Trucking is in its advanced software era. Transportation management system providers that once held a small footprint at trade shows now take up half of the show floor. These days, it’s hard to find a fleet that doesn’t rely on some form of TMS or advanced computing software.
This rapid acceleration of trucking management technology has brought along trending features and tools with each new year, such as asset tracking, predictive maintenance monitoring, and in-cab driver coaching. One of the most recent tech trends is artificial intelligence.
Actual fleets across the U.S. are leveraging AI technology within their operations, either via a TMS provider or through in-house development.
How are fleets using AI?
Fleets have approached AI from different perspectives. Some have used AI to tackle large projects, such as Dallas-based Standard Logistics, while others are starting small, such as Mississippi-based Gulf Relay.
Load planning and driver dispatch
Standard Logistics began its journey with AI by deciding on a challenge to overcome. The carrier partnered with Optimal Dynamics to improve load planning and dispatching. Together, Optimal Dynamics and Standard Logistics “implemented a tool to basically help us make the right decisions in terms of what loads we accept and what drivers we dispatch on those loads,” Volker Bargenda, president of Standard Logistics, said during a panel at the 2024 McLeod User Conference.
The AI-driven tool helps Standard Logistics decide whether to accept a load roughly 70% of the time. Of the loads that are accepted, more than 70% of them are automatically dispatched to a driver as well. This automation allows Standard Logistics’ planners to focus more time on value-added activities, such as exceptions, customer requirements, and more, Bargenda explained.
See also: How fleet leaders are embracing AI, and what’s holding them back
Repair orders and workflows
Alabama-based Action Resources sought to implement an AI solution that would help its employees become more efficient. The company uses AI to create marketing material and to help import external repair orders; it's also used by Action’s in-house web developer for coding, Jeff Cowart, Action Resources chief information officer, said.
Similarly, Mississippi-based carrier Gulf Relay considered AI solutions using a “thoughtful approach,” Ken Apple, the company’s VP of software engineering, said. The company sought AI solutions for the “low-hanging fruit,” which included planning for its growing number of power units and email optimization.
Gulf Relay’s management noticed a hefty load on employees that was ultimately tied to their inbox. The focus from there was to use AI to create a “workflow operation that sends off requests that are coming in from our shippers,” Apple said.
This has even helped Gulf Relay become more accurate with data capture, as information from shipper email data is fed straight to the AI solution rather than relying on Gulf Relay employees to manually input data into the system.
Customer communication
AI can also help fleets with customer communication. One area where Action Resources is actively looking to create an AI-generated solution is through quick, easy, and simple communications with customers.
“My developer and I have been working on a model that has some load data—nothing confidential—to where we can make it easier for a customer to just type in a chatbot, ‘Where’s the order that’s under this bill of lading number?’ without having to go to the portal and log in,” Cowart explained.
Further, Gulf Relay uses AI to automatically respond to quotes and requests for load updates, which Apple said is a low-cost way to begin AI implementation.
This goes back to Gulf Relay’s “low-hanging fruit” strategy. Instead of focusing on “big optimization projects,” Apple said Gulf Relay chose to focus on AI strategies that result in instant value. Once the value has been proven, then it’s easier to implement AI in other areas of business, he said.
See also: How AI is making fleets more efficient
AI through TMS providers
Another way fleets are using AI is by relying solely on their technology providers. One fleet, Western Express, primarily relies on its telematics provider, Motive, and its use of AI to help improve its overall fleet safety. Western Express uses dash cameras in its fleet, and prior to using Motive, managers had to manually review camera footage, classify the video, run the data on the driver to identify their trends, and then schedule a coaching session, Daniel Patterson, the company’s director of safety, told FleetOwner.
Using Motive’s AI-driven insights from dash cameras gave Western Express a more holistic view of driver behaviors, the context behind them, and whether those behaviors were frequent with that driver.
“Transitioning from ‘Hey, you had a hard brake’ conversation to ‘Hey, these are the trends that I see in your driving behavior, and these are the areas that we need to improve’—that's a really different conversation,” Patterson said. “And much more productive. You're addressing the behavior versus the outcome.”
A competitive tool
Successful AI implementation requires buy-in from management and employees. Considering the fear of workers being replaced by AI, this can be challenging. However, fleets using AI to improve operations are using the technology to complement their workforce, not take from it.
“Nobody's going to lose their job because of AI,” Standard Logistics’ Bargenda said. “You use the AI for what it’s best at. You use the team for what it’s best at."
Before implementing AI, one Action Resources staff member spent four hours assigning drivers to orders, Action’s Cowart explained. Now that the company uses AI, this staff member can complete the same task within five minutes.
“That gives her more time to work with the drivers or help out in the building or whatever else to make her job less monotonous,” Cowart said. “It also helps with employee retention.”
While AI has been a game changer for fleets, it’s ultimately just another tool to get the job done. AI is here to stay, and fleets should use it to their advantage.
