Platform Science CEO: Connectivity Could Transform Trucking

To unlock more efficiencies, the industry will need to move toward controlled sharing of data that currently sits in silos and behind walls, Kennedy said. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Advances in technology have been setting the stage for a connected freight ecosystem that could fundamentally change the way trucking companies operate in the coming years, an industry technology leader told American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council.

This increased connectivity, enabled by greater data sharing, may be the next truly transformative shift in the trucking industry, said Jack Kennedy, CEO and co-founder of fleet telematics provider Platform Science.

In this future environment, information on trucks, trailers, freight, roads, fuel, routes, warehouses, business rules and more would be woven together to optimize the movement of goods.

“Freight management moves from being a batch process to something that looks more like a continuous flow operation, but that’s going to require all the pieces to be connected,” Kennedy said during the March 11 kickoff breakfast at TMC’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition.

To unlock those efficiencies, the industry will need to move toward controlled sharing of data that currently sits in silos and behind walls.

“Those walls will come down,” Kennedy said.

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(John Sommers II for Transport Topics)

While the trucking business has seen numerous technological innovations and improvements during the past few decades, major disruptions that fundamentally change how the industry works have been relatively rare, he said.

One such event was the rise of two-way mobile communications, beginning with satellite-based systems introduced by Qualcomm in the late 1980s.

From there, mobile communications in trucking expanded over time and shifted to cellular technology.

“That was a real disruption,” Kennedy said, “because if you didn’t have it — if you didn’t make that change at some point — you got left behind.”

The trucking industry’s adoption of federally mandated electronic logging devices during the past decade wasn’t a true disruption by itself, Kennedy said, but it did begin to usher in the next generation of telematics.

“It’s the introduction,” he said. “It’s the seed.”

Prior to starting Platform Science in 2015, Kennedy led Qualcomm’s Enterprise Services business, which later spun off as Omnitracs and is now part of Solera.

His current company, Platform Science, recently completed its acquisition of Trimble’s global transportation telematics business in February.

While discussing the advance of technology in the trucking industry, Kennedy drew a parallel with the mobile phone revolution.

For years, phone manufacturers were hardware-oriented companies, striving to make the best and smallest mobile devices.

But over time, software development came to dominate the market.

The proliferation of smartphones also led to the creation of new technology-enabled services from companies such as Uber, Instagram, Spotify, DoorDash and Venmo.

A similar progression could play out in the trucking industry.

“Today a truck is just a rolling smartphone with a lot more sensors, but a lot less well-developed software use cases so far,” Kennedy said.