Overview
The U.S. Commercial Fleet & Carrier Intelligence Dataset is a cleaned, enriched, and structured version of public data released by two U.S. federal agencies:
- FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) — carrier registration, safety ratings, and vehicle inspection records
- NHTSA vPIC (Vehicle Product Information Catalog) — VIN-decoded vehicle specifications
Both source datasets are released under the FMCSA Open Data Program and NHTSA's open data initiative with no restrictions on commercial use.
Source Data
Source 1: FMCSA Company Census (Carrier Registry)
- API: FMCSA SODA API — Dataset ID
az4n-8mr2 - Publisher: U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA
- Update frequency at source: Continuous
- Records: ~4.4 million registered motor carriers as of most recent pull
- Coverage: All entities registered with FMCSA to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce in the United States
Source 2: FMCSA Fleet Vehicle Inspections
- API: FMCSA SODA API — Dataset ID
rbkj-cgst - Publisher: U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA
- Update frequency at source: Updated as inspection records are submitted
- Records: ~2.5 million vehicles with at least one roadside inspection record
- Coverage: Commercial vehicles inspected under FMCSA Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act programs
Source 3: NHTSA vPIC (VIN Decode)
- API: NHTSA vPIC REST API —
vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api - Publisher: U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA
- Purpose: Enriches raw FMCSA vehicle records with make, model, year, body class, fuel type, GVWR, and engine specifications decoded from each vehicle's VIN
Extraction Process
- Full extract — all FMCSA carrier census records are pulled via the SODA API with pagination (50,000 records per page). Checkpointed and resumable.
- Fleet vehicle extract — vehicle inspection records are extracted similarly, with incremental support for new records since the last pull.
- VIN decoding — each unique VIN is submitted to the NHTSA vPIC API in batches of 50. Decoded fields are merged back to the vehicle record; undecodable VINs retain raw FMCSA make data.
- Loading — extracted and enriched records are loaded to Snowflake in 100,000-row chunks. All column names are standardized to uppercase.
Data Cleaning & Normalization
- Column standardization: all field names uppercased; whitespace trimmed
- Make normalization: raw FMCSA
UNIT_MAKEvalues are standardized to a cleanMAKE_FINALfield (e.g., "FRTLNR" → "FREIGHTLINER") - DOT number join key:
DOT_NUMBERis the primary key linking carrier registry records to vehicle inspection records - Deduplication: carrier records deduplicated on
DOT_NUMBER; vehicle records deduplicated onVIN + DOT_NUMBER
Data Objects
| Object | Type | Rows | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY_CENSUS_FULL | Table | 4,417,174 | All FMCSA-registered carriers |
| FLEET_VEHICLES_FULL | Table | 2,535,869 | Vehicles with inspection records, VIN-decoded |
| FLEET_CARRIERS_COMBINED | View | 2,535,869 | Vehicles LEFT JOINed to carrier data on DOT_NUMBER |
Field Descriptions
COMPANY_CENSUS_FULL
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DOT_NUMBER | TEXT | FMCSA-assigned unique carrier identifier (join key) |
| LEGAL_NAME | TEXT | Registered legal business name |
| DBA_NAME | TEXT | Doing-business-as name, if different from legal name |
| STATUS_CODE | TEXT | Carrier operating status (A=Active, I=Inactive) |
| ADD_DATE | TEXT | Date carrier was added to FMCSA registry |
| MCS150_DATE | TEXT | Date of most recent MCS-150 biennial update filing |
| CARRIER_OPERATION | TEXT | Type of operation (Interstate, Intrastate Hazmat, etc.) |
| BUSINESS_ORG_DESC | TEXT | Business organization type (LLC, Corporation, Sole Proprietor, etc.) |
| PHY_STREET | TEXT | Physical street address |
| PHY_CITY | TEXT | Physical city |
| PHY_STATE | TEXT | Physical state (2-letter code) |
| PHY_ZIP | TEXT | Physical ZIP code |
| PHY_CNTY | TEXT | Physical county |
| PHY_COUNTRY | TEXT | Physical country |
| PHONE | TEXT | Business phone number |
| EMAIL_ADDRESS | TEXT | Business email address (as filed with FMCSA) |
| POWER_UNITS | TEXT | Number of power units (trucks/tractors) owned or leased |
| TRUCK_UNITS | TEXT | Number of truck units |
| TOTAL_DRIVERS | TEXT | Total number of drivers |
