Our Senior Vice President of Information Technology gained a new perspective after a ride along with a U.S. Xpress driver.

Technology teams exist for more than just the typical tech support function. In trucking, it’s our responsibility to make sure the driver experience is as seamless as possible, from pickup to delivery. We build applications that connect customer requests to drivers, trucks, and trailers to ensure safe and timely delivery of shipments.

I recently joined OTR Driver Russel Goins to get a closer look at the challenges our drivers face every day. The better we understand their challenges, the more we can support them.

Here are some things I learned.

The truck is a driver’s home.

My eyes were opened when I first stepped on his truck. He offered me a Pepsi from his fridge and showed me where to find food if I wanted a snack. I quickly realized this isn’t just his workplace, this is his home when he’s on the road for U.S. Xpress. Before we even hit the road, that made me rethink the things we offer our drivers. They need the tools to make them effective while they’re on the clock, and amenities to help them relax when they’re off-duty.

There’s a big opportunity for active driving alerts.

It’s common for drivers to find out about traffic or inclement weather when they become visible. Trucking maps are made to route drivers through roadways that can accommodate big rigs, not for sharing traffic delays. We’re looking for ways to provide traffic and severe weather updates on our truck tablets to alert drivers (and their supervisors) of a potential risk or delay.

Roadways change frequently.

When we got close to the delivery location, Russel turned the wrong way…according to the GPS. He has delivered to this location before and knew the correct route to get to the facility’s entrance. It turns out his mapping application needed to be updated with current maps. We’ve taken this as an action item to push regular updates to the GPS functionality on all our truck tablets so drivers can rely on their navigation system to find their destination on truck-safe roads.

Electronic processes at receivers are ideal. When we arrived at the drop-off location, there was a line at the guard shack for drivers to manually enter the details of their loads for the bill of lading. We’re working to partner with customers to automate this process through electronic BOLs and notifications when drivers cross a geo-fence around their locations. This would be a huge win for drivers to get in and out, and back on the road.

The biggest lesson I learned through this experience is this: if we do our job to make the lives of drivers efficient, effective, and safe, we’ll all be better off for it.

Thanks to all the drivers who keep us rolling.

Frankie Clement, Senior Vice President of Information Technology

Why it matters: Professional drivers are the experts when it comes to the real-world experience of getting goods moved, and shippers can learn a lot from them about how to improve operations.

The bottom line: U.S. Xpress customers have real-time access to the data our drivers share about their facilities, and they use it to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of their businesses, and to make strides in becoming shippers of choice.

No one knows better than professional drivers the everyday realities of getting goods moved. That’s why U.S. Xpress shares their feedback to drive improvement for shippers and carriers across our industry.

“Any time a U.S. Xpress driver picks up or drops off, they have the opportunity to do a quick survey rating the experience with one to five stars on a variety of factors, from access and cleanliness to efficiency and friendliness,” said Vice President of Enterprise Sales Brigette Myers. “That data is available in real time to our customers through an online portal, and they use the information to improve their operations.”

The surveys often reveal issues that shippers weren’t aware of, Brigette added. Each month, she reviews the results with her customers and identifies trends — whether that means flagging areas where scores are slipping, or calling out improvements.

“The data provides an amazing amount of detail they wouldn’t otherwise have,” Brigette said. “They want to know because they want to be shippers of choice.”

In one case, a shipper had a consistently low-performing California site where drivers struggled to find places to park or the space to back out and pull in. They were often forced to wait outside the site, and the frustration piled up for both drivers and local employees.

“When they saw the survey results, the company sent their own folks to do a two-week study and they realized the ratings were legitimate,” Brigette said. “They ended up renting an additional yard close by, and started shuttling trailers back and forth. Now it’s one of our highest-performing sites.”

At another customer site in New Jersey, low scores reflected a cultural challenge that just required a little coaching.

“The majority of our drivers are Southern, and there’s a difference in the level of personal interaction they’re looking for,” she said. “When the customer got the feedback, they did some training with their people to make sure they understood why a little more friendliness and warmth was so important for these folks. Now that site is always close to five stars every month.”

