Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/526371
commercial carrier journal | june 2015 45 technology moved to Silicon Valley to start a com- pany called Trucker Path. The plan was to develop a freight transportation marketplace platform for shippers, carriers and brokers to