News / AI helps Uber Freight to broaden its reach with SaaS offerings

© Timon Schneider

Uber Freight has ambitions beyond digital freight brokerage and transport management, releasing a raft of new products and services that position it as a software as a service (SaaS) provider.

The operator has spent $120m on new developments, chiefly on the technology side. According to management, this drive is “focused heavily on scaling enterprise applications that span logistics software solutions, generative AI and data-enabled insights tools, as well as innovative capacity and mode expansions”.

Lior Ron, founder and CEO, described the move as part of a transition from a freight brokerage into a provider of software solutions in a push to develop SaaS as an additional revenue stream.

In part, this is a logical evolution, but it also broadens Uber Freight’s business beyond freight brokerage to a full enterprise suite of supply chain and logistics functionality. Mr Ron noted that as freight brokerages were struggling, diversification into other elements should help Uber cope with the headwinds in its historical core business.

Brokerages have felt the downturn in the trucking sector. In Q2, Uber Freight saw a loss of $14m, before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, following a $5m profit a year earlier.

The flagship development the firm unveiled is Insights AI, an AI-powered tool that leverages Uber Freight’s vast reservoir of data to “offer new insights within seconds”, such as information on routes with poor on-time performance and the likely causes, or locations, where a company incurs higher charges than its competitors. The software also generates insights and suggestions without prompts.

For Uber Freight, the launch of Insights AI marks a step in a transformative journey where AI becomes integrated into every facet of its operation that will help customers improve supply chain decision-making.

“This allows us to move from reactive to proactive to predictive,” said Mr Ron.

The second new product is a procurement tool, Uber Freight Exchange, a platform open to all shippers and carriers that features simple bid functionality and historical performance recording and allows shippers to run freight auctions.

A lot of Uber’s technology development has concentrated on a comprehensive update of its transport management system (TMS), introduced by Transplace in 2005. Apart from making it intuitive and easy to use, the update has expanded it into an “all-in-one solution for planning, executing and monitoring complex logistics operations across modes and regions” that provides end-to-end visibility in all modes of transport.

But this does not mean Uber Freight is entering into forwarding, explained Mr Ron. “Our bread and butter is transport, managed transport, brokerage – not freight forwarding,” he said, adding that shippers had a need for end-to-end visibility in other modes, which Uber Freight now provides in its TMS.

In response to surging demand for drop-and-hook and dedicated capacity solutions, Uber Freight is expanding its Powerloop programme beyond the three states where it has been on offer so far – California, Texas and Georgia. The footprint has been extended to 17 more states, including New York, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Powerloop allows fleets and shippers to engage with trailer pools to allow truckers to simply drop a load on a trailer. According to Mr Ron, it has been one of Uber’s most requested features.

But for all the emphasis on technology, Mr Ron stressed the importance of matching it with human expertise, noting that the acquisition of transport management firm Transplace two years ago had been transformative for the development of Uber Freight and its offerings.

“There’s always a dedicated human in the loop,” he said.

This also shows in the geographic expansion of the company. In response to the surge in business in Mexico – driven by near-shoring, which often involves multiple cross-border moves in both directions – it has ramped up its presence in the region to six cross-border locations and 1,000 employees.