Owing to the large distances in North America, RFID systems are uniquely suited for use in the rigorous rail environment. On site programmable tags permit the full industry standard 12-character identification of each individual item of rolling stock by type, ownership and serial number. Tags are attached to the rolling stock undercarriage; antennae are installed between or adjacent to the tracks, and readers or display devices are typically located within 13 to 33 meters in a given location along with other control and communications equipment. Because the level of control is in place rail applications benefit from improved fleet utilization and reductions in rolling stock requirements optimising investment in new equipment.

North American commercial truckers are using RFID systems to monitor access to and from the terminal facilities. When linked to other equipment such as weight-in-motion scales or access control systems transactions can be recorded on the move without stopping for example refuse dumps, recycling plants, mines and similar operations. Commercial transactions at truck stops or service depots.