For years, FMCSA has relied on self-certification to regulate some of the most safety-critical functions in trucking. Electronic logging device manufacturers, CDL training schools, and medical examiners have been asked to promise they meet federal standards, submit paperwork, and land on an official registry—no inspection, no independent testing, no verification. It was designed for speed and scalability, and it delivered both. But in 2025 and 2026, the cracks became impossible to ignore.
The numbers are sobering. FMCSA revoked 37 ELD devices in 2025 and rejected another 200 before they reached the market. So far, in 2026, we have seen an additional 39 devices purged. The agency removed nearly 3,000 CDL training schools from the Training Provider Registry in a single sweep—with another 4,500 placed on notice—after deploying 330 investigators to audit 1,600 training locations. In total, more than 6,800 unqualified training providers were removed from the FMCSA registry in the past year. And, in April 2025, the agency voided over 15,225 medical certificates issued to drivers by two Houston-area chiropractors who had improperly certified them, triggering a joint investigation by the DOT Inspector General, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security. Across all three programs, the pattern is the same: a system built on trust was exploited at scale.
What FMCSA Is Doing About It
FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs has declared that self-certification is going away. "We will do away with anything that has to do with self-certification at FMCSA," he told an audience in December 2025. The agency has already overhauled its ELD vetting process, requiring verification of technical documentation, contact information, and cross-checks against revoked devices before any new ELD reaches the registry. On the training side, the agency is asking schools the most basic questions: Do you have a principal place of business? Do you have a curriculum? Do you actually own a truck? And on the medical examiner front, the 15,225 mass voiding of driver medical certificates sent an unmistakable signal that FMCSA is willing to take large-scale, disruptive action against bad actors. These are stopgap measures while the agency develops permanent regulatory solutions—but the direction is clear.
Lessons from Canada
Canada offers a working model for what comes next—at least for ELDs. When Canada's ELD mandate took effect in June 2021, Transport Canada required all devices to be tested and certified by independent, third-party certification bodies accredited under ISO/IEC 17065. Only devices that pass receive a certification number and appear on Canada's official ELD Registry. The result is a much smaller but significantly more reliable marketplace. The trade-off is real—fewer choices, higher costs, and a slower rollout that initially left carriers scrambling for compliant devices. While the Canadian system is not perfect, every device on Canada's list has been independently verified, which is a level of certainty the U.S. system has never offered.
What Congress Is Doing
Congress is moving to codify reforms through the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870), the House's proposed five-year highway reauthorization bill introduced on May 19, 2026. The bill requires FMCSA to certify ELDs against federal requirements. It allows non-compliant entry-level driver training providers to be removed from the registry within 90 days of a substantiated complaint. It directs the development of automated tools to detect "chameleon carriers" that shut down and reopen under new names. And it provides increasing FMCSA funding—including Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program grants growing from $435 million to $478 million over the authorization period. The bill passed the T&I Committee 62–2 and is expected on the House floor this summer.
What the Industry Should Expect
Should the shift from self-certification to verified certification become a reality, it will reshape the trucking ecosystem. The ELD marketplace will shrink—carriers using lesser-known or low-cost devices should evaluate their provider's certification readiness now. The Training Provider Registry will continue to contract as CDL mills are eliminated, benefiting legitimate schools that have invested in qualified instructors and real behind-the-wheel training. Medical examiners should expect increased scrutiny of examination volumes, pass rates, and adherence to physical qualification standards.
The transition will not be painless. Rulemaking takes years, not months. The industry should expect a period of uncertainty as old systems wind down and new ones are built. But the trajectory is unmistakable: the honor system is ending. The carriers, vendors, training schools, and medical examiners who are already doing things the right way will be rewarded. Those who have been exploiting the system gaps will find those gaps closing—from both the agency and Congress—with increasing speed and determination.