As the course of 2018 has taken its course, and technology has planted its flag in the center of the capacity crunch, as well as one of the most intense economic boom cycles in history, we’ve begun to see the emergence of applications that are actually driver friendly. We’ve long known that metrics can help executives and managers ready and willing to dig into the data. We’ve been waiting to see how much the learning curve would become a boon for drivers.
It’s slowly but surely starting to happen, and one such example is BigRoad Freight, an offering from BigRoad (a Fleet Complete company). Today, they’re announcing the launch of a set of new features that give drivers even more power and flexibility. Users now have access to personalized load boards, load searching, and truck posting within the BigRoad app, giving drivers more control over the shipments they choose.
“We’ve been analyzing very closely what long-haul drivers really need, and what we can do to make booking freight as quick and easy as possible,” noted Grant Cleland, director of sales at BigRoad. “We believe our new tailored load-matching platform does that better than any other we’ve seen.”
BigRoad was a pioneer telematics company, one of the very earliest to launch in-app load matching, build on-vehicle data, and artificial intelligence learning that hones into hours-of-service metrics. The company has been striving to identify enhancements that go beyond recommendations. The new BigRoad Freight load board is a curated list of top 10 loads, personalized to each driver and based on their unique criteria, including vehicle type, weight and HOS availability. It puts load searching on a new level, where the power of finding loads is in the hands of the drivers.
“We know drivers are busy, and we’re sensitive to that,” explains Cleland. “Now, they can tell us the next time they will be empty, and we’ll search shipments for them beforehand to help ensure their trips are always profitable. Our service puts in the work, so that the drivers don’t have to.”
Dubbed BigRoad Freight 2.0, the new service will be launched directly from the BigRoad app, giving drivers access to the shipments they want, whenever they want, and get paid fast. Beyond the ability to search loads, post availability and view a curated list of loads, BigRoad Freight is committed to getting drivers paid early and bid on shipments.
“We find that there are few solutions in the market today that truly empower the driver. That’s what we wanted this to be about,” says Tony Lourakis, CEO of Fleet Complete. “Negotiating, getting paid, and finding freight needs to be a couple of taps away. This is the future of freight. We want to create simplicity, improve speed and asset utilization, and establish transparency in shipper-carrier relations to benefit all parties involved – particularly the drivers.”