Companies are generally eager to learn from drivers how they can create great experiences that keep them moving — and make them want to come back, Brigette said. And the feedback doesn’t just benefit U.S. Xpress drivers. When shippers improve their sites, that’s good for everyone who uses the facility, including employees.

Here are a few of the top takeaways from the feedback our drivers share:

• Being nice is more than a nice-to-have. One of the biggest things is being treated with courtesy. Some drivers haven’t seen another human being in days and having someone speak to them kindly goes a long way.
• Paperwork can make or break an experience. Is the paperwork ready, is it accurate, how long did the driver have to wait to get it? Those factors really matter.
• Creature comforts are a big deal. Is there a restroom drivers can use? If they have to wait, is there a way for them to have food delivered?
• Bring on the light. A well-lit yard that’s clearly marked and easy to navigate isn’t just great for drivers, it’s also great for business operations.

What’s happening: In observation of February’s Black History Month, we’re highlighting Black groundbreakers in our industry, and celebrating the benefits of inclusion and diversity across our business and beyond.

Why it matters: Despite unjust racial barriers that made their journeys extraordinarily challenging, these transportation pioneers persisted in imagining and creating some of the most essential inventions in our industry.

The bottom line: Inclusive business practices build cultures where every great idea can shine, and talent can thrive. The stories of these determined and gifted inventors and engineers are an important reminder that diversity delivers better ideas, better results, and a better world for everyone.

The inventor of the Thermo King refrigerated truck system. The visionary who developed the modern stoplight. The first Black woman (and only the second woman) to pass the Professional Engineers licensing exam in California. The mind behind the catalytic converter. As we kick off Black History Month in February, we’re highlighting some brilliant inventors and engineers who broke entrenched, unjust racial barriers and set new standards for our industry and the wider world of transportation.

Frederick McKinley Jones

In the mid-1930s, inventor and engineer Frederick McKinley Jones started working on the mobile refrigeration technology that would ultimately form the basis of the Thermo King Corporation. A largely self-taught engineer who left school after sixth grade, Jones was working as an auto mechanic by age 14. He served in World War I as part of an all-Black unit and was promoted to sergeant because of his mechanical skills. During the war, he equipped his camp with electricity, telephone, and telegraph services.

After his military service, Jones went to work with an entrepreneur who asked him to design mobile refrigeration technology. By 1949, Jones had patented his invention, and Thermo King had grown to a $3 million business. During his lifetime, Jones was awarded 61 patents, 40 of them for refrigeration equipment.  

Garrett Morgan

Repairing sewing machines for a clothing manufacturer first sparked Garrett Morgan’s career as an inventor, and he created a host of devices and products throughout his career, including a safety hood that became the precursor to the modern gas mask.

Starting around 1913, as cars began to share the roads with horses and pedestrians, the first traffic signals began appearing. In 1922, after witnessing an accident between a car and a carriage at a dangerous intersection, Morgan innovated the two-position traffic lights to add a third position — the yellow warning light we’re all familiar with. He was granted a patent for the invention in 1923.

Morgan, who was the son of people who had been enslaved, also co-founded the Cleveland Association of Colored Men in Ohio. The organization later merged with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Morgan served as the organization’s treasurer.

Lois Cooper

In 1953, Lois Cooper became the first Black woman to work as a transportation engineer for the California Division of Highways. An astonishingly talented mathematician, Cooper was known among her fellow engineers as the person they could go to for solutions to the most difficult problems — and to spot any errors in their work.

Cooper worked on major transportation projects including the I-105 Century Freeway, the San Diego Freeway, the Long Beach Freeway, and the Riverside Freeway. She designed the first bike path off the 91 Freeway, and was a leader in the effort to establish carpool lanes.

Later in life, she became involved in the Los Angeles Council of Black Professional Engineers and spent much of her time advocating for math and engineering education, while also teaching classes herself. Cooper became the first woman president of the Los Angeles Council of Black Professional Engineers in 1971.

Meredith Gourdine 

Meredith Gourdine was a prolific inventor who was awarded more than 30 patents in his lifetime. He was also an accomplished athlete who was selected to represent the United States in the long jump at the 1952 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal.

Among Gourdine’s best-known inventions is the Electrogasdynamic Precipitator with Catalytic Reaction (also known as the catalytic convertor), which is used to clean exhaust fumes of gases and particles that are harmful to the environment.

