FMCSA Awards $1.9 Million to NDSU’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute for Commercial Vehicle Safety Initiatives

Posted: Jan 12, 2026

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently awarded two grants totaling more than $1.9 million to the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at North Dakota State University. The awards will support two projects to enhance commercial vehicle safety and explore deployment of autonomous trucks in rural areas.

A $1,249,653 grant was awarded to UGPTI for a project titled “Autonomous Truck Deployments in Rural and Northern Regions: Safe Testing, Operations, and Equipment Maintenance in Winter Conditions.” In the project, UGPTI will collaborate with MITRE Corporation to test autonomous vehicles under winter conditions.

“Autonomous trucks are already being deployed in specific markets that feature repetitive routes over interstate and arterial highways,” noted UGPTI Director Denver Tolliver. “But many challenges remain before autonomous trucks can be deployed in rural areas in northern regions, which will require year-round operations over two-lane rural roads. Testing and research are needed to facilitate the deployment of autonomous trucks where they are needed most: on roads with the worst safety records and in areas with severe driver shortages. A key component of this project will be identifying opportunities to improve large truck safety through automation.”

The grant will also support a third Autonomous Trucking Conference hosted by UGPTI to be held June 24 in Fargo. The conference will bring together stakeholders (including autonomous truck companies, technical experts, safety enforcement and transportation planning personnel, motor carriers, shippers, and logistics firms). Participants will discuss, debate, and provide input to autonomous truck development in North Dakota and the region and establish a North Dakota Autonomous Truck Working Group to drive solutions on key topics in support of autonomous trucking deployment in North Dakota. More details on the conference will be available soon at https://www.ugpti.org/events/atc/.

A $689,661 grant to UGPTI will support a regional Commercial Vehicle Safety Summit in Denver, CO, the fifth such summit to be hosted and organized by UGPTI. The event, to be held in late 2026 or early 2027, will focus on success stories where education, enforcement, industry initiatives, new technology, or other factors have resulted in a demonstrated reduction in commercial vehicle crashes. The event will bring together experts from law enforcement, licensing agencies, universities, and industry. The latest information on the summit will be available at https://www.ugpti.org/outreach/cvsc/.

“Past summits have shown us that successful efforts to enhance commercial vehicle safety often come from collaboration and sharing ideas and experiences among various states, agencies, and universities,” noted Brenda Lantz, associate director of UGPTI and director of UGPTI’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Center. “The primary focus of this effort is to facilitate that exchange of ideas.”

The grants to UGPTI are part of $71.6 million in grants awarded across the country by FMCSA in its High Priority Grant Program. The grants help fund efforts to support and evaluate innovative commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety programs, target unsafe driving of CMVs and passenger vehicles in high-crash corridors, enhance the safe movement of hazardous materials, improve international transportation safety and compliance, demonstrate new technologies that promote CMV safety, support registration and compliance programs, improve safety data collection and analysis, and expand public education and awareness of CMV safety.

The High Priority Grant Program allows UGPTI and NDSU to be key partners in FMCSA’s national safety strategy – supporting law enforcement, advancing technology, and helping reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses.

The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University provides innovative transportation research, education, and outreach that promote the safe and efficient movement of people and goods.