On Sunday, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released the findings of their annual survey, Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry – 2025. This survey, which highlights the top issues affecting the trucking industry and possible solutions, provides key insight from drivers, motor carriers, trade associates, truck driver groups, and associations. ATRI collected answers from September 2 to October 10 of this year, providing this survey with the most recent industry concerns.
1. Economy
Respondents overall ranked the economy as the primary concern. This makes sense with changes in US trade such as tariffs on trucks and materials transported by truck. With more companies filing for bankruptcy and concerns around a freight recession, the main strategies respondents suggested focused on understanding the underlying issues affecting the economy and the impact trade rules may have on the supply chain.
2. Lawsuit Abuse Reform
Lawsuits against motor carriers have been a high-ranking issue in this survey since 2020. This issue has prompted a response from lawmakers, including a proposed law to make it a federal crime to stage a crash with a commercial vehicle. Other strategies include limiting the amount of money paid to plaintiffs and increasing transparency of third-party influence in legal proceedings.
3. Insurance Cost/Availability
Insurance premiums have increased in recent years with some experts in the industry blaming the financial impact of lawsuits. As a result, motor carriers have reported concerns around having and maintaining adequate insurance. To address this issue, respondents suggested reducing insurance premiums for drivers and carriers that adopt safety enhancing technology and researching trends in carrier safety management.
4. Truck Parking
Although the US Department of Transportation has been in the process of making more parking for trucks throughout the country, accessing safe and reliable parking is still a major issue. The most popular strategies focused on the federal government funding parking expansion and state and local governments reducing regulations that limit building or expanding parking facilities.
5. Driver Compensation
ATRI found that driver compensation has not kept up with inflation. This has had a serious impact on driver retention. The top strategy suggested to address this issue is to quantify the economic impact of paying drivers for all hours worked, including detention time and congestion delays.
6. Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA)
This issue is with the way the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) assesses safety. While the FMCSA intends to update the CSA to address industry concerns, including weighing scores to prioritize more recent violations, there has been no set date for when those changes would be implemented. As a result of that uncertainty, the impact of CSA is still an issue. A major way respondents seek to address this issue is through working with the FMCSA and state and local enforcement to make sure all parties are in alignment with how the CSA is intended to function.
7. English Language Proficiency
This issue was added to this year's list of issues as a result of several write-in responses to the 2024 survey. With the Trump administration's executive order earlier this year meant to enforce English language proficiency, and actions from the USDOT, the discussion around English Language Proficiency has become a contentious issue in the trucking industry. Though the enforcement of English Language Proficiency is stated to address safety issues, there is still ongoing analysis of the correlation between ELP violations and crash involvement. A majority of respondents to the survey suggest addressing the English proficiency before a Commercial Driver's license is issued, rather than testing active CDL holders during inspections.
8. Diesel Emissions Regulations
Environmental standards and what those would mean for the trucking industry have made the list of issues in previous years, but regulations around diesel emissions are new this year. This is in part because of a new regulation, the heavy-duty Nox rule, set to take effect with trucks after model year 2027. Concerns are largely around the cost of compliance and the strategies suggested center on the costs and benefits of emission controls.
9. Driver Training Standards
Concerns about new drivers seemed to push this issue into the top-ten ranking. Proposed strategies seek to address a lack of consistency with driver training schools, entry-level training regulations, and a push for FMCSA to audit its Training Provider Registry to make sure that training providers are meeting basic standards.
10. AI in Trucking
Number ten on the list is in response to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in the trucking industry. There are concerns about AI's role in automation and what that could mean for job security. Concerns around AI also include the potential for fraud and theft. Suggested strategies to address the influence of AI in the industry include researching the use of AI and its impacts, providing proper guidelines for AI usage, and encouraging pre-emptive legislation to give appropriate guidelines and restrictions for AI usage.
Differences Between Drivers and Motor Carriers
It should be mentioned that drivers and motor carriers ranked their concerns differently overall. Driver compensation was the #1 issue for drivers while the economy was the #1 issue for carriers.
As the table shows, this signifies a divergence in priorities between drivers and motor carriers. The data suggests that motor carriers are primarily focused on external, high-level threats to business viability. Their top concerns, like the economy, lawsuit abuse, and insurance pricing, represent unpredictable costs or risks that can affect their entire operation.
In contrast, professional drivers' concerns are more focused on the daily quality and long-term security of the profession. Their top issues, such as driver compensation, truck parking, and emerging issues like AI in trucking relate directly to their personal safety, daily earnings, and the future value of their skills.
The issues above may be voiced differently between drivers and carriers, but they are speaking to connected problems within the industry. ATRI's survey highlights a need to find solutions collaboratively.
What do you think? Would you rank any of these concerns differently? Are there other more important issues that concern you? Let us know in the comments or contact us to discuss.