Status as of November 7, 2026: Neither of the FMCSA hours-of-service flexibility pilots described below is live. The current sleeper berth and 14-hour rules still apply to every driver on the road. Two public comment periods are open until December 7, 2026: one on the Flexible Sleeper Berth pilot (6/4, 5/5) and one on the 14-hour pause pilot.
Talk about a 6/4 or 5/5 split has been going around truck stops and driver forums for a while, and a lot of it is ahead of the facts. Some drivers think they can already log a 5-hour sleeper period. They can’t. This article covers what FMCSA proposed, what the official documents say, what is still unsettled, and what drivers and fleets can do now.
Where Things Stand Right Now
On September 17, 2025, FMCSA published two related notices in the Federal Register. Each one proposed a separate hours-of-service pilot program:
- Flexible Sleeper Berth pilot (6/4, 5/5): published at 90 FR 44790, FR Doc. 2025-17939, docket FMCSA-2025-0193. Read the FMCSA notice.
- Split Duty Period pilot (14-hour pause): published at 90 FR pages 44872-44879, docket FMCSA-2025-0194. Read the FMCSA notice.
Both were requests for comments on a proposed pilot program. These were proposals. They did not change any rule, and comments on both closed on November 17, 2025.
In early October 2026, FMCSA published two more notices, one for each pilot. Both are information collection notices, and both ask for comments on or before December 7, 2026:
- October 6, 2026, 14-hour pause pilot: 91 FR 63640-63642, FR Doc. 2026-20476, docket FMCSA-2026-2081. Read the October 6 FMCSA notice.
- October 7, 2026, Flexible Sleeper Berth pilot: 91 FR 64214-64216, FR Doc. 2026-20524, docket FMCSA-2026-2080. Read the October 7 FMCSA notice.
An information collection notice covers how the agency plans to gather data from participants: what drivers would report, how often, and how much time it would take. For the Flexible Sleeper Berth pilot, FMCSA estimates the total annual burden at 4,270.92 hours, and the OMB control number is listed as 2126-00XX because this is a new collection. This is paperwork that comes before a study can run. It does not mean either pilot has started.
The Current Split Sleeper Rule
You need to know the baseline to see what the pilot would change. Under 49 CFR 395.1(g)(1)(ii), a driver who splits rest using the sleeper berth has to meet these conditions:
- One rest period must be at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth (395.1(g)(1)(ii)(B)).
- Neither rest period can be shorter than 2 consecutive hours (395.1(g)(1)(ii)(A)).
- The two periods must total at least 10 hours (395.1(g)(1)(ii)(C)).
When the split qualifies, the rest periods don’t count against the 14-hour driving window under 395.1(g)(1)(iii)(B). That exclusion is the reason drivers use the split. The qualifying rest periods come out of your 14-hour window, so a good split keeps that time from eating into your day. It does not pause the clock for dock delays or traffic.
The 7-hour minimum is the part drivers complain about most. Many drivers can’t sleep 7 straight hours in a truck, especially on a schedule that rotates. If you can’t, a qualifying split is often off the table.
What the 6/4 and 5/5 Pilot Would Change
The Longer Sleeper Period Drops to 5 Hours
This is the main change. Under the proposed pilot, participating drivers would need to “take one rest period of at least 5 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth” instead of the 7 required today. The 2025 notice names “5/5” and “6/4” splits as allowed options. The October 2026 notice says the pilot allows a 5/5 split, a 6/4 split, or any split in between, and it “reduces the longer period in the sleeper berth to a minimum of 5 consecutive hours.”
For a driver who sleeps better in two shorter blocks, that change matters. You could shape rest around your body clock, receiver appointments, and parking instead of forcing one long block.
What Stays the Same
The pilot would not remove the limits that matter most. Under the proposal:
- Participants would still be held to the 11-hour driving limit in 49 CFR 395.3(a)(3).
- Drivers would have to use a sleeping compartment installed on a CMV that meets 49 CFR 393.76. A day cab with a pillow doesn’t qualify.
The pilot changes how you can split rest. It does not add driving hours.
The Design Could Still Change
The 2025 notice says outright that the pilot’s design is “subject to change based on comments to the docket and further review by analysts.” Anyone who tells you the exact rules are locked in is ahead of what FMCSA has published.