Gourdine held a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in engineering physics from The California Institute of Technology.

In 1964, Gourdine borrowed $200,000 from his family and friends so he could open the Gourdine Laboratory in Livingston, N.J. He is also known for the Incineraid System, which was used to disperse smoke from burning buildings and for diffusing fog at airports.

Every year, Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Black Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.

What’s happening: Advances in self-driving technology come with some green upsides for shippers and carriers trying to reduce their environmental footprints.

Why it matters: “Shippers can realize much higher efficiency of their fleets and more rapid movement of their goods,” said Sterling Anderson, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of AV technology firm Aurora.

The bottom line: Hear more from AV expert Sterling Anderson in this video from our PartnerShip event.

Autonomous trucks have the potential to move more goods faster by driving for very long periods at steady speeds, but time isn’t the only things shippers and carriers will be able to save once self-driving trucks hit the roads in greater numbers.   

“Shippers can realize much higher efficiency of their fleets and more rapid movement of their goods,” said Sterling Anderson, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of AV technology firm Aurora. “Lower greenhouse gas emissions, better fuel economy are opportunities with self-driving trucks principally because these trucks can be operated 24 hours a day… and they can drive nearly around the clock.”

Anderson talked about the future of autonomous vehicles during PartnerShip, the premier U.S. Xpress partner summit and showcase for some of our top industry experts. While the wide use of self-driving trucks is still years away, partnerships between AV technology companies and conventional fleets are advancing the use of self-driving trucks.

“In the next 5, 10, 15 years, I expect autonomous trucks to feather into existing networks in a fairly significant way,” Anderson said.

In early 2022, U.S. Xpress launched its partnership with Aurora to study the best ways to find commercial applications for autonomous vehicle technology. As part of the collaboration, Aurora gathers data from our over-the-road fleet to study where and on what types of routes its self-driving system could be deployed most effectively.

The potential of AV is significant, but this futuristic approach to hauling loads still depends on the people who power our business and keep goods moving. As the technology matures, U.S. Xpress will add self-driving trucks to our diversified mix of supply chain offerings. Those trucks will create more capacity, which will give our customers more options, and also give drivers more flexibility and predictability in their work lives. 

With a truck driver shortage of about 80,000 and industry turnover generally above 90%, this technology could help keep goods moving more efficiently over the very long haul in particular.

“That’s challenging, to keep a supply chain running, optimized and performing efficiently when you don’t have [enough] drivers,” Anderson said. “Self-driving systems fill that gap. They fill it with a truck that isn’t limited by hours-of-service restrictions.”

The idea of self-driving trucks might make people uneasy, but the technology is built on multiple layers of safety-first features, Anderson added.

“We started the company with a focus of delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly,” he said. “Those adjectives and their sequence really matter to us.”

What’s happening: The multiple complex systems known collectively as ‘the supply chain’ never stop evolving. What was true a decade ago — or even five years ago — often doesn’t apply anymore.

Why it matters: For shippers, the constantly shifting nature of the world of freight requires versatility in their partnerships. For carriers, it means a commitment to endless study of how logistics and freight function.

The bottom line: Shippers and carriers are in this together when it comes to lifelong learning about what works in the world of freight, and how we can make it work better.

An expert perspective: Hear more from Dr. Chris Caplice in this video.

Dr. Chris Caplice probably knows as much as anyone on the planet about the many-faceted universe we call the supply chain. After all, he’s the chief scientist at DAT Freight and Analytics and executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Transportation and Logistics.

But no matter how much we know, the job is never done when it comes to learning how to move goods better, Dr. Caplice said during PartnerShip, the premier U.S. Xpress partner summit and showcase for some of our top industry experts. 

“People have finally recognized that’s it a lifelong education, and you need to do it throughout your career because things are moving too fast,” he said.

What was true a decade ago — or even five years ago — often doesn’t apply anymore. That’s why education has evolved to offer ‘micro-master’s’ degrees to sharpen skills in specific areas, Dr. Caplice said. 

“I might need to learn about drop-and-hook or customs clearance,” he said. “I need bite-sized education throughout my career.”

