOT, Superior Trucking Payroll Service