The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is moving forward with two pilot programs that could eventually give truck drivers greater flexibility in structuring their workdays, despite warnings from highway safety advocates that one of the initiatives could effectively extend the 14-hour working limit.

FMCSA announced Thursday that it has completed pre-tests for its Flexible Sleeper Berth and Split Duty Period pilot programs and is reviewing the results ahead of a planned full launch in 2027. The programs are designed to evaluate whether giving drivers more control over when they take breaks and rest periods can maintain or improve safety. Both initiatives were launched in September 2025 as part of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's Pro Trucker Package.

According to the agency, the recently completed pre-tests were intended to evaluate procedures, data collection methods and driver participation requirements before the programs expand next year. Each pilot is expected to enroll 256 drivers, for a total of 512 participants. Drivers will take part for four months and can receive up to $1,600 for completing all study requirements.

Split-Duty Pilot Could Pause the 14-Hour Clock

The Split Duty Period Pilot Program targets one of the most consequential restrictions in federal hours-of-service regulations: the 14-hour driving window. Under current rules, property-carrying drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours within a 14-hour on-duty window that begins when they start their workday, after which they must take 10 consecutive hours off duty. Because the 14-hour clock runs continuously once started, breaks, traffic and waiting time at customer facilities erode the window drivers have available to complete their runs. Under the pilot, participating drivers would be allowed to pause that window for up to three hours per day while in a qualifying non-driving status. Qualifying periods could include off-duty or sleeper berth time, as well as on-duty time spent at a pickup or delivery location.

FMCSA said the flexibility could give drivers more ability to wait out heavy traffic or severe weather, account for detention time at customer facilities, or take a break without that time counting against their available driving window. Detention time at shippers' and receivers' facilities has long been a top industry complaint, with drivers often unpaid for hours spent waiting at loading docks. The agency added that it plans to monitor shippers during the pilot to ensure the added flexibility does not result in increased detention or exploitation of drivers.

FMCSA tested the concept from May 18 through July 17 with nine drivers from three motor carriers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio. Those drivers participated for six weeks and received $600.

When FMCSA proposed reviving the Split Duty Period pilot last year, the agency said the program could help determine whether allowing drivers to pause the 14-hour clock could reduce fatigue and provide more flexibility around real-world operating conditions.

Safety Advocates Push Back

The proposal has drawn opposition from highway safety advocates, who argue that FMCSA should address the underlying causes of excessive detention rather than lengthening a driver's workday. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety criticized the Split Duty Period proposal during the public comment period in November 2025.

"The agency should be examining problems with detention time instead of proposing this dangerous and misguided initiative," the organization wrote in comments filed with FMCSA.

The group argued that FMCSA should instead study detention time and the coercion of drivers as they relate to scheduling and fatigue. It also questioned whether the agency had produced sufficient evidence that allowing carriers to pause the on-duty clock would improve safety. The safety group noted that the pilot could effectively stretch a driver's workday from 14 hours to as long as 17 hours.

Some trucking companies have taken the opposite view. Werner Enterprises previously told FMCSA that more flexible hours-of-service rules could improve safety by allowing drivers to take breaks when necessary rather than adhering to schedules that may not reflect real-world conditions. The carrier said additional flexibility could reduce pressure on drivers during inclement weather and peak traffic periods, or when a driver is not feeling well.

Sleeper Berth Pilot Tests Additional Options

FMCSA's second initiative, the Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot Program, will test alternative ways of dividing a driver's required rest period. Participating drivers will be able to split their off-duty time into two periods in any combination, as long as the periods total at least 10 hours and one includes at least five consecutive hours in the sleeper berth.

The agency conducted its pre-test from April 1 through June 11 with nine drivers from three motor carriers in Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Those drivers also participated for six weeks and received $600.

FMCSA has explored similar changes before without ultimately rewriting hours-of-service regulations. An attempt in 2020 to ease the 14-hour restrictions drew opposition from labor and safety groups, while sleeper berth pilot efforts launched in 2017 and 2021 did not advance beyond the public comment stage. This time, however, the programs have moved beyond the comment stage and into real-world pre-testing.

FMCSA said it is reviewing the results and will use the findings to refine both programs before expanding them to hundreds of drivers in 2027. If the full pilots produce safety data the agency finds persuasive, the results could support some of the most significant changes to truck driver hours-of-service flexibility in years, potentially reshaping how drivers manage detention, traffic, weather and rest without changing the underlying 11-hour driving limit. If the data instead reinforce advocates' concerns, the pilots could join the list of prior flexibility efforts that never became regulation.

Source: FreightWaves