Every driver knows the feeling: the shipper has you sitting at the dock for three hours, and the whole time your 14-hour clock keeps running. By the time you roll, half your day is gone and you haven't turned a wheel. FMCSA is now getting ready to test two fixes for exactly that problem on real trucks, with real drivers, starting in 2027.
This week the agency said it has finished small "pre-tests" of two hours-of-service pilot programs and plans to expand both next year. Here's what they are, what they'd let you do, who can join, and what it could mean for your logbook down the road.
The Two Pilots in Plain English
According to FMCSA's announcement and reporting by Trucking Dive (Sept. 22, 2026), the agency is running two separate studies:
- Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot. Today you can only split your 10-hour break as 7/3 or 8/2, with the long piece in the sleeper. The pilot lets participating drivers split the 10 hours into any two periods, as long as they add up to at least 10 hours and one of them is at least 5 straight hours in the sleeper berth. Think 6/4 or 5/5.
- Split Duty Period Pilot. This one lets drivers pause the 14-hour window for up to 3 hours a day. Qualifying time includes off-duty time, sleeper berth time, or on-duty time spent at a pickup or delivery location, as reported by Land Line and Trucking Dive.
The second pilot is the one a lot of drivers have been asking about for years. If a dock delay could stop the clock instead of eating your day, a slow shipper wouldn't automatically cost you a full shift of miles.
How the Current Rules Work
For context, here's the standard property-carrying setup under FMCSA's hours-of-service rules: up to 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window that starts when you come on duty, followed by 10 consecutive hours off. The only way around the rigid 10 hours today is the split sleeper option (7/3 or 8/2), and the 14-hour window does not stop for a break, a fuel stop, or a late load.
That setup is why so many drivers say the rules push them to drive when the clock says go, not when they're actually rested. The pilots are meant to test, with data, whether more flexibility can be safe.
What Happened in the Pre-Tests
Both pilots started with small trial runs in 2026. Per Trucking Dive and FleetOwner:
- The flexible sleeper berth pre-test ran from April 1 to June 11, 2026, with drivers in Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
- The split duty period pre-test ran from May 18 to July 17, 2026, with drivers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio.
- Each pre-test used nine drivers from three motor carriers over six weeks, and each driver was paid $600.
FMCSA says it is still reviewing those results before it scales up. It has not released any safety findings yet, so don't read the pre-tests as a green light. They were mainly a shakedown run to make sure the study methods work.
The 2027 Expansion: 512 Drivers, $1,600 Each
For the full pilots, FMCSA expects 256 drivers per program, or 512 drivers total. Each driver takes part for four months and can earn up to $1,600 for completing all study tasks, according to FleetOwner and Land Line.
The original Federal Register notice for the sleeper berth pilot explains how that four months works: roughly one month driving under the normal rules as a baseline, then three months under the exemption. Participants would get a study smartphone with fatigue and survey apps, wear a wrist "actigraphy" device (similar to a smartwatch) that tracks sleep, and take a short 3-minute alertness test each day. Researchers would also look at ELD records, roadside inspections and crash records.
One point that matters for trust: the notice says participants' logbook, sleep and test data go to third-party researchers, not to FMCSA, and won't be used for enforcement against the driver or carrier.
Who Can Take Part
The 2025 notice proposed eligibility rules that give a good idea of what FMCSA is looking for. These were proposals, and final details may change, but drivers would need to:
- Hold a valid CDL and a current medical certificate from a registry-listed examiner
- Have no license suspension, revocation or disqualification in the prior two years
- Drive the same sleeper-equipped truck they normally run and actually use the sleeper
- Log on an ELD and follow all study procedures
- Work for an approved carrier, or qualify as an owner-operator
Carriers would face their own bar: proper authority and insurance, no conditional or unsatisfactory safety rating, no enforcement actions in the past three years, and driver and vehicle out-of-service rates below national benchmarks. In short, this is aimed at clean operations.
FMCSA says interested drivers and carriers can send their contact information to pilots@dot.gov.
The Detention Question
There's an obvious worry here. If the clock can pause at the dock, will some shippers just take that as permission to keep you waiting even longer? FMCSA has said it will watch shipper practices to make sure the added flexibility doesn't lead to more detention or driver exploitation, according to Land Line.
That concern is real. A pause button helps you only if it's your choice to use it. Keep an eye on how the final study rules handle that, and on whether detention pay shows up in the conversation.
What This Means for You
- Nothing changes today. The standard 11/14/10 rules and the 7/3 and 8/2 split still apply to everyone who isn't enrolled in a pilot. Don't run a 5/5 split or pause your clock on your own. That's a violation.
- Change, if it comes, is years away. The full pilots don't even start until 2027, and FMCSA would then have to analyze results and go through rulemaking before any permanent change.
- Clean records matter. If you want in, a spotless MVR, a clean inspection history and a carrier with good safety numbers are the ticket.
- Consider the trade-off. $1,600 for four months is nice, but you'll be wearing a sleep tracker and doing daily tests. Talk to your carrier before you sign up.
- Track your detention now. Write down your dock arrival and departure times. That record helps you get paid today, and it's exactly the kind of real-world data that drives these debates.
For the official rules and updates, go straight to FMCSA's hours-of-service page and not to a forum post.
More flexible hours won't fix a bad shipper, but for the first time in years, drivers' own logbooks could shape the rules.
Photo: DanTD, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Free for CDL-A drivers: get our Job Offer Checklist — 23 questions to ask any carrier about pay, miles and home time before you sign. Download the free checklist →
CDL Transportation Group | CDL-A OTR Driver Recruiting
