Uber Model For Trucking Faces Slow Adoption In U.S. Trucking World

The “Uber-ization” of the US Trucking industry, though underway, suffers from slow uptake by Silicon Valley standards.  Most drivers on the road are not independent drivers, and the degree of specialization or industry fragmentation by type of load, lane, delivery and even pickup requirements are all realities working against easy commoditization of our industry.

Still the idea of the Uber model is one that can work to some degree.  It would be a benefit to brokers, for instance, if they could see how much space available on outgoing trucks in each lane close to their shippers to see if perhaps they could add their tail loads onto a particular truck.  Such a model would require massive information sharing among all players – but it isn’t possible.  The fact that such a model hasn’t organically emerged from within the industry already is a bad sign though and it might be decades before we have “uber-level” cooperation and optimization in our industry.   

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