Highway Agency Plans ELD Update After HOS Violations Exposed
Highway plans ELD certification update after providers linked to HOS cheating
Highway, a carrier-vetting and load-matching platform, says it plans to launch a voluntary certification program for electronic logging device providers after Overdrive identified ELD companies integrated with the platform that admitted to allowing hours-of-service cheating.
The planned program would establish a higher standard for participating ELD providers. Highway has not said that providers accused of enabling falsified driving records will automatically be removed from its network, however. The company also has not committed to excluding the providers identified in the reporting.
The issue is significant for professional drivers because Highway uses ELD connections to help brokers verify carrier identities, truck activity and available capacity. If an ELD provider allows driving time to be added improperly, the information received by a vetting platform may not accurately reflect a driver’s hours or a carrier’s operations.
Provider admitted it could add driving time
Overdrive reported that a representative of Leader ELD acknowledged that the company could add several hours to a driver’s available time. The representative described a situation in which a driver had about 30 minutes of driving time remaining but needed several additional hours.
A recently revoked ELD provider also reportedly acknowledged allowing hours-of-service cheating and said it was integrated with Highway. Nexus ELD, another provider identified as promoting a Highway integration, did not confirm that it allowed drivers to exceed their legal hours.
The findings came amid broader concerns about ELD vendors exploiting weaknesses in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s technical requirements. Some systems have been accused of allowing so-called ghost-driver accounts or other methods that make it appear a driver has more available hours than the driver legally has.
Before electronic logs became mandatory, generic or “ghost” accounts were sometimes used with older automatic onboard recording devices to absorb unassigned driving time. Using such accounts to create additional legal driving time, rather than to correct a legitimate record issue, can result in falsified logs and violations of federal hours-of-service rules.
Highway says it checks data integrity, not HOS compliance
Highway said it has worked with hundreds of ELD providers over the past five years. The company said it has paused or ended integrations in some cases because of security or data-integrity concerns identified by Highway or because of regulatory action, including FMCSA decisions.
“Our priority is maintaining a secure ecosystem for customers and their cargo,” the company said, adding that it evaluates credible analysis and intelligence and takes action when warranted.
Highway also said it does not have access to hours-of-service data and does not conduct the type of safety reviews performed by FMCSA. Its current checks focus on identity, data integrity and potential fraud. Those checks include analyzing vehicle locations for patterns such as impossible travel or location spoofing at the individual vehicle and network levels.
The company said an integration may be considered for revocation when anomalies arise. It did not say that an admission by an ELD provider that it can add driving time would, by itself, result in removal from the platform.
That distinction has drawn concern from industry observers. Highway uses information from connected trucks to help brokers assess whether equipment is active, whether a carrier has capacity and whether trucks are operating where they are expected to be. If that information is manipulated, the reliability of the vetting process can be affected.
Certification program would be voluntary
Highway said its planned Certified ELD Provider program will be part of the Highway Certified Network. Providers that participate would agree to meet technical requirements for data integrity and transmission and to stand behind the data they contribute.
The program is expected to identify providers that meet Highway’s standards, but participation will be voluntary. Highway said brokers and carriers may still choose to work with carriers using ELD providers outside the certified group.
That means certification, at least as described so far, would not create a universal ban on noncertified ELD providers. Highway has not released the full standards or stated whether providers that admitted to enabling HOS cheating will be ineligible.
Some carriers have reported removing Highway from their ELD connections following the controversy. At the same time, the reporting indicates continued demand among some freight intermediaries and carriers for systems that can manipulate hours records, underscoring the difficulty of addressing the problem through technology alone.
HOS violations remain a safety and compliance issue
Federal rules generally limit drivers to 11 hours of driving within a 14-hour on-duty window. Drivers must take a 30-minute break after eight cumulative hours of driving, and they may not drive after reaching the applicable 60-hour or 70-hour weekly limit. A 34-hour restart can reset the weekly calculation when the requirements are met.
Common roadside violations include driving beyond the 11-hour limit, exceeding the 14-hour window, missing the required break, surpassing the weekly limit, falsifying or tampering with ELD records, failing to retain supporting documents and leaving unassigned driving events unresolved.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has established an out-of-service code for ELD tampering, reflecting increased enforcement attention. FMCSA also has removed certain ELD providers from its self-certification registry, while advising affected customers to follow agency instructions during compliance issues.
For drivers, the central concern is that an ELD should accurately record work and rest time rather than create uncertainty during an inspection. Until Highway publishes the details of its certification program, the company’s response leaves open whether its new standards will prevent providers accused of enabling HOS cheating from remaining connected to the platform.
