with a driver and engineer. But that doesn’t mean Uber and


other Uber-style technologies and apps aren’t finding a place in trucking and transportation. Just as UberRush is changing the way people use courier and delivery services and UberEats is modifying the way diners place takeout orders, Uber is finding ways to appeal to shippers and motor carriers. And it isn’t just Uber. Companies


throughout the industry are looking at on-demand tech to help solve chronic industry headaches. Companies like Convoy, Cargomatic and Tugforce are jockeying to be the leader in on-demand trucking, crowding the industry’s exist- ing network of freight brokers, while XPO Logistics has invested in software that more efficiently utilizes trucks and reduces fuel consumption. Logistics company C.H. Robinson


has developed shipment tracking tech- nology and an app for small-fleet car- riers.


However, one looming impact for


now seems to be on the freight broker- age side. According to the American Trucking Associations, about 10 billion tons of freight is moved by truck each year, which is around 70 percent of all freight moved in the United States. But the industry is a scattered collection of companies that includes thousands of small operators needing brokers to transact with shippers, a process in the past done mostly by phone. Cargomatic and Convoy, who don’t


shy from comparisons to Uber, aim to replace the brokers and speed up the process by putting the two parties together with apps that handle things like billing and payment. Transfix and Cargo Chief are also using algorithms to match shippers with carriers. In the Uber equation, the freight


takes the place of people. In the past, truckers and trucking


companies often spent hours calling brokers and checking load boards trying to find loads, though there was once Dial-A-Truck, which in the late 1970s used the then-revolutionary concept of a TV monitor to post notices in truck


ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2016 “IN UBER, YOU PRESS A BUTTON AND AN UBER


SHOWS UP AFTER THREE MINUTES. IN FREIGHT … THE GOLDEN STANDARD IS THAT IT TAKES [THE


BROKER] FIVE HOURS OF PHONE CALLS TO FIND YOUR TRUCK.”


—OTTO CO-FOUNDER LIOR RON


stops and has since morphed into the online marketplace DAT Solutions. Now, the load-matching apps will


overcome logistical problems and inef- ficiencies and overcome inconsistencies between shipment origin and destina- tion points, which could feasibly miti- gate existing driver shortages. The new apps connect a shipper


with a motor carrier to schedule loads at competitive prices, factoring in things like distance, size, weight, etc. To be approved, carriers are evaluated according to their financial well being, equipment, rates, reputation and other variables. Just like an Uber driver, a carrier


can use the app to accept or decline the shipping opportunity, but if it agrees the app assigns the job to a driver, cutting out the wait, forms and price haggling that have existed under the broker sys- tem.


“In Uber, you press a button and


an Uber shows up after three minutes,” Ron said. “In freight … the golden standard is that it takes [the broker] five hours of phone calls to find your truck. That’s how efficient the industry is today.” The increased efficiency — which


includes finding full loads for return trips — and transparency in the ship- ping process are desirable and are helping to drive interest in the new technology. But despite the advantages Uber and its many cousins have not yet been embraced across the board by the trucking industry and some, like Cargomatic (which endured finan- cial losses and layoffs this year) have


struggled. Traditional brokerages handle bill-


ing, tracking and tracing tasks that Uber-style linkups have not yet man- aged to perform. Also, it isn’t likely brokers will


stand idly by in the face of potential obsolescence. In a Trucks.com story by Tony Dreibus, Morningstar analyst Matt Young said you can expect brokers to keep up with the times should technol- ogy find ways to perform broker tasks that it so far can’t. “And if that did happen the broker-


age industry wouldn’t stand by and sit still,” Young said. “It is unclear what they offer the


industry that isn’t already provided by existing brokers, load boards and other similar services,” said ATA chief econo- mist Bob Costello in Trucks.com. “This seems like the broker model but with a different platform. I’m struggling to see how this is really different.” Veteran trucking company heads


may be resistant to the new wrinkles or simply see them as nothing more than a tricked out way to do the same job. Stephens Inc. transportation


analyst Jack Atkins told Reuters the complexities of the trucking industry are harder to smooth out with a few smartphone apps. He pointed out that companies shipping goods are more risk averse than someone needing a late- night lift home. “I don’t really see it as a near-term


threat, just because of how complex the industry really is,” he said. “It’s not as simple as, ‘Hey, I want to go from point A to point B in Midtown.’ “ ATR


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