Uncomfortable relationship with new technology

When Jared first started trucking more than two decades ago, he did not guess that he would be on a country’s music star, guitar, emps and other pieces of on-stage equipment.

“This is just, the right place, the right time,” Canadian driver, who prefers to use his surname, describes from behind the wheel of his huge lorry.

“I have covered a distance of 5,000 miles in a month and a half, but this year there are too much break.”

But during the time between driving for the shows in New Jersey, New York, Toronto and Nashville, Jared will scan several screens in his cabin – a laptop, tablet and two smart phones – to secure more work. Made possible by all new technology.

This is a world away from his early career, when he was transporting fruits and alcohol, he explains.

“Back during the day, you had to sit by a pephone if you are on the road and start calling people with whom you have worked and then you will have a pager.

“Today, you simply turn on your equipment and scan through possible work. It is all digital and you are paid immediately. It is much better for business.”

The change is powered by “uberized” platforms, digitally with truck drivers matching truck drivers who require freight transportation. The phrase ride was coined due to the similarity of the Heling app.

While Jeed agrees that it has made things easier, the truck driver says that it has fallen wages.

“During Kovid, the average $ 3 (£ 2.24) per miles, today on some loads from Toronto to Los Angeles which is $ 1.10 per mile.”

To not mention, they say, increasing cost of fuel.

In Canada, eight major platforms, including Uber Freight, have emerged to digitize the market for goods.

Like the taxi app, they are captured on a fragmented market dominated by younger players, with 2023 figures, it is suggested that more than eight people in Canada get less than five people in Canada.

Teamstors Canada’s Christopher Monet told the BBC that there are deep concerns about the efforts of ‘Uberise’ to the trucking sector, representing more than 130,000 members, including Canadian trade union truck drivers.

He said, “The wages in Canada have been largely stable for the last 25 years, and the rise of gig-style work stands up to make things worse,” he argues that “the big, often universal carriers who work responsibly by investing in safety, training and civilized work, are the highest at risk”.

“Truck drivers do not require any other app. We need strong security and large paycheck.”

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

Instead, a spokesperson said: “Flexibility, transparency and choice are made directly in our platform.

“The carriers can discover the load based on their preferences, such as lane, equipment type, commodity and schedule, and either book at a listed price immediately or submit a bid for a rate that better align with its requirements.

A lane in the trucking industry refers to a regularly traveled route.

The spokesperson said, “Our platform also uses real-time market data and AI-in-operated recommendations to help the carrier make most of its time on the road.”

Vancouver-based freezra is one of the biggest players when it comes to digital trucking services in Canada.

Co-founder Eric Beckwit meets me at a point with a view of the city’s huge port scene, where the huge orange cranes move brightly colored containers against the backdrop of the ice-top mountains.

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

The service they developed allows drivers and customers to discover 20 billion regular routes for the halling freight, which can be done in “five or 10 seconds”.

He explains that, unlike other platforms, Friendhera does not determine prices.

“In the Freater, the carriers determine their price. We ask them what they need to be healthy and profitable on each lane, and they fixed the price.”

Mr. Bekwit says that service has been good for trucking. Before his services came up, finding work, or even the best route, “Finding a needle in a histor”, The Freater Boss explains.

“The carriers actually appreciate the reliable demand of the freiter for service, which has steadily increased every year, through Kovid, later inflation and current freight recession, one of the largest running goods city,” he says.

The company is now developing AI to speed up complex booking: “Excavation through noise, dirty documents, fine prints and inconsistent rules – missing paperwork, unpredictable fees, or things like a routing issue that can throw delivery.”

Mr. Bekwit dreams of a completely automatic goods industry, “40 years from now”, where AI will control global goods.

“To automatically assign the network with the lowest capacity of cargo and allow complete transparency, tracking and even trading while being in travel”.

Digital trucking services are working all over the world.

Kenya depends on a lot of road freight, so new technology is adopted.

“More than 75% inland goods are taken on the road and in many cases this is the only way to transport,” says Jean-Cloud Homewu, co-founder of Africa’s largest digitized freight platform, Lori’s largest digitized freight platform.

Since its launch in 2016, Lori has raised its network to 20,000 trucks. It is not the owner of any vehicle, but manages them digitally, trying to ensure that the trucks are not inactive or the houses are not empty.

At that time, he says, “Uganda has some routes like Mombasa to Kampala, where we have loaded so many trucks that the price of a full truck load has fallen”.

If truck drivers are getting work, which requires less driving without cargo, they should use low fuel.

And it can help in cutting the contribution of the industry in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Trucking for more than half of CO2 emissions within trade transportation, According to a 2022 report,

Mr. Bekwit is sure that technology is like him, the answer is.

“It is just so much energy-skilled and much more cost-skilled,” they say.

A form of AI can help drivers find work, but second, one day, excluded them out of work.

In April, a commercial driverless truck first took to an American highway, operated by the US -based tech firm Arora.

in China, Driverless Lauris Fleet Currently working on testing routes across the country.

“Technology is there,” tells Mr. Bekwit of Friendhera. “It’s just whether we rely on the streets to be loose on the streets. And clearly there are bureaucracy and red tapes on the way.”

However, for truck Jared, self-driving goods are still a distant possibility.

“Transport has been almost for hundreds of years. It is not going to end with people who worry about self-driving trucks, it is not going to happen soon.”