AI is helping fleets automate routine tasks

Kakar, Mandelboum Josef, Wang and Hill. (Karen Foote/American Trucking Associations)

PITTSBURGH — Artificial intelligence is moving beyond pilot projects and into day-to-day trucking operations, with carriers using AI agents to answer customer emails, analyze costs, schedule appointments and handle other routine work that once required significant staff time, technology leaders said.

The technology is being deployed to automate repetitive tasks across dispatch, maintenance and back-office functions while shifting employees toward oversight, planning and exception management, speakers said Sept. 23 at The AI Summit, hosted by American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council. They stressed that while carriers that move early can gain a competitive advantage, workforce concerns remain a critical part of implementation.

“A year ago, our customers were very suspicious of the technology,” said Mark Hill, CEO of PCS Software. “It is a completely different story a year later. … We’ve seen the beginnings of some really bright projects just over the last year.”

Hill said automation is already changing the dispatcher’s role, reducing administrative work and allowing employees to spend more time on planning and analysis. “We have been able to take a lot of their busy work ... off of their plate,” he said. “We’re able to give them a little bit more control of their day and gain back a little bit of their sanity.”

At Pitt Ohio, AI Director Mark Wang pointed to measurable productivity gains from AI tools already in production. One agent, nicknamed “Nate” for No-Touch Email, handles customer service inquiries from start to finish.

“Our staff was spending up to 15 minutes just to respond to these emails,” Wang said. “Now … we’re able to reduce that to a second and handle it with 99%-plus accuracy.”

Pitt Ohio, which ranks No. 44 on Transport Topics’ Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America, also uses computer vision tools to support costing studies. Analyses that once required spreadsheets and nearly an hour of an analyst’s time now can be completed in about 10 minutes, Wang said.

“The analysts are basically auditors of AI,” he said.

The same shift is occurring in maintenance operations, according to Vered Mandelboum Josef, CEO of Questar Auto Technologies.

She described maintenance as “a classic place” for AI to streamline workflows by interpreting fault codes, checking warranty status, verifying parts availability and scheduling shop visits. But she stressed that companies must address employee fears as they introduce automation.

“About 50% of people … are terrified,” she said, citing surveys in the U.S. and her company’s home of Israel. “We need to make sure that the people are with us. … The target is to elevate them, to make them more powerful in the matter of professionalism.”

Ahmad Kakar, CEO of Euclid AI, said the industry’s biggest transition is from AI copilots that assist workers to systems that execute complete workflows. He pointed to appointment scheduling and document processing as areas increasingly suited to automation.

“I don’t see a world in which … a pit of 100 people [only] doing appointment scheduling; that’s not going to happen,” Kakar said, adding that many carriers now “plan on scaling without backfilling.”

But even as AI takes over more routine work, Kakar said human judgment will remain essential. He predicted new positions will emerge, including an “agent operations manager” responsible for overseeing and tuning fleets of AI agents.

The panelists agreed carriers should move quickly but deliberately in adopting the technology.

“Going too slow is a lot worse than going too fast,” Wang said.

Mandelboum Josef encouraged fleets to begin with realistic use cases that can produce internal success stories and build organizational confidence.

“Just do it,” Hill added, noting that no company “has a lock” on AI yet.