Difficult relationships of trucks with new technology

When Jared first started transporting more than two decades ago, he did not foresee that there would be a tour of country music, pulling guitar, amplifiers and other works on stage.

“It happened, the right place, it takes time,” the Canadian driver, who prefers not to use his last name, explains from the steering wheel of his exalting truck.

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

But during the vacation between the show in New Jersey, New York, Toronto and Nashville Jared will scan a few screens in their cabin – a laptop, a tablet and two smartphones – to ensure more work. All this was made possible by new technologies.

It is a world far from his early career when he was carrying fruits and wine, he explains.

“Even on the day you were to sit on the phone and start calling the people you worked with, and then you will have a pager.

“Today you just turn your devices and look at the possible work. It’s all digital and you are instantly paid. It’s much better for business.”

The changes were due to the “Uberized” platforms, which correspond to truckers with companies that should move the cargo. The phrase was invented because of the resemblance to the visiting addition.

While Jared agrees that it has facilitated everything, the truck driver says it has led to a drop in wages.

“During the COVID average, he was 3 (2.24 pounds) per mile, today on some loads from Toronto in Los -Angeles, which is $ 1.10 per mile.”

Not to mention the increase in the value of fuel.

Eight major platforms appeared in Canada, including Uber Freight, which were digitized by the cargo market.

Like the taxi app, they use a fragmented market where small players prevail, and 2023 data suggest that more than eight of 10 trucks and freight firms in Canada work less than five people.

Christopher Monnet with Teamsters Canada told the BBC that the Canadian union representing more than 130,000 members, including truckers, has “deep concern in the” Uberise “sector.

“The wages in Canada remained largely stagnant over the last 25 years, and GIG-style growth intends to make it still worse,” he said, adding that “more broad, often union carriers who work responsibly, investing in safety, training and decent working conditions.”

“The truckers do not need another application. We need stronger protection and big salaries.”

Asked, Uber Freight did not address the issue of wages and prices directly.

Instead, the press secretary said: “Flexibility, transparency and choice are built directly into our platform.

“Carriers can look for loads based on their advantages such as strip, type of equipment, goods and schedules, and either order instantly at the list, or apply for a rate that better meets their needs.

In the cargo area, the track refers to a regular passage route.

“Our platform also uses real-time market data and recommendations that work on AI to help carriers use its time on the road,” the spokesman said.

Ferker, based in Vancouver, is one of the largest players when it comes to digital motor vehicles in Canada.

Co -founder Eric Beckwit meets me at a point with a wide port of the city, where orange cranes are moving brightly colored containers against the background of snow mountains.

When he launched the company in 2014, there were no carpets for Canadian companies.

The service he developed allows drivers and clients to look for 20 billion regular cargo routes, which, he said, can be made in “five or 10 seconds”.

He emphasizes that, unlike other platforms, Freighilena does not set prices.

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

Mr. Beckwit says the service was good for trucks. Before such services came, job search or even the best route was like a “needle search in a haystack”, explains Boss Faiker.

“Carriers really evaluate the reliable demand of feroker for services that grew up every year, directly through COVID, afterwards and the current cargo recession, one of the largest freight cities,” he says.

Now the company is developing AI to speed up complex orders: “Digging noisy, dirty documents, small printing and contradictory rules – things such as missed documents, unexpected fees or routing problem that may refuse delivery.”

Mr. Beckwit also dreams of a fully automated freight industry, “40 years from now” where AI controls global cargo.

“The automatic purpose of cargo networks with the lowest capacity and allowing complete transparency, tracking and even trade while they go.”

Digital trucks are operating worldwide.

Kenya relies on the road, so she accepted a new technique.

“More than 75% of internal cargoes are moving along the road, and in many cases it is the only accessible way to transport,” says Jean-Claude Homova, co-founder of the largest African African platform, Laurie.

Since the launch in 2016, Laurie has grown to 20,000 trucks. It does not own vehicles, but controls them digitally, trying to make sure the trucks are not out of work and not return home empty.

At this time, he says: “There are certain routes, such as Mombasba in Camball in Uganda, where we downloaded so many trucks that the price of the full truck has fallen.”

If truckers find a job that requires less control without cargo, they should use less fuel.

And it can be useful for reducing the industry’s gas emission (CO2).

Transhales make up more than half the CO2 emissions as part of the transport associated with trading, According to McKing’s report 2022.

Mr. Beckwit is convinced that the technique, like him, is the answer.

“It’s just much more energy efficient and much more economical,” he adds.

One form of II can help drivers find a job and the other can once give up work.

In April, a commercial truck without drivers first went to the American highway, run by Aurora technology company based in the United States.

In China, Navy car trucks Testing routes across the country are currently working on.

“There is technology,” explains Mr. Bekwit Feroker. “It’s simple, or we trust it to be released on the roads. And obviously there are bureaucratic obstacles on the road and red tape.”

For the trucker Jared, however, the self-driving cargo still remains a long perspective.

“Transport has been around for hundreds of years. It will not end with people who are worried about truck government, it will not happen soon.”