Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026:
- Driver’s “empty trailer” claim debunked -- bags of narcotics found.
- Autonomous trucking company aims for driverless, long-haul trucks by end of year.
- “I was just trying to make sure she was OK.” --Highway Angel Keith Rahn on stepping in to stop a physical assault
Traffic stop leads to cocaine bust
A truck driver who claimed to be pulling an empty trailer from Memphis, Tennessee, to Indianapolis was found by Indiana police to be hauling more than the sailboat fuel he claimed.
On Sept. 6, an Indiana State Police Criminal Interdiction Unit conducted a traffic stop on a truck driven by Harpreet Singh of Greenwood, Indiana, on I‑70 for an inspection.
During the stop, the trooper observed the driver was “operating below industry standards” and the vehicle was impounded. During the inspection, the officer located several duffel bags containing 277 pounds of cocaine. The estimated street value of the seized narcotics is approximately $3.8 million.
Singh was taken into custody and transported to the Putnam County Jail.
Kodiak says its long-haul driverless launch will happen this year
Autonomous trucking system developer Kodiak AI reaffirmed Tuesday that it remains on track to launch driverless long-haul commercial service by the end of 2026. The company's internally calibrated "Autonomy Readiness Measure" (ARM) for long-haul driverless operations reached 93% at the end of August, up from 91% at the end of July.
In preparation for the long-haul moves, Kodiak is completing work on its highway launch "safety case," an argument supported by evidence that the Kodiak Driver, the company's autonomous driving system, can operate safely in a defined operating environment, the company said.
Kodiak’s ARM measures the percentage of claims and evidence in Kodiak’s safety case for driverless operations that are materially complete. The increase to 93%, according to the company, reflects consistent progress.
"What makes this measure powerful is that we know exactly what stands between us and driver-out long-haul operations, and that list continues to get shorter month after month," said Don Burnette, founder and CEO, Kodiak. "We have identified and scheduled the remaining work, which is concentrated on final engineering verification and validation activities. We expect to complete the safety case before year’s end and launch driverless long-haul service."
[Related: Trucker to Congress: Keep drivers in autonomous trucks]
Kodiak’s long-haul safety case builds on its argument made with industrial deployment in the Permian Basin, where 35 driverless trucks were operating commercially with no humans in the cab as of the end of the second quarter.
"The confidence to remove the driver is something a program builds, and we have built ours deliberately," said Frank Fratrik, Director of Safety, Kodiak. "Rigorous hazard analysis, mitigations designed into the system and its operation, safety engineering rigor on the parts that matter most, and continual validation that the assumptions behind our safety argument continue to hold. That discipline is what makes us confident in the path ahead."
The company currently delivers freight between Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and El Paso using its autonomous technology with a safety driver behind the wheel, in addition to driverless operations in the oilfields.
[Related: DOT clearing way for driverless trucks with wiper, mirror, steering exemptions]
Driver named Highway Angel for helping to stop physical assault
Keith A. Rahn, a truck driver for Forward Air, has been awarded the Truckload Carriers Association’s Highway Angel award after intervening to protect a woman who was being physically assaulted at a Salt Lake City-area truck stop.
Keith Rahn
Rahn had been at the truck stop for only about 20 to 30 minutes when he went outside to walk his German Shepherd. As he came around a corner, he saw a man and woman arguing. The verbal altercation suddenly turned physical.
“I saw these two people. They were arguing. It was like a verbal altercation, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he just slapped the daylights out of this girl,” Rahn said.
Rahn immediately told the man to stop and intervened to protect the woman.
“I told him I was going to turn my dog loose if he didn’t stop,” Rahn said.
The man initially continued to act aggressively, prompting Rahn to again warn him to back away. Rahn’s German Shepherd remained with him as he confronted the situation.
“He just stood there like fuming mad and puffing his chest up and all that stuff,” Rahn said. “I told him once again, 'back up or I’m turning my dog loose,' because I have a massive German Shepherd.”
The man eventually backed away, went to his car and left the scene. After the immediate danger had passed, Rahn brought the woman to his truck and made sure she had a safe place to stay while she arranged for a ride. He offered to contact law enforcement on her behalf, but when she declined, he respected her decision and continued to make sure she was safe.
Washington described Rahn’s intervention as a profound act of kindness and protection during an extremely frightening moment.
“Mr. Rahn did not simply witness what was happening and continue on his way,” Washington wrote in her nomination. “He interceded to stop the assault and protect me from further harm.”
She also recalled the comfort provided by Rahn and his dog.
“The presence of both Mr. Rahn and his dog made a difference,” Washington wrote. “In a moment when I was frightened and overwhelmed, having them there provided an immediate sense of safety and comfort.”
Rahn, a U.S. Army veteran, has been a professional driver for approximately nine years. He said the experience reinforced a simple principle that guides his actions on the road: when someone needs help, you don’t just drive away.
“I was just trying to make sure she was OK,” he said.
