The restless connection of Trucking with New Tech

When Jared first started transporting cargo more than two decades ago, he did not expect to be on a country star tour, drawing guitars, amplifiers and other pieces of equipment on stage.

“It just happened, the exact place, the exact time,” explains the Canadian driver, who prefers not to use his last name, explains behind the wheel of the tuft.

“I made 5,000 miles a month and a half, but this year there are many breaks.”

But while vacationing between driving to shows in New Jersey, New York, Toronto and Nashville, Jared will scan multiple screens in his cabin – laptop, tablet and two smart phones – to provide more work. All became possible through new technology.

This is a world far from his early career when he transports fruits and wine, he explains.

“The day you had to sit by a typhoon if you were on the way and start calling people you worked with and then you’ll have a pager.

“Today you just turn on your devices and scan the possible work. Everything is digital and you pay you immediately. It’s much better for business.”

The change is conditioned by “Uberised” platforms, digitally coinciding with trucks with companies that need to move loads. The phrase was introduced because of the similarity to the driving application.

While Jared agrees that this has facilitated things, the truck driver says he has led to the salaries.

“During Covid, the average was $ 3 (£ 2.24) per mile, today with some loads from Toronto to Los Angeles, which is $ 1.10 per mile.”

Not to mention, he says, the growing price of fuel.

Eight main platforms have emerged in Canada, including Uber loads to digitize the cargo market.

Like the Taxi app, they take advantage of a fragmented market, dominated by smaller players, with 2023 suggesting that more than eight in 10 cars and freight companies in Canada work less than five people.

Christopher Monet from Teamsters Canada told the BBC that the Canadian union, representing over 130,000 members, including trucks, has “deep concerns about efforts for” Uberise “on the cargo sector.

“Salaries in Canada have remained a large extent to stagnate in the last 25 years, and the rise of concert-style work is even worse,” he said, adding that “larger, commonly united carriers working responsibly by investing in safety, training and decent working conditions are at risk.”

“Trucks do not need any other application. We need more strong protection and bigger salaries.”

Asked, Uber Freight does not directly deal with the issue of salaries and prices.

Instead, a spokesman said: “Flexibility, transparency and choice are built directly into our platform.

“Carriers can search for loads based on their preferences, such as tape, type of equipment, goods and schedule, and either book immediately at a listed price or send a rate for a rate that is better brought to accordance with their needs.

In the transportation industry, the tape refers to a regularly traveled route.

“Our platform also uses real -time market data and AI -powered recommendations to help carriers make the most of their time on the road,” the spokesman said.

Vancouver-based Freightera is one of the largest players when it comes to digital cargo services in Canada.

Co -founder Eric Bequit meets me at a point overlooking the scattered port of the city, where the rising orange cranes move brightly colored containers against the background of mountains with snowy.

When he started the company in 2014, there were no applications for Canadian companies.

The service he has developed allows drivers and customers to look for 20 billion regular loading routes, which, according to him, can be made in “five or 10 seconds”.

He points out that unlike other platforms, Freightera does not set prices.

“In Freightera, carriers determine their own price. We ask them what they need to be healthy and profitable on each lane and they determine the price.”

G -N -Bekwit says the service was good for carriage. Before the services like him came, finding a job or even the best route was like “finding a needle in hay,” explains the Freightera chief.

“Carriers really appreciate the reliable demand for Freightera service, which is growing every year, right through Covid, then inflation, and the current cargo recession, one of the largest narrow cargo in the city center,” he says.

The company is now developing AI to accelerate complex reservations: “digging through noisy, scattered documents, fine printing and inconsistent rules – things like missing documents, unexpected fees or route problem that could discard delivery.”

G -N -Beckwitt also dreams of a fully automated cargo industry, “40 years from now”, where AI will control global loads.

“Automatic misappropriation of networks with low capacity and allows complete transparency, tracking and even trading as they travel.”

Digital vehicle services have been hired worldwide.

Kenya relies heavily on road loads, so she has covered the new technology.

“More than 75% of the internal freight freight is moving along the road and in many cases it is the only available way of transport,” says Jean-Claude Homawoo, co-founder of the largest digitized cargo platform in Africa, Lori.

After starting in 2016, Lori increased its network to 20,000 trucks. He does not own vehicles, but manages them digitally, trying to ensure that the trucks are not idle and do not return home empty.

At that time, he says, “There are certain routes like Mombasa to Campal in Uganda, where we loaded so many trucks that the price of a full load has fallen.”

If the trucks find a job that requires less driving without loads, then they should use less fuel.

And this can be useful for reducing the contribution of the carbon dioxide emission industry (CO2).

The truck represents more than half of the CO2 emissions within the trade -related transport, According to a McKinsey report of 2022.S

G -N -Bekwit is convinced that technology like his is the answer.

“It’s just the more energy efficient and the more cost-effective,” he adds.

A form of AI can help drivers find a job, but one day it can put them without a job.

In April, a sales truck without drivers started the US highway for the first time, run by the US -based technology company Aurora.

In China, truck fleets without a driver They are currently working on test routes across the country.

“The technology is there,” explains Freightera Bequit. “It’s just that we trust to get rid of the roads. And there are obviously bureaucratic obstacles along the way and bureaucracy.”

For the truck, however, the self -driving cargo is still a distant perspective.

“Transport has existed for hundreds of years. It will not end with people who are worried about driving alone, this will not happen soon.”