Artificial Intelligence, for decades, has been one of those buzzwords that people throw around, yet it doesn't mean much. Only in the last few years has AI stepped up to some menial tasks, one of which, according to Tapan Chaudhari, includes running those annoying check calls for big brokers.
"Yes, AI is doing check calls," said Chaudhari, presenting his new Austin, Texas-based "Hey Bubba" AI product at the Mid-America Trucking Show in late March. "AI is also doing carrier onboarding" for brokers now. "So when you call a broker, sometimes it's not a person picking up your call, it's an AI asking for basic info like your MC number."
Not just the phones, either. AI handles a lot of email responses and sometimes even books loads, according to Chaudhari. That's all thanks to a generation of "new AI" that's fed a steady diet of language and media to convincingly impersonate the way people really talk and do business, he said.
For owner-operators and small fleets, who already have a hard enough time getting through to some of these mega brokers, "that means more calls and emails for you and more of a hassle!" Chaudhari said.
Here's his pitch, in essence: Fight fire with fire.
"You need your own AI. If you need to answer an AI bot, you need an AI bot" of your own, said Chaudhari.
That's where a little blue fellow with a mustache steps in, that's Bubba, Chaudhari's AI bot. The new "Hey Bubba" tool he calls "the industry's first-ever Voice AI Dispatcher designed exclusively for owner-operators and small fleets.
"Just like 'hey Siri,' you onboard 'Hey Bubba' with your own details, and it can handle the calls for you outgoing and incoming with everything done through the new AI," which he says "can beautifully construct email or phone conversations."
Chaudhari showed a demo video with Bubba calling brokers and inquiring about loads and giving, for example, the carrier's MC number and the truck's VIN, maybe an ETA and location, to a broker's AI bot.
“Hey Bubba, show me loads from Chicago,” an owner-op tells the bot in the video.
“Great news, I found 120 loads,“ Bubba replies in a clear voice Chaudhari calls "white-collar English."
“No deadheading, got some backhauls lined up for you,“ Bubba continues.
“Call the broker for this load," the owner-op instructs. Then, with the owner-op's revenue goals ingested, Bubba actually calls the broker to negotiate the load.
Of course, it's an AI assistant, so the owner-operator ultimately still accepts, declines or counter-offers on every load -- it's just facilitated by Bubba. If the negotiation goes nowhere, tell Bubba to drop the call and it will make some polite excuse to hang up.
Owner-ops can configure Bubba to get their desired home time, Chaudhari added.
[Related: Uber Freight offering 'dedicated tours': Week-long AI-optimized hauls]
For now, owner-operators can visit HeyBubba.ai and try out the service for free for three months. One owner-operator in attendance for Chaudhari's presentation noted he looked forward to at least trying it out for the free period.
After those three months, Chaudhari said, he intends to have Bubba charge a perhaps 2% fee for the loads Bubba books for the driver, but the AI-assistant functions, like answering those check calls or being a voice-powered assistant to call brokers for you, will remain free.
"We are not planning a paid subscription," he said -- Chauhari, that is, not Bubba. "This is purely based on output. If Bubba can deliver, then you pay.. Our promise is we will never make a single dime from brokers or shippers. We're loyal to our truckers. ... This is a partnership to make sure we get better freight for them."
All the owner-operator needs is "a valid MC and DOT number," and the FMCSA-registered email connected to those numbers, to validate "that you’re an actual carrier not some outsourced dispatch company," said Chaudhari.
Owners can connect their own load boards to Bubba, which will scan them and present the operator with options.
"If you also get a lot of emails with email inquiries" about loads, "Bubba loves emails -- it can read the emails and show the loads," he said.
Right now, Bubba has its own load board with "20,000-30,000 loads a day, and it’s growing," he added. The loads are sourced "directly from brokers and shippers." In the near future, Bubba hopes to connect with DAT, Truckstop, and every other load board, but operators can still say, "Hey Bubba I found this load on DAT please call the broker" and have the AI assist on the outside load as well.
Bubba also has features to help you run the back office.
"Bubba can pull reports quarterly or monthly" or even on a daily basis, Chaudhari said. It can keep tracks of which loads are delivered, paid, or pending payment, too. "Bubba provides a complete P&L at the end of month, year, or quarter, even if it’s not booked directly" through the Bubba-associated load boards. "As long as it shows up in your email, we'll pick it up and we will show you."
Chaudhari stressed that even with all the AI, Bubba will never share your personal data and that the company has a 24/7 support line. All its employees work in the U.S.
[Related: Load board outsourcing customer service, other functions in part to U.S. teams, India, Philippines]
