Trucking business in Canada is evolving for the digital economy

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC. At a truck stop in Vancouver, 18-wheelers rumble by, each of them pulling in to refuel before making their way onwards across Canada and the rest of North America. Many of the people here work for larger companies, but a good proportion are driving their own trucks and using new mobile apps to arrange jobs.

In Canada, road freight is part of the backbone of the economy -- historically moving about four-fifths of all goods[1] across the country, with demand growing. But trucking is changing, with digital freight-matching platforms reshaping how drivers find work and how goods get delivered, with eight major digital platforms now operating in Canada. "Back in the day, you had to sit by a pay phone, if you were on the road, and call your dispatch or start calling people you've worked with," said Jared, who asked to only use his first name as he did not have permission from his employer to talk to the press.

He's one of an estimated 324,000 truckers[2] on Canada's roads, and he's using digital platforms to grow his business. "Today it's so much easier from the comfort of a hotel room or your home or your truck. You can go online to different platforms and post your equipment." Eric Beckwitt runs Freightera, one of Canada's online freight marketplaces, from a base at the Port of Vancouver.

It's one of many so-called "Uberized" platforms that digitally matches truckers with companies who need to move freight, working in a similar way to ride-share apps, like Uber. "We actually act as an intermediary, making certain the trucking companies get paid, and having all their rates in the system and allowing the people searching for those rates to search 20 billion [transportation routes] in five or 10 seconds," said Beckwitt, "and find, for that particular needle in a haystack, who has the least cost, lowest emission option, that will guarantee that rate." All this had been made easier with the introduction of AI: automating matches between driver and cargo loads.

But there's concern over job security and the threat of artificial intelligence, too. "Over the time, I would say, it's an inevitable disruption," said Zhaohui Chen, former chief scientist at China's largest Uberized freight matching company, Full Truck Alliance. He thinks driverless automation[3] is already a reality. "Eventually, it will fundamentally reshape drivers' role across the logistic industry."

But truck driver Jared said "transportation has been around for hundreds of years. I mean, it's not going to end with people worrying about self-driving trucks. That's going to take a while."

Whether it's AI, apps or automation, trucking still depends on people like Jared behind the wheel.

References

1. ^ historically moving about four-fifths of all goods (lop.parl.ca)
2. ^ estimated 324,000 truckers (fleetnerd.io)
3. ^ driverless automation (www.nytimes.com)