Uber Freight's "Powerloop" since 2018 has offered a trailer pool and power-only loads with the tech giant's freight matching magic working in the background to find operators market-rate hauls from A to B, and even from B back to A, all with trailers leased and maintained by the company itself.
But now the company is rolling out "dedicated tours" with Powerloop, which Uber Freight VP of Operations Alyssa Correale called "multi-customer, multiple loads over multiple days consisting of about one week's worth of loads," all played out on Powerloop trailers with Uber's planning.
Correale said Uber "partnered with an AI decision-making company called Optimal Dynamics," which is on "the leading edge of utility optimization for the trucking industry" to help scan all the loads in the system and build a "highly optimized tour" for the hauler.
She hopes the new offering will bring all the best aspects of dedicated freight, steady miles and predictable schedules, with the best of spot market wheeling and dealing. "Uber Freight optimizes each tour to ensure every mile is maximized. Rather than a simple headhaul and backhaul structure, the program strings multiple loads together, reducing empty miles and increasing earning potential. It also suggests return loads that match a carrier’s route," the company said in a release.
Interestingly, the dedicated tours are compensation on a percentage model, she said, which ramps up as carriers run more miles.
"It’s percent of total revenue on every single load," said Correale. "The more loaded miles the carrier runs the more they’ll make, and the more miles they run the higher the percentage of that revenue that they’ll make," which she hopes will "incentivize carriers to run the optimal tours."
Also, carriers can drop in and out of the dedicated tour as they please, she said. Trailer leasing through Powerloop is just $50 per day per trailer when they're off the tour, which "gives them a lot of flexibility," she said.
The company can work with all manner of fleet sizes, she added. "Some of the largest fleets in the country deployed 20-30" on the dedicated tours, but she still sees a "strong value proposition for the owner-operator and small fleet."
Right now she said there's about 100 trucks in the program, and over the next two months, all Uber Freight carrier users will be able to see the dedicated tours. "About 25% of trucking capacity is owner-operator or very small fleet, so our objective really is to get outreach to the smaller carriers with proof this thing is working and getting revenue," she said.
The AI-powered decision-making tool scans the entire Uber Freight network every eight minutes, looking for the "highest revenue tours possible," she said. If rates change during a tour and spot rates go up, the dedicated tours AI decision maker will pull in those updates as well. Uber has a dedicated support team available 24/7 for carriers as well.
Elsewhere at Uber, the "Broker Access" tool that drew some criticism from fellow brokers continues to grow, said VP of Emerging Products & Business Development Brooks McMahon. Since launching in November, Broker Access is about five times the size, with small and mid-size brokers flocking to the freight marketplace.
"Smaller brokers use our portal to track" shipments and generate "rate estimates on the shipments," McMahon said. Broker Access works through TMS integrations with brokers, mostly -- notably through Parade, a common capacity management solution for brokerages.
The program intends to point big shippers and brokers toward smaller fleets, said McMahon, ultimately: "Carriers are having a good experience getting on and booking loads."
[Related: Uber Freight launched what sounds like a load board -- or is it 'double brokering'?]
