Seth Clevenger

North America's largest motor carriers are focusing much of their technology investments on artificial intelligence to improve back-office efficiency, automate processes and unlock better decision-making.

Prominent for-hire motor carriers generally agree that diesel will remain the trucking industry's predominant fuel well into the future.

2026 Top 100 For-Hire Carriers List Reflects Challenges, but Optimism Ahead UPS retained its No. 1 ranking on Transport Topics' 2026 Top 100 For-Hire Carriers list. (Graham Hughes/Bloomberg News)

Tech vendor enables fleets to build custom AI agents, adds camera views to support drivers

Emerging AI tools can automate processes and draw out insights from data to help improve business performance and profitability, but companies will need to determine how and where they can use them effectively.

American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear has departed the federation, ATA Chairman Greg Hodgen announced Aug. 21.

Despite those challenges, the companies ranked on the 2026 Transport Topics Top 100 Private Carriers list have continued to demonstrate the value of their in-house truck fleets, particularly as for-hire freight rates rebound from a prolonged downcycle.

The companies have introduced a software integration connecting Augment's AI assistant, named Augie, with McLeod's PowerBroker transportation management system to help freight brokers cover loads faster and free workers from repetitive communications tasks.

The technology vendor's new Trimble Arc Agent connects with its existing transportation management systems as well as third-party applications to extract, validate and process information, including unstructured sources such as emails, PDFs and spreadsheets.