Trucking industry analysis
What is changing on the road, and what a brokerage desk should expect.
4 articles
Next Mile Podcast: freight, AI and the road ahead
Next Mile is a SmartLoads podcast about the people, skills and technology moving freight forward. Meet host Miles and start with the first trailer today.
Electric vs. autonomous trucks in 2026: what Tesla, Volvo and Aurora are actually running
Tesla's 2,500-truck electric Semi order, Aurora's driverless big rigs in Texas and Volvo's autonomous plans are different things. Here's what's electric, what's driverless, what's still a promise, and what it means for freight brokers, as of September 2026.
Who loads and unloads a driverless truck? The local jobs autonomous trucking creates
If there's no driver, who loads, unloads, inspects, fuels and hooks up the trailer? Here's who does it today (mostly not the driver), how the transfer-hub model splits the work, and the local jobs it creates, from first and last-mile drivers to terminal operators and inspectors.
Will self-driving trucks replace truck drivers? A 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20-year outlook
How many U.S. truck driving jobs autonomous trucks will affect, and when. It covers today's 2.2 million heavy truck drivers, what the U.S. DOT, UC Berkeley and other studies forecast, which driving goes first, which stays human, and our year-by-year read.