On Thursday, Uber Freight introduced Insights AI, which it says will allow customers to make queries that could normally take days for workers to compile, such as routes with the worst on-time performance and the causes. The company also has AI embedded in its service that will allow shippers to estimate arrival times more precisely.
Uber Freight’s parent company doubled down on its broader commitment to technology on Wednesday with its announcement that a semiconductor executive, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, will become its new chief financial officer.Logistics are getting more C-suite attention than ever after supply chains strained to handle a flood of imports during the pandemic, causing transportation costs to soar even as on-time performance deteriorated.
Uber Freight is now providing these AI tools to shippers, not only to attract more cargo business but to increase sales from software as a service. Customers, including chemical giant BASF SE and Nestle SA, will be able to analyze their own data and compare it to a peer group that doesn’t reveal individual shipping company data.
All the talk about AI and its ability to increase productivity may help. Large language models “are revolutionizing everything” because the technology is easy for people to use if it is set up properly, said Daniela Rus, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the technology is still a work in progress, she said.