Technology

Donald Broughton explores the technology economy and its impact on the overall economy.

In an ever-increasingly connected world, the ability of systems to speak to each other is critical. Fleet Complete’s CONNVEX solution is an example of an underlying system that helps that communication, including critically, between commercial vehicles and providers.

China has developed a new lithium mining process that is significantly cost effective; Lyft and Uber shares slide in the stock market; Amazon encourages employees to quit and start their delivery services.

Making carriers more productive is good business for Arrive Logistics.

Cargo Chief provides freight brokers with a booking bot that gets carrier offers, counter-bids on loads and autonomously books load on consent.

Haven is introducing a track and trace solution that is both affordable and seamless to integrate within shipping workflows.

AT&T has helped transportation companies stay ELD compliant with a telematics and driver workflow solution that improves efficiency of trucking operations.

FreightWaves has been selected as a finalist for the 2019 Red Herring Top 100 North America award.

Sustainable Shrimp Partnership has partnered with IBM to leverage blockchain and provide stakeholders end-to-end visibility into shrimp supply chains.

Convoy, a freight-matching and supply chain solutions technology company, has been named Anheuser-Busch’s Non-Asset Carrier of the Year.

Fleets must look to leverage technology to improve the quality of life and driving experience of truckers, which eventually leads to driver retention.

As the transportation industry adapts to a digital world, owner-operators to large fleets are all grappling with how to adopt new technology. “There are more technology choices than ever. Bob’s […]

Drivent is a self-driving technology company that is creating a suite of solutions that integrate with autonomous vehicles and provide exceptional user experiences.

Technology is reshaping the transportation and logistics world, bringing innovation, opportunities and threats to existing ways of doing business, journalist David Rowan, founding editor of Wired UK, said during a […]

If lab-grown meat substitutes for farm-grown meat and is commercially successful, it will lead to a drastic reduction in freight ton-miles.

Several companies focused on using technology to make the process of moving freight more efficient showcased their products during the last round of Rapid-Fire Demos at Transparency19.

Take an antiquated trillion dollar industry, machine learning and artificial intelligence, investors chasing higher yields and a few industrious solutions-oriented individuals and you get an emerging industry – high-growth freight […]

Domino’s Pizza has partnered with SingularityNET, to test decentralized AI services in an attempt to automate portions of its delivery operations.

Presented by Slync… smart investments in supply chain tech is crucial to competing.

Dolly has raised $7.5 million in Series B funding, which is expected to expedite Dolly’s entrance into new markets and also help grow its operational and technical teams.

Transplace has announced the appointment of Matthew Harding as senior vice president of data science. Harding, who rejoins Transplace after a nine-plus year stay at Chainalytics, will lead the company’s […]

The payment process can present a number of challenges within the freight industry, from dealing with errors in invoices to managing and protecting the sensitivity of the data they contain. […]

Truckload freight capacity is the most highly fragmented, difficult-to-manage market segment in the transportation industry. Some 80 percent of available over-the-road truckload capacity is provided by hundreds of thousands of […]

Kuebix has now integrated Emerge’s private freight matching marketplace into its platform, allowing its users to access broader truckload capacity for their shipping needs.

Convoy has worked closely with shippers on various projects, including its Convoy Go program that gives owner-operators access to drop-and-hook freight. It has now formalized those efforts in the Innovation Lab.

C.H. Robinson officials said their business model and technology has allowed the company to adapt through multiple cycles.

EDI, API, or both? Which option is best for you? Today’s infographic, in partnership with Roadrunner Freight, looks to help you decide. 

Though blockchain looks to be promising, companies are still not convinced on the trustability of a blockchain network and it would take more than a few pilots to persuade stakeholders to join together on a single common decentralized ledger.

Nick Brown, head of marine at classification society Lloyd’s Register, is at the front lines of ocean shipping’s technological evolution. He explains how he sees this transformation playing out.

Fleets are rapidly deploying video solutions, finally convinced of their benefits, and Trimble is one of the companies benefiting from this.

Coretex supplies fleet management solutions. Known for its refrigerated trailing monitoring capabilities, the company has recently expanded more into the cab with a new ELD and other services.

Amazon bowing out of China; U.S. doubles oil exports in 2018; electric scooters bite into dockless bike sharing market.

Convoy is looking to help owner-operators and small fleets get access to drop-and-hook freight with a nationwide rollout of Convoy Go.

STORD simplifies the distribution experience of shippers by networking with warehouses and carriers, and providing shippers with warehousing capacity and transportation based on their needs.

FleetZoo is a delivery and service optimization startup that is solving the last-mile problem by providing a solution that lets companies optimize and visualize all their delivery routes in a matter of minutes.

