More Tech Firms Target Trucking With Uber-like Shipping Model
TruckerPathVentures to develop mobile freight-movement applications continue to increase in the trucking industry as competitors seek to capitalize on technology that matches carriers and shippers faster and at lower costs.
The latest entrants include Trucker Path Inc., Cargo Chief and Truckerline, Next Trucking Inc. and TruckPad. Other recent announcements included new funding for Transfix and new market focus for Traansmission. Cargomatic, Convoy, On the Move Systems and spot-market player LaneHoney previously have signaled their intentions to enter the market.
Efforts to apply the Uber ap-proach (which links passengers with auto drivers) to the $700 billion freight market will encounter opportunities and challenges, according to industry experts. Challenges include licensing, regulation, industry expertise and driver acceptance.
“People hear a message about Uber for truckload and think it looks cool. They want to take a hot technology and go with the marketing spin,” said Geoff Milsom, a director at consultant enVista.
Implementation has been slow, he said, due to larger carriers and shippers shunning mobile apps because they prefer long-standing relationships. However, he said, apps could benefit progressive brokers by speeding transactions and help small carriers without dispatchers to find freight.
Truckloads, the app unveiled by Trucker Path last week, is in beta testing for iOS and Android users with more than 400 brokers posting nearly 100,000 loads daily. The app is slated to be operational in a few months, Vice President of Strategy Charles Myers told Transport Topics.
“One of the main things we have to do is to get a lot of human intervention out of the process to speed up transactions,” Myers said.
Trucker Path, which has raised $21.5 million in funding, is targeting load-board freight, making up about 20% of brokers’ loads, and 80% of their repeat business, offering a service that’s intended to improve third parties’ efficiency.
The Campbell, California-based company intends to leverage its existing Trucker Path Pro navigation aids app, which has more than 400,000 active users, to build driver participation in its new ventures.
“Our ultimate goal is to provide the over-the-road trucking community with a complete suite of apps and Web-based tools,” Myers said.
Targeted for next year, the marketplace will offer insurance, rating and other information and create interactions with TMS systems used by brokers, Myers said.
Next Trucking just began operations a month ago, seeking to connect owner-operators and small fleets directly with shippers. Paul Montha, director of sales and business operations, declined to say how many carriers and customers use the app because the business is so new.
The driver focus is designed “to get the type of job they want at the rates they want” by allowing drivers to enter preferred destinations and pricing, he said, adding that drivers are pre-qualified.
The Los Angeles-based company is trying to differentiate itself by connecting directly with drivers to help them avoid contact with brokers they don’t know.
Carlos Mira, president of Sao Paulo-based TruckPad, said the technology is used by 5,000 companies in Brazil. It is focused on direct connections between shippers and drivers and is in use by Brazil’s largest beverage companies, based on driver location and pickup times.
“We would like to begin operating here,” Mira said, referencing a U.S. startup as soon as January.
Meanwhile, broker Cargo Chief an-nounced a linkup with Truckerline, a mobile app drivers can use to enhance their marketability to companies.
Cargo Chief, which is based in Mountain View, California, said in a statement that it uses “patented, proprietary aggregation and machine-learning technology to find inefficiencies in the transportation process and source thousands of loads from shippers on a daily basis.”
Truckerline CEO Chad Cashin said connecting drivers “with Cargo Chief’s network and intelligent business tools will give them more options to control their own destiny.”
In addition, Transfix reported $12 million in Series A funding led by Canvas Ventures and three other companies. New York-based Transfix targets reduction of empty miles with algorithms that match freight with trucks based on location.
Ben Narasin, partner at Portola Valley, California-based Canvas, said in a Nov. 10 statement that Transfix’s app is “an exponential leap in technology” and an “existential threat to the entire ecosystem of 30,000 truckload brokers.”
Transfix evolved from family brokerage firm Priority Distribution Inc., where Drew McElroy was president for six years before becoming co-founder of Transfix.
Traansmission co-founder Jason Cahill shifted the company to working with brokers and focusing more on drivers’ needs after initially trying to match freight and drivers directly.
“There has to be underlying trust,” he told TT. “Uber users don’t care what the taxi driver looks like. Any shipper and driver worth their slat cares about moving the freight.”
Brooklyn, New York-based Traansmission works with more than 100 brokers and about 400 carriers, focusing on fleets with 100 to 200 units rather than the smaller operators.
