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When Transport Topics published the inaugural issue of iTECH in April 2001, the trucking industry was only just beginning to realize the enormous potential for information technology to revolutionize business management. A lot has changed since then, and now, so has iTECH.

The largest private carriers in North America participate in many segments of the economy, from agriculture to manufacturing and retail. All of them have been dealing with various forms of disruption during the past year.

Although the top eight private carriers are unchanged from a year ago, there are some significant shifts and several notable newcomers elsewhere on the 2021 Top 100 Private Carriers list.

Volvo Trucks North America has delivered its first electric-powered Class 8 truck on the East Coast to New York-based Manhattan Beer Distributors.

WASHINGTON — After years of working with emerging technologies in the automotive sector, Paccar Inc.’s new chief technology officer sees a similar transformation unfolding in the commercial truck market.

Although trucking companies are benefiting from a favorable business environment and strong economic growth this year, the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic took a significant toll on the industry in 2020.

The trucking firms that appear on the 2021 Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire Carriers list are split nearly evenly between companies that reported a revenue decline in 2020 and those that still managed to grow during the year of COVID-19.

After navigating the disruption and uncertainty wrought by the coronavirus pandemic last year, the trucking industry has entered a historically strong business environment that many analysts expect to endure for the rest of 2021 and beyond.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has partnered with autonomous vehicle developer Waymo to move freight with self-driving trucks in Texas.

Although autonomous trucks are still in their infancy, the continued development and eventual deployment of these vehicles represents a new frontier for the freight transportation business. As this technology advances in the coming years and decades, fleet operators that adopt self-driving trucks will encounter a new management challenge: finding the best ways to combine automation with human labor.