| TOTAL_CDL | TEXT | Number of CDL-licensed drivers |
| SAFETY_RATING | TEXT | FMCSA safety rating (S=Satisfactory, C=Conditional, U=Unsatisfactory) |
| SAFETY_RATING_DATE | TEXT | Date of most recent safety rating |
| REVIEW_DATE | TEXT | Date of most recent compliance review |
| REVIEW_TYPE | TEXT | Type of compliance review conducted |
| HM_IND | TEXT | Hazardous materials indicator |
| CARRIER_MAILING_STREET | TEXT | Mailing street address |
| CARRIER_MAILING_CITY | TEXT | Mailing city |
| CARRIER_MAILING_STATE | TEXT | Mailing state |
| CARRIER_MAILING_ZIP | TEXT | Mailing ZIP code |
| MCS150_MILEAGE | TEXT | Self-reported annual mileage (from MCS-150 filing) |
| MCS150_MILEAGE_YEAR | TEXT | Year of reported mileage |
| FLEETSIZE | TEXT | Total fleet size as reported |
| CRGO_GENFREIGHT | TEXT | Carries general freight (1=Yes) |
| CRGO_HOUSEHOLD | TEXT | Carries household goods (1=Yes) |
| CRGO_PASSENGERS | TEXT | Passenger carrier (1=Yes) |
| CRGO_CHEM | TEXT | Carries chemicals (1=Yes) |
| CRGO_LIQGAS | TEXT | Carries liquid/gas (1=Yes) |
| CRGO_DRYBULK | TEXT | Carries dry bulk (1=Yes) |
| DOCKET1PREFIX | TEXT | First MC/FF docket prefix |
| DOCKET1 | TEXT | First docket number |
| DOCKET2PREFIX | TEXT | Second docket prefix |
| DOCKET2 | TEXT | Second docket number |
| DOCKET3PREFIX | TEXT | Third docket prefix |
| DOCKET3 | TEXT | Third docket number |
| CLASSDEF | TEXT | Carrier classification definition |
| PHY_OMC_REGION | TEXT | FMCSA field office region |
| SAFETY_INV_TERR | TEXT | Safety investigation territory |
| PRIOR_REVOKE_FLAG | TEXT | Flag indicating prior operating authority revocation |
| RECORDABLE_CRASH_RATE | TEXT | Recordable crash rate per million miles |
FLEET_VEHICLES_FULL
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| VIN | TEXT | Vehicle Identification Number |
| DOT_NUMBER | TEXT | FMCSA carrier DOT number (join key to COMPANY_CENSUS_FULL) |
| REPORT_STATE | TEXT | State where vehicle was inspected |
| UNIT_TYPE_DESC | TEXT | Unit type (Truck, Tractor, Trailer, Bus, etc.) |
| UNIT_MAKE | TEXT | Raw vehicle make as reported by FMCSA |
| UNIT_LICENSE | TEXT | License plate number |
| UNIT_LICENSE_STATE | TEXT | License plate state |
| LAST_INSP_DATE | TEXT | Date of most recent roadside inspection |
| DRIVER_OOS_TOTAL | TEXT | Total driver out-of-service violations |
| VEHICLE_OOS_TOTAL | TEXT | Total vehicle out-of-service violations |
| OOS_TOTAL | TEXT | Total combined out-of-service violations |
| UNSAFE_INSP | TEXT | Number of unsafe driving inspections |
| VH_MAINT_INSP | TEXT | Number of vehicle maintenance inspections |
| BASIC_VIOL | TEXT | Number of BASIC violations |
| UNSAFE_VIOL | TEXT | Number of unsafe driving violations |
| VH_MAINT_VIOL | TEXT | Number of vehicle maintenance violations |
| MAKE_FINAL | TEXT | Normalized vehicle make (cleaned from VIN decode + raw) |
| MODEL | TEXT | Vehicle model (from NHTSA vPIC VIN decode) |
| YEAR | TEXT | Model year (from NHTSA vPIC VIN decode) |
| BODY_CLASS | TEXT | Body class (Truck-Tractor, Truck, Pickup, Bus, etc.) |
| VEHICLE_TYPE_VPIC | TEXT | Vehicle type per NHTSA vPIC classification |
| GVWR | TEXT | Gross Vehicle Weight Rating |
| FUEL_TYPE | TEXT | Fuel type (Diesel, Gasoline, CNG, Electric, etc.) |
| ENGINE_CYLINDERS | NUMBER | Number of engine cylinders |
FLEET_CARRIERS_COMBINED (View)
All fields from FLEET_VEHICLES_FULL plus selected carrier fields from COMPANY_CENSUS_FULL, joined on DOT_NUMBER. Use this view for any query requiring both vehicle and carrier attributes — no manual JOIN required.
Refresh Cadence
| Dataset | Current Refresh |
|---|---|
| COMPANY_CENSUS_FULL | Quarterly |
| FLEET_VEHICLES_FULL | Quarterly |
Enterprise subscribers receive monthly refreshes. All versions are timestamped.
Known Limitations
- Cargo type flags (CRGO_*) reflect self-reported data from carrier MCS-150 filings and may be incomplete
- Not all vehicles have decodable VINs; those records retain raw FMCSA make data with null vPIC fields
- FMCSA registration data includes both active and inactive carriers; filter on
STATUS_CODE = 'A'for active-only analysis - Phone numbers and email addresses are as filed by carriers with FMCSA; DataWizards.ai does not independently verify contact information
Questions about data methodology, sourcing, or custom data requests: data@datawizards.ai