For shippers, the constantly evolving nature of freight requires versatility in their partnerships, Dr. Caplice said.  

“As a shipper, you should have a portfolio of options,” he said. “You have dedicated — something that is steady state, high volume — you don’t need to involve anyone else in it, and you can keep that driver and that truck utilized.”

Meanwhile, less predictable shipping needs require a different approach.

“If it’s high volume and not as balanced, maybe you go to contract, to over-the-road trucking,” he said. “But if you have lanes that happen very infrequently, it doesn’t make sense to have a contract for those. That’s where I’m arguing that they should go pure dynamic.”

A recent partnership between MIT and U.S. Xpress is a good example of efforts to find tactical ways to help boost the effectiveness of freight planning. Graduate students worked with U.S. Xpress to study dwell — the time drivers spend waiting instead of driving — and discovered some consistent themes.

“The shortest dwell happens during the busiest times,” Dr. Caplice said. “We expected that during the peak hours you’d see the longer dwell, but what you see is during peak hours the receivers are faster, their labor is up to the right level, they can process faster. The big dwell happens during off hours.”

The students also discovered dwell is less likely to happen the more frequently a driver visits a site, and that can become good guidance for dispatchers in assigning loads, Dr. Caplice said.

During the pandemic, awareness of the supply chain has helped broaden understanding of its complexity, he added.  

“The words ‘supply chain’ became part of the vernacular. I no longer have to explain to people what I do,” Dr. Caplice said.

“People think ‘the supply chain’ broke, and there is not ‘a supply chain.’ I think people have realized that it’s very complicated. They’ve gained an appreciation for what normally happens and they don’t even know it happens.”

What’s happening: Technology disruption combined with mainstream focus on the critical role of the nation’s supply chain have created a moment for the transportation industry. 

Why it matters: For businesses that adopt these trends, tech has nearly limitless potential for product and workforce development as well as process improvement.

The bottom line: Hear more from futurist Jared Weiner in this video.

Technology has unleashed cascading, rapid change across nearly every industry, but one thing has remained the same: goods still have to get where they’re going, and about 72% of U.S. freight moves by truck.

“We’re in a world that people still need to be able to get physical goods from A to B, and that’s not going anywhere,” said Jared Weiner, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for the Future Hunters. “The disruption in the space combined with the spotlight that’s been put on shipping and logistics make for an exciting future for the industry.”

Weiner spoke recently at PartnerShip, the premier U.S. Xpress partner summit and showcase for some of our top industry experts. Topics ranged from autonomous trucking and economic trends to the firsthand views of drivers on the front lines.

In his remarks, Weiner explored the ways logistics and transportation have become top priorities and mainstream topics over the last few years as the pandemic and related economic impacts upended business as usual.

“I’m excited about the future of transportation and logistics simply because of the fact that we have been talking for years about prioritizing that function with every business that we work with, certainly anyone in an industrial space or a consumer products space,” Weiner said. “Now I’m excited because supply chain has come front-and-center, and you’re going to see thousands of businesses out there innovating around it, understanding that it’s fundamental.”

But while moving goods remains essential, technology has transformed what’s possible in training and planning for hauling loads of every sort. Mixed reality — which is a combination of virtual and augmented reality — has immense potential to create greater speed and safety in training and planning, Weiner said.

“These technologies create a low- to no-risk environment to do things like prototyping products, to train people for jobs that might have safety risks involved,” Weiner said. “We can actually put people in different environments virtually where they can experience things they might face in the real world with no risk really involved, which helps us train people, and we can gamify that so not only can we onboard them that way, but we can retrain them for skills that they may need in a few years’ time.”

The metaverse — technology that simulates the real world — has been in development for decades, but is moving into the mainstream, opening up opportunities to advance businesses that incorporate those practices.

“We can take really complex things happening in a business environment, either on a factory floor, or in the supply chain in shipping, and we can actually virtually simulate them,” Weiner said. “We can learn from things, we can predict where there might be bottlenecks or mistakes or problems, and we can adapt in real time using all of that data.”

All of these trends point to a future where there is endless potential for moving goods better.

“The opportunities become effectively limitless when using virtual reality and augmented reality technology for our workforce,” Weiner said.

