All Mexican and US vehicles participating in the ongoing cross-border trucking demonstration project will have to participate in a satellite-based vehicle tracking system under a plan being developed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the government of Mexico’s Secretaria de Communicaciones y Transportes (SCT), according to Department of Transportation information.
“This will give us the ability to monitor every vehicle from Mexico and ensure all companies are following our strict safety requirements, including those governing hours of service and cabotage,” said John Hill, FMCSA administrator, in a news release.
In May, the two countries agreed to explore satellite technology as an enforcement tool for the cross-border trucking demonstration project. FMCSA said its intends to issue a contract to provide satellite terminals for the near real-time tracking of commercial trucks traveling throughout the continental United States and Mexico as part of the cross-border trucking demonstration project. The systems will be installed at no cost to the participating trucking companies. It is not required on US trucking companies operating solely within the United States.
The vehicle tracking system will incorporate a global positioning system and wireless technology to determine a vehicle’s position, and will be used to monitor hours of service, cabotage violations (the point-to-point shipping of domestic loads within the United States) and date and time of international and state crossings. Vehicles will be tracked by vehicle number and company. FMCSA said no driver information will be collected or tracked.