Driving Change with Fintech: Building Specialized Tools to Revolutionize Trucking

Trucking is the backbone of U.S. commerce—our lives quite literally depend on it. Our nation's small and large fleets deliver everything from food and water to essential medical supplies. In fact, trucks transport nearly every product and material imaginable that support our basic needs: a record 92% of food, ​​91% of lumber, 83% of farming products and 65% of pharmaceuticals are transported by trucks.

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Without smoothly functioning systems for truckers—the human beings who keep it all moving—the pace of the transportation industry can falter. As the ones behind the wheel driving U.S. commerce, truck drivers need advanced digital tools to address their unique operational challenges.

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My Time with the Trucking Community 

During 2020, I took a deep dive into the lives of our country’s truckers. I went into the field, taking time to speak to truckers at some of the country’s most heavily frequented truck stops. I was able to learn in person about the challenges they face every day, the hardships they encounter, and the problems they would like to see solved immediately. In these conversations, I was able to pinpoint the three most significant challenges in truckers’ lives: outdated payment and route mapping systems, and the staggering rise in fuel costs. 

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Modernizing Payment Systems, Route Mapping, and Fuel Cost Management: Key Solutions for Trucking Industry Challenges

Upgrades to payment systems have long lagged behind in the trucking industry. While the rise of fintech tools has springboarded other industries to new heights, trucking has been left in the proverbial dust. Truckers must navigate multiple payment systems daily simply to do their jobs. Banks can freeze credit cards if they suspect fraudulent activity; paper paychecks can be delayed days or even weeks; and cash is needed to pay those employed to unload the cargo from their haul. All of these situations point to an acute need to revamp payment systems for truckers and small trucking fleet owners alike. 

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While the introduction of GPS has greatly improved most drivers' time on the road, the route mapping systems currently used by truckers need an overhaul as well. Truckers are concerned with far more than just drive times—they’re juggling a host of interrelated factors at once. They need to consider weight and height limits on roads, toll and fuel prices, and traffic conditions, which not only impact target delivery times—but also their quality of life. As a result, truckers and trucking companies need a specialized form of mapping technology tailored to their highly specific needs. This way, they can maximize efficiency and while achieving a sustainable work-life balance. 

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Fuel costs are among the most significant expenses for truckers and trucking companies. Truckers spend, on average, $50,000 to $70,000 on fuel annually. Navigating rising fuel costs is interwoven with payment systems and mapping technology; therefore, reliable payment systems need to be available for truckers to fuel up, and mapping technology needs to be available so truckers can find the best prices for fuel. 

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The Real Life Effects 

Almost all the truckers I met spoke at length how profoundly these issues are impacting them. While you might think the problems stop at the end of a haul, they don’t—they reverberate across truckers' personal lives. 

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Drivers without solid payment or mapping systems can be stuck in the middle of a haul with nowhere to turn—and no one to turn to. Being moored mid-haul can cause truckers to miss out on not only agreed-upon finish times, but also quality time with friends and family. 

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Game-Changing Digital Solutions for Truckers

With fintech catalyzing efficiency in so many other industries, I wanted to help ease these pain points for trucking companies and their drivers by creating solutions backed by fintech. This led me to create several tools for AtoB: a payment system that addresses the challenges laid out by truckers; design an app that maps out the best trucking routes, traffic conditions, and fuel price locations; and seek partnerships with leading fuel companies so that truckers and fleet owners can get much-needed fuel discounts.

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I knew that creating digital tools to address the trucking industry's unique operational challenges was possible, and because of my time spent with truckers to identify their unique needs, I have created solutions that will save them headaches on the road, put dollars back in their pockets, and ideally give them back some of the most precious resource of all—time.

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