Bolt System has introduced a new driver app that is designed to streamline paperwork processes and improve the overall driver experience.

Nikola Motors has the potential to disrupt the freight industry by building hydrogen fuel powered trucks and by setting up hydrogen fuel stations all across North America.

Flowspace helps companies source on-demand warehousing space, allowing them to scale up rapidly and concentrate on gaining more customers, rather than stagnate with the burden of finding warehouses to stock products.

A recent article in Landline Magazine suggested that Truckstop.com’s new VC partner could merge the load board with Convoy or Uber Freight. This is unlikely to happen.

Providers are in the process of shutting down older 3G cellular networks, and that means the fleets running equipment on these networks could see disruptions.

In partnership with Reliance Partners …Data analytics and machine learning can help companies irrespective of the size of their data sets, as long as the data being captured is of good quality and is specific to the required operational needs.

Inxeption introduces Zippy Freight, a new service that helps B2B merchants get shipping costs and complexity under control and obtain flexible logistics options.

E-commerce has changed consumer buying habits, but it has also changed the supply chain for less-than-truckload carriers, who have had to adapt in various ways to keep pace.

sennder has raised investment to expand its digital freight markeplace footprint across Europe.

Truck Parking Europe displays more than 34,000 parking spaces across Europe, and has over a million downloads on its smartphone application.

Sabrewing Aircraft Company has developed an unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) cargo aircraft that is now closer to being a commercial reality, with it getting an order for 10 aircraft from the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island (ACSPI).

Shipwell has introduced a digital loadboard for shippers and carriers, where shippers can bid on loads or instantly book shipments with a “book now” functionality.

Breakout List curates a list of startups that have a high possibility of success, thus making it easier for startup-inclined people to choose a company they would want to work in.

Fast Radius, a leading manufacturing technology company, has announced its Series B financing round of $48 million led by UPS, with strong insider participation from Drive Capital.

Becoming a Shipper of Choice requires many steps and processes, but it starts with communication, trust and building a relationship.

A new survey of small fleets and owner-operators found they would like to utilize many of the same tools larger fleets do to control costs, including more technology like predictive maintenance.

Having the right visibility into the supply chain not only requires having the right TMS system, but also the right design of your networks.

The European Union (EU) is looking to introduce several mandatory safety features in new vehicles from 2022, which would include technology that limits speed and cautions drivers on hazardous road conditions in order to reduce accidents due to speeding.

Navistar’s Steve Gilligan discussed several technological opportunities for truck makers, including autonomous and electric trucks, during this week’s ACT Research conference.

India-based logistics startup Delhivery has secured $413 million in new funding with Japan’s SoftBank leading the round.

Several logistics and transportation software providers claim to have machine learning capabilities, but in many cases, the results don’t match the hype.

Hwy Haul is a freight logistics startup that uses data science and optimization algorithms to connect carrier capacity with freight volumes over a digital trucking marketplace.

Drone Delivery Canada’s expanded offering brings C$10 million – a month after announcement of long-range Condor model.

Kenya-based startup Lori has built a logistics platform that is revolutionising the cargo-transport value chain in Africa by seamlessly connecting cargo owners, shippers and transporters via a digital freight marketplace.

Kargo Technologies is an online freight logistics marketplace that connects commercial shippers with truckers across Indonesia.

Israeli-based maritime startup Orca AI provides uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to prevent ships from colliding with obstacles while at sea.

First stop: the Netherlands.

I.D. Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDSY) announced its acquisition of Pointer Telocation Ltd. (NASDAQ: PNTR; TASE: PNTR) on March 14 in a transaction valued at approximately $140 million.

Through this acquisition, Omnitracs will work towards creating a truly unified driver experience through its next release Omnitracs One, expected to be unveiled late this year.

In partnership with Reliance Partners …Speeding has been one of the single largest causes for road accidents. Today, technology can learn from data on dangerous driving behavior to help drivers modify their risky traits via consistent and positive feedback.

Recently uncovered case files from the Waymo vs Otto trade secret theft case, reveal Uber’s optimism with self-driving cars in 2016, which included the company envision running 75,000 self-driving vehicles across 13 cities by 2022.

Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) has published its inaugural blockchain standards, with the consortium trusting the framework would act as a springboard for companies within the industry to develop blockchain-related applications.

Cities witness an increasing number of smart and connected vehicles on its roads, making it extremely crucial for the transportation ecosystem to wake up to the reality of auto cyberattacks.

Volvo has started testing connected vehicle technology in California, plus Michigan governor pitches fuel tax hike, California legislator wants to phase out diesel engines and Alibaba buys into delivery company.

