Everyone wants trucking data. The question is: Why are the people creating it getting so little control over it?
The recent dispute involving Motive and Highway should be a wake-up call for every fleet owner and owner-operator in America.
This isn’t just about two technology companies disagreeing over access to ELD data.
This is about who controls the data our trucks generate.
Think about it.
We buy the trucks. We make the payments. We pay for the ELDs. We pay the monthly subscriptions. We hire the drivers. We buy the fuel. We maintain the equipment. We carry the freight. We take the liability.
And our trucks generate the data.
Yet everybody seems to want a piece of it.
ELD providers want it. Brokers want it. Insurance companies want it. Carrier-vetting companies want it. Tracking platforms want it. Fraud-prevention companies want it.
And increasingly, these companies aren’t just collecting information. They use it to decide whether a carrier is trustworthy, whether it qualifies for freight, whether it needs additional verification, and whether someone should do business with that carrier.
That is where I have a problem.
When Did Our Data Become Their Leverage?
According to FreightWaves, Highway told customers that Motive reduced the frequency of ELD data available to Highway after Highway declined a request to pay for access.
Whatever ultimately happened between these two companies is for them to explain.
My concern is the trucking company caught in the middle.
If two technology companies have a disagreement about who should pay for data access, why should a fleet or owner-operator potentially feel the consequences?
The carrier didn’t create the dispute.
The driver didn’t create the dispute.
Yet their truck is generating the information everyone is fighting over.
Something is wrong with that picture.
Don’t Call It “Voluntary” If Saying No Costs Us Business
This issue goes far beyond Motive and Highway.
Carriers are increasingly asked to connect ELDs, provide GPS information, download apps, authorize tracking, and give third-party companies access to operational data.
We’re told this is necessary to prevent fraud.
And yes, freight fraud is a serious problem. Cargo theft, identity theft, and double brokering are hurting legitimate businesses throughout our industry.
We need strong fraud prevention.
But there has to be a line.
If sharing data is supposedly voluntary, but refusing to share it makes a carrier harder to verify or potentially makes it harder to get freight, how voluntary is that choice?
“Give us access to your data, or we may not do business with you” is not much of a choice for a small trucking company trying to survive.
That is economic pressure.
Truckers Are Not the Criminals
The industry needs to watch where this is heading.
We cannot fight freight fraud by treating every legitimate trucking company like a suspected criminal until it provides enough data to prove otherwise.
Most owner-operators and small fleets are simply trying to run their businesses.
They already deal with FMCSA regulations, DOT inspections, insurance requirements, ELD mandates, drug-and-alcohol compliance, driver qualification requirements, brokers, shippers, and constantly rising operating costs.
Now they are increasingly being asked to surrender more information simply to prove:
“Yes, I am a real trucking company.”
Enough.
Verification is reasonable.
Unlimited access is not.
Trucking Needs a Data Bill of Rights
I believe it is time for trucking associations, fleets, and owner-operators to demand basic Carrier Data Rights.
Every trucking company should have the right to know:
What data are you collecting about my company?
Why are you collecting it?
Who are you sharing it with?
Are you selling or monetizing it?
What score, rating, or decision are you creating from it?
Can I see that information?
Can I correct it if it is wrong?
Can I revoke access?
And most importantly:
Will you punish my company commercially if I refuse to give you information that isn’t legally required?
Those aren’t unreasonable questions.
They are basic business rights.
Our Data Has Value
Truckers need to understand something else:
Your data is an asset.
The industry has spent decades teaching owner-operators to protect their trucks, operating authority, customer relationships, and financial information.
Now we need to protect our digital assets too.
Artificial intelligence will make this information even more valuable. Data generated today can potentially be used tomorrow to calculate risk, determine insurance pricing, evaluate carriers, predict behavior, and make automated decisions about who gets business.
If everybody else understands how valuable trucking data is, truckers should understand it too.
This Is Where We Draw the Line
I support technology.
I support legitimate carrier verification.
I support strong action against double brokers, cargo thieves, and fraudulent carriers.
But fraud prevention cannot become an excuse to take unlimited amounts of data from legitimate trucking companies and then use that information as leverage against them.
Our industry needs transparency.
It needs meaningful consent.
It needs accountability.
And carriers need the ability to challenge information used against their businesses.
The trucking company should not be the weakest party in an ecosystem built around information generated by its own equipment.
The truck belongs to us.
The business belongs to us.
The risk belongs to us.
And the data generated by our operations deserves protection too.
Our trucks. Our data. Our rights.
— Raman Dhillon
Publisher, Punjabi Trucking USA