Hear more from Jared Weiner in this video, or learn more about his company, the Future Hunters.

The pandemic created huge demand for consumer and personal goods, and manufacturers had to get creative to move those goods on time despite supply chain challenges. For one U.S. Xpress shipper, a tight partnership that offers flexible options for moving goods better gets that job done.

“This client needed more capacity, and they allowed us to be as flexible and creative as possible,” said Merideth Lewis, vice president of sales for U.S. Xpress. “The nature of their business is recession-proof. People don’t stop buying household and personal products.”

This major manufacturer needed the predictability and scale of an asset-based carrier and the array of creative capacity solutions offered by our Xpress Technologies division. U.S Xpress brought all of those tools to the table, along with consistent connections to our Customer Experience and Sales Teams.

“There’s such value in the relationship – there was a mutual understanding that we were in this situation together, we’ve gotta figure this out,” Meredith said.

To meet growing demand for their products, this manufacturer opened a new distribution facility in the Southwest which grew their transportation network. They were moving more goods closer to customer destinations, which was great for getting products to shelves faster. Our team identified power-only services to meet the on-time delivery expectations.

In partnership with the Xpress Technologies brokerage group at U.S. Xpress, Merideth and her team identified opportunities to offer power-only services to the customer, which authorized other carriers to haul U.S. Xpress trailers loaded with their goods.

The relationship with this customer has been in place for years, but as the challenges in the consumer goods industry have evolved, the solutions U.S. Xpress offers have evolved along with them, Merideth said.

“They are team-minded and collaborative when they task us to fix a problem,” Merideth said. “That’s a good recipe for a partnership that keeps business moving.”

Getting goods where they’re going is a big, complex job, and finding new ways to do it better is what drives us at U.S. Xpress.

The latest example is our partnership with Embark Trucks, a leader in autonomous technology for the trucking industry. U.S. Xpress has joined the Embark Partner Development Program and will add its terminals to the Embark Coverage Map. That means U.S. Xpress properties will become part of a pioneering network of transfer points where freight from driverless, long-haul trucks is transferred to driver-operated trucks for first- and last-mile delivery.

This is just the latest in a series of partnerships aimed at moving goods better by combining the best technology in the industry with the know-how of professional drivers. Because autonomous trucks don’t have human drivers, there are no limits on the hours they can run. Autonomous trucks will service longer-haul lanes, allowing drivers to focus on routes that keep them closer to home and provide more regular schedules.

The outcome? More capacity, more miles, more options for moving goods better —  all without adding strain to the people who work so hard to keep our industry moving. The technology also promises to help alleviate a driver shortage already testing the supply chain, a shortage that is only expected to worsen. Based on industry estimates, we’ll need approximately 1 million more professional truck drivers within the next 10 to 15 years.

“We’ve established U.S. Xpress as a carrier leader in autonomous trucking, and this partnership is further evidence of our intention to be an early adopter of autonomous vehicle technology,” said Eric Fuller, President & CEO of U.S. Xpress. “Through this partnership with Embark, we’re taking the next important step in planning and preparing our terminal network to support executing our autonomous strategy.”

Since 2019, U.S. Xpress has also worked with TuSimple, and in 2021, began testing its autonomous technology on select lanes for a few of our customers. In early 2022, U.S. Xpress partnered with Aurora to study the best ways to find commercial applications for autonomous vehicle technology. As part of the collaboration, Aurora will gather data from our Variant fleet to study where and on what types of routes its artificial intelligence-enabled driving system could be deployed most effectively. And in March 2022, we announced a partnership with Kodiak Robotics to launch the first ever level four autonomous freight delivery service between Dallas and Atlanta using Kodiak’s self-driving trucks. As part of this partnership, we completed a pilot running 24 hours a day for nearly five and-a-half days, traveling approximately 6,350 miles and delivering eight loads between Dallas and Atlanta.

But this futuristic approach to hauling loads still depends on the people who power our business and keep goods moving. As the technology matures, U.S. Xpress will add self-driving trucks to our diversified mix of supply chain offerings. Those trucks will create more capacity, which will give our customers more options, and also give drivers more flexibility and predictability in their work lives. That’s a route worth traveling together.