Technology is quickly turning vehicles into mobile communications devices and that always-on connectivity is driving new efficiencies for fleets of all sizes.

MatchBack Systems provides an innovative approach to manage shipping container costs and improve efficiency optimization through the use of matchbacks.

Modern transportation management systems (TMS) have lowered the cost while increasing the power of the solutions, opening doors for shippers of all sizes to benefit.

OLIMP is a platform that connects shippers and carriers to provide cross docking, on demand warehousing and last mile delivery. 

Tesla’s V3 Supercharging station discharges 250 kW; Italy’s olive-oil industry is facing an agrarian crisis; Americans are abandoning public transit; French port of Marseille-Fos has joined a blockchain pilot program.

An Indianapolis construction fleet has leveraged Verizon Connect’s telematics solution to drive more efficiencies in dispatching, maintenance and fuel tax rebates for off-road diesel use.

International and Mack both announced new service offerings designed to improve the customer experience and operational effectiveness of their respective vehicles.

Last-mile delivery network aggregator Shipsi announced a new roster of ecommerce and retail partners across the U.S. to support and fuel its march towards the future of retail.

BLOC recently collaborated with mining company BHP, Japanese shipping company NYK, and biofuel company GoodFuels, to deliver sustainable biofuel to the BHP-chartered, NYK-owned bulk carrier – all via BLOC’s blockchain fuels assurance platform.

Happy Returns has unveiled a self-service return solution that would allow shoppers to return items at the storefront – eliminating the need for them to return items through a laborious mail process that is the norm today.

Truck Spot is an app that helps truckers sub-lease parking spots on an hourly or daily basis and make sure they do not run out of options to park their trucks at the end of their HOS, or when they want to take a break.

Transportation-as-a-service will have a huge 2019, and Lyft is kicking it off.

Technologies can help prevent rollovers, but a new startup company believes influencing driver behavior is the best approach to preventing rollovers.

Worklete helps frontline workers in the logistics ecosystem to avoid workplace injuries by focusing on their body movement and the way they interact with the environment.

In partnership with Reliance Partners …Cargo theft is a threat for warehousing operations, and visualizing floor operations using 3D interactive maps could be a easier way out for security to pinpoint locations and movement of items in the warehouse space.

dexFreight introduced the Early Adopters Program, through which companies that sign up will have exclusive access to early release versions of the dexFreight platform, and have the opportunity to interact with dexFreight’s development and product teams. 

Onfleet won the first annual RTech supply chain innovation award for its online dashboard application. The application’s software assists businesses to manage in-house deliveries, as well as managing outsourced last-mile deliveries.

As the U.S. government works to ease restrictions on where drones can fly, they could become an attractive target for hackers.

Project44 announced on February 25 that it had partnered with U.S. Bankcorp (NYSE: USB) to integrate its Advanced Visibility Platform into U.S. Bank’s freight payment solution. The announcement was made at the 2019 Link retail supply chain conference in Orlando.

Redwood Logistics spoke on the importance of technology in the retail supply chain at the 2019 LINK supply chain conference in Orlando.

Trella is a Cairo-based startup that is looking to optimize truckers’ routes so they’re no longer driving empty by connecting them with shippers across Egypt.

Convey showcased its self-service delivery appointment scheduling platform at the 2019 LINK supply chain conference in Orlando.

Cold supply chains suffer from opacity in their operations, which could turn disastrous especially during handoffs – when products are left unattended and might slip out of the prescribed conditions it needs to be stored under. Technology like IoT sensors and blockchain could help companies to monitor their cargo movement better.

Sponsored by Redwood LogisticsThe deployment of technology solutions requires many steps, but using a provider that offers an open systems architecture approach can help ease the transition, eliminating both time and cost.

Microdea is an Ontario-based company that digitalizes documentation and automates back office processes to make them more efficient, seamless, and less wasteful.

It is said that moving freight is all about relationships. If that is true, what value does a routing guide provide? A great deal, it turns out.

US Xpress (NYSE: USX) showcased its competency-aligned driver simulator program at the 2019 LINK supply chain conference in Orlando.

Today, everything about your business – your brand, all your customer sales and service interactions, your transparency and accessibility – are part of the consideration set of the customer, and that means a different approach to selling.

At least 40 percent of drivers are still using AOBRDs, and nearly 80 percent of those don’t plan to switch to ELDs until the second half of 2019, just ahead of the deadline.

Unpredictable demand, expectations of a high service level, and labor scarcity are the most significant challenges that face logistics today, and it is crucial for warehouses to face up to it by having the right mix of automation and human resources on its floor.