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Truck drivers passing through Minnesota who need of a safe place to pull off the road will be getting help from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which last week began installing new technology that will let them know in real time if rest areas still have parking spaces available.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two fleet executives doubt fully autonomous or electric trucks will revolutionize the longhaul truckload industry in the near future, foreseeing instead a gradual evolution for these technologies.

The world’s biggest container shipping line is trying to stop customers like Amazon.com Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. from becoming competitors in just a few years’ time.

Blockchain is one of those concepts people often say they need to get their heads around. So what, exactly, is it?

Complying with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s electronic logging device mandate may create new expenses for new adopters of the technology, but the devices also could generate fuel savings for carriers depending on the type of system they deploy and how they use the data.

Freight contracts, document transfers, food safety, driver security, parts management and asset tracking are among the many elements of the trucking business that could become easier and more secure through new applications built around the shared digital ledger called blockchain.

For many fleets, onboard telematics has become an indispensable tool in the never-ending quest to improve fuel economy.

While the market for automatic tire inflation systems has grown tremendously from its beginnings about 25 years ago, one regulatory factor that was expected to be a boon for adoption is now in limbo.

Systems that monitor tire pressure and automatically add air when needed have been available in trucking for more than 20 years. But the use of these automatic tire inflation systems, or ATIS, has been limited because they have only been able to service the tires on trailers. Now, that’s ­finally changing.