{"id":6711,"date":"2020-07-21T13:11:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T11:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=6711"},"modified":"2020-07-21T13:11:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T11:11:05","slug":"artificial-intelligence-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2020\/07\/21\/artificial-intelligence-2\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways AI Can Help Trucking"},"content":{"rendered":"

The concept of AI has been around since the 1950s, but only in the past decade have computing power and vast amounts of data brought it into everyday use. Photo: Gettyimages.com\/KENGKAT<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When people start talking about artificial intelligence, it\u2019s easy to get bogged down in terms like neural nets, algorithms, machine learning, and more. But you don\u2019t really need to understand all that to take advantage of AI.<\/span><\/p>\n

In essence, artificial intelligence is simply the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence \u201cis really a set of capabilities that allow a computer to do something that would have required human intelligence in the past \u2014 or something that would have taken far too long for a human to do,\u201d explains Brian Stuelpner, vice president of strategy, planning and architecture for Schneider. \u201cThings like conducting analysis or making very complicated decisions in a fraction of the time. We use it a lot to take over mundane and repetitive tasks, so that people can move on to something of higher value.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Phillippi, vice president of technology at Lytx, describes AI as \u201cacting as a kind of purpose-built brain, designed to learn and conduct particular tasks. Just like people learn over time, and get better at certain jobs, AI also gets better over time by integrating data from multiple sources. In the context of AI, we refer to that as machine learning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, AI is not some sort of magic silver bullet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAI isn\u2019t a panacea,\u201d says Ray Ghanbari, chief technology officer for SmartDrive. \u201cHow well it works is really driven by the quality of the training data that it has been built around,\u201d just as a human student\u2019s learning will be affected by the teaching materials provided, he says. \u201cWith really compelling training data and a skilled data scientist who\u2019s effectively tuning and training the model, AI can be quite powerful \u2014 but it\u2019s not a turnkey, push-a-button and it just works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stuelpner says there\u2019s a misconception that humans are removed from the picture in artificial intelligence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the AI that we\u2019ve deployed, there\u2019s a lot of training that goes into trying to bring the human knowledge that we have and digitize it so the computer can understand what we do. So it\u2019s not taking the person out. It\u2019s actually just reshaping the role of the person.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With those caveats in mind, we\u2019ve highlighted five ways AI can be used in trucking and logistics.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Make Customer Interactions More Meaningful<\/span><\/h2>\n

One way Schneider is using AI is handling customer email requests. \u201cWe get millions of emails a year from our customers, many of them asking fairly simple questions like, \u2018Where\u2019s my freight?\u2019\u201d Stuelpner explains. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been able to do is utilize artificial intelligence to understand the intent of the question that\u2019s coming in, and in near real time, go to the systems that know the answer, and return an accurate answer to that request in three to five seconds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That has not only improved the customer experience, he notes, but also improved the associate experience by eliminating a lot of mundane, repetitive work. \u201cIt allows them to focus on a different part of that customer relationship, being proactive and working through issues, versus just so transactional.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kingsgate Logistics is using AI in several ways, Tom Curee, senior vice president of strategy and innovation, told attendees at McLeod Software\u2019s user conference last fall. One is determining the best time of day to call a prospect, using data such as social media activity, when prospects opened your email, when they have visited the website, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another example is analyzing recorded calls to determine what the company\u2019s most successful sales reps do and coach less-successful reps. For instance, Kingsgate is finding that the most successful reps spend less time on small talk and more time talking about market insights.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Make Logistics More Efficient<\/span><\/h2>\n

Many believe AI offers vast potential to make the way loads are matched up with trucks far more efficient. Over the past several years, companies such as Convoy, Loadsmart, and Uber have developed automated load-matching apps that use machine learning (a subset of AI) to help their algorithms get \u201csmarter\u201d with each load matched. Earlier this year, large carriers started piloting a \u201cBook Now\u201d option for DAT Load Board users, which looks to automatically match carriers with freight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schneider has a sizeable logistics business and is using AI and machine learning to provide better recommended loads to its third-party carriers.<\/span><\/p>\n

By using AI to understand their behavior and preferences by the choices that they make, \u201cwe can surface loads that we think will be attractive to them \u2014 and based on their choices, keep refining those models, taking in the feedback and improving those decisions,\u201d Stuelpner explains. \u201cSo that when that carrier comes to Schneider to find loads, the ones they see first are the ones that are most relevant, most attractive, and theoretically fit in their wheelhouse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At third-party logistics provider Transplace, CEO Frank McGuigan offers a couple of examples of how the company uses AI to speed logistics:<\/span><\/p>\n