Norman Mineta, who broke racial barriers for Asian Americans serving in high-profile government posts and ordered commercial flights grounded after the 9/11 terror attacks as the nation’s federal transportation secretary, died Tuesday at the age of 90 of a heart ailment. Mineta was the first Asian American to become a federal Cabinet secretary, serving under both Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush. Bush awarded Mineta the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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The national average price for diesel has set a new all-time record at $5.509 a gallon, after a surge of 34.9 cents this past week. The previous record was $5.25, set March 14. In New England the average price skyrocketed 86.1 cents a gallon to shatter the $6 ceiling at $6.101. It also topped $6 in the Central Atlantic and West Coast regions, and remained above $6 in California.The data comes from the weekly report by the Energy Information Administration.

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The weather is getting warmer and the competition is beginning to heat up as state associations conduct their state truck driving championships. These events are the first steps for drivers hoping to make it to the National Truck Driving Championships in August, and we are tracking those developments in our “Road to NTDC” coverage, now online. Get a state-by-state schedule, winners in all classifications as they become known, and photos from the state events. It’s all at ttn.ws/ntdc2022.

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Calling it “a great day that we have been looking forward to for a long time,” Nikola CEO Mark Russell noted that having several Tre Class 8 battery-electric trucks ready for delivery will generate the 7-year-old company’s first-ever quarterly revenue. The vehicles were manufactured at the new assembly plant in Coolidge, Ariz. On Wednesday, industry and political dignitaries were given a tour of the facility, which currently covers 290,000 square feet. The plant will encompass 1 million square feet once all planned expansions are complete.

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Secretary Pete Buttigieg became the first transportation secretary in more than two decades to testify in front of the Surface Transportation Board, as he made an appearance to discuss supply chain delays, particularly as they pertain to rail. Buttigieg testified April 26 during the first of two days of the inquiry. Issues on the table included a shortage of qualified workers, impacts of the rail delays on the agriculture industry and how rail issues are contributing to supply chain challenges at the nation’s ports.

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The average retail price of a used Class 8 vehicle has pushed past the $100,000 mark for the first time, ACT Research reported. In March, used Class 8 trucks sold for an average of $101,736, nearly double what they sold for a year ago, ACT said. Total sales climbed, too. ACT estimated used Class 8 sales in March reached 25,200 compared with 23,800 a year earlier. Fleets are not selling their used trucks at the normal pace because they can’t replace them with new trucks, as truck makers continue to face persistent supply chain woes that have crimped production for many months.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reached an agreement to acquire Twitter for about $44 billion. The outspoken Musk, who also is the world’s wealthiest person, has said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he thinks it is not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech. Stock in Tesla, the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles, closed down by 0.7% Monday after the news.

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Engine maker Cummins Inc. says its filtration unit has confidentially filed to go public. The IPO is expected to commence after the completion of the review process by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last August, Cummins reported it was exploring what it called “strategic alternatives” for its filtration business unit, which it launched in 1958. The division notched annual sales of $1.2 billion in 2020. At that time, Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger said Cummins was exploring everything from a sale to a spinoff or another kind of strategic option in an effort to realize value for Cummins’ shareholders.

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One of the major concerns that many people in the trucking industry have about autonomous trucks is the expectation that their use would lead to drivers losing their jobs. But Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum doesn’t believe that will be the case. Daum says autonomous trucks will improve highway safety, counter the trucking industry’s driver shortage, boost equipment utilization and help meet rising freight demand. Daum says Daimler is focusing its efforts on certain stretches of highway that are best suited to autonomous operation, and that only about 6% of freight might move by autonomous trucks. “That means 94% of the freight still needs drivers to be delivered,” he said, adding that freight volumes likely will have expanded faster than autonomous truck deployment, meaning the industry will continue to need more drivers, not fewer.

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Torc Robotics, a self-driving truck developer and subsidiary of Daimler Truck, recently highlighted its autonomous progress during a demonstration in New Mexico. The event included four Freightliner Cascadia tractors from its test fleet, each outfitted with autonomous driving sensors and software and with safety drivers behind the wheel. The trucks demonstrated autonomous driving on highways and surface streets, among other features. One executive said Torc plans to begin its first pilot program with a trucking customer later this year.

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