The “Uberization” of freight has been a topic of some discussion following the rise of the Uber taxi service. If you’re not familiar with it, Uber allows a customer to click within a smartphone app and, usually within a few minutes, an independent contractor arrives in his or her car. Prices are standardized and in […]
On paper it doesn’t make sense. How can the popular ride-sharing service Uber be worth $41 billion? The company is less than six years old. Owner operators and fleet managers who use the app from Keychain can submit offers and instantly book loads. By creating a new economy — that’s how. Its simple smartphone app connects
Article written by Wendy Leavitt Dallas. Omnitracs, LLC’s first user conference since its separation from Qualcomm, “Omnitracs Outlook 2015: Expand the possibilities,” opened here this morning just blocks from its new headquarters in downtown Dallas. Some 700 attendees packed the ballroom to learn about what the company’s business units – Roadnet Technologies, XRS, Sylectus, and Omnitracs Analytics—
Direct Freight Services, one of the largest online freight matching services in the transportation industry, and TMW Systems, a provider of transportation management software, announced the availability of new integrations between Direct Freight Services and both TMWSuite and TruckMate via the Freight Board Interface module from TMW. The new integrations are designed for use by
In the early 1990s, Jarret Hamstreet started working at his father’s trucking company as a child. As a teenager in the mid-to-late 90s, he took note of a novelty in the office: Internet-based load boards. Suddenly, small companies like his had access to a nationwide network of freight. He continued working for the family business
The world of retail shipping is being turned inside out, led by a high-tech-driven shift in goods transportation. Instead of luring shoppers to stores, stores are looking for ways to deliver merchandise directly to consumers, turning storefronts into showrooms and pickup points for goods ordered through Internet-connected computers, smart phones and other electronic devices. The
A useful feature — or curse, depending on how you see it — of shopping from large online retailers like Amazon, Target and eBay is the suggestions they give you for purchases. These appear on their websites while you shop and in advertisements on other websites. Online retailers are using “big data” to predict your
Gone are the days of limiting the information fleets can share between the office and remote systems. Because of the convergence of enterprise software, mobile systems and business analytics, the same high-powered information and analytics available to managers in the office also can be visible instantly to drivers viewing in-cab touchscreen displays. “The power of
Rand McNally announced a partnership with Getloaded, a web-based freight matching service, to provide an exclusive load board for owners of Rand McNally’s IntelliRoute TND truck GPS devices. The new service, available at a discount for TND users, will enable professional drivers to view freight available in their area for pickup, and post their truck
The Internet has given timeliness and efficiency to global data distribution. Now researchers want to do the same for physical distribution by building “The Physical Internet.” Logistics professionals face a “Grand Challenge.” Some are contemplating how to deal with it, but their efforts haven’t gone much beyond contemplation. However, the convergence of environmental and economic