Who Would Take Part
Most drivers won’t be in this pilot. The proposal limits it to approximately 256 CMV drivers, and the October 2026 notice repeats that figure for the data collection. Across the whole industry, that is a small group.
The timeline also sets expectations. FMCSA says the full pilot will take approximately 34 months (up to 36 months) to complete. Each participating driver’s data collection period is described differently across notices: the September 2025 proposal described 4 months per driver, and the October 2026 notices say 16 weeks. FMCSA’s authority comes from 49 U.S.C. 31315(c), and pilots are limited to “not more than 3 years from the starting date.”
In practical terms, even after launch, almost everyone would keep running under the current 7-hour minimum. A pilot produces data, and a permanent rule change would be a separate step after that.
The Companion Proposal: Pausing the 14-Hour Clock
How the Split Duty Period Would Work
The second notice addresses the 14-hour window. In the words of FMCSA’s 2025 notice, a driver “may drive only during a period of 14 consecutive hours after coming on duty.” Once that window starts, it keeps running whether you’re driving, waiting at a shipper, or stuck behind a wreck.
The Split Duty Period proposal would let a participating driver pause the 14-hour window once, for a period “of no less than 30 minutes and no more than 3 hours.” The pause could be taken off duty, in the sleeper berth, or on duty but not driving, and the on-duty option would have to be taken at the location of a pick-up or delivery of cargo. That last option matters, because detention time at a dock usually gets logged as on duty, not driving.
The Trade-Off
FMCSA’s notice says this pause “could result in an up to 17-hour ‘driving window,'” which is the 14-hour window plus a pause of up to 3 hours. That is the cost of the flexibility. A pause could save a load that a 2-hour detention would otherwise wreck, but it could also stretch your driving window well past what you’re used to. Like the sleeper berth pilot, this one would be limited to approximately 256 CDL holders, and the October 6, 2026 notice says drivers would take part for 16 weeks.
What This Means for Fleets and Ops Managers
For dispatch and safety departments, there’s one rule for now: do not plan around rules that don’t exist yet. Until FMCSA announces a live pilot and names its participants, every log in your fleet has to meet the current 7-hour sleeper minimum and the standard 14-hour window. A driver who logs a 5-hour sleeper period today is not running a pilot split, and that period does not qualify as a valid split under the current rule.
Some things are worth doing now:
- Brief your drivers. Rumors about 6/4 and 5/5 are going around. Tell drivers plainly that the current rule hasn’t changed.
- Read the notices yourself. The Federal Register documents linked above are the primary source. Trade press summaries and social media posts are not.
- Track the dockets. FMCSA-2025-0193, FMCSA-2025-0194, FMCSA-2026-2080, and FMCSA-2026-2081 are where any updates will show up.
- Think about your data. If your operation could be a pilot candidate, your ELD records and the condition of your sleeper berths would matter.
How to Make Your Voice Heard
Both October 2026 information collection notices are open for comment until December 7, 2026. Comment on the Flexible Sleeper Berth pilot under Docket Number FMCSA-2026-2080, on the 14-hour pause pilot under Docket Number FMCSA-2026-2081, or on both. You can file at regulations.gov for FMCSA-2026-2080 and regulations.gov for FMCSA-2026-2081. These notices are about how FMCSA will collect data from participants, so comments that hold the most weight speak to that: whether the reporting burden is realistic, whether the questions reflect how drivers actually rest, and whether the collection would capture real-world conditions.
Drivers who have run a split sleeper for years know things analysts sitting at a desk don’t. They know what fatigue feels like during a bad 7-hour block and how parking shortages force rest decisions. They also know how detention cuts into the 14-hour clock. Federal agencies read docket comments, and specific comments drawn from real experience carry more weight than general complaints.
The 6/4 and 5/5 split could give drivers real control over when and how they rest, and that is the kind of change many drivers have wanted for years. Right now, though, both pilots are proposals on paper with study designs that could still change, a planned group of about 256 drivers each, and comment windows that close December 7, 2026. Run your logs under the rules in force today, ignore talk that says the pilot is live, and if you have experience that should shape how FMCSA studies split rest, put it in the docket before the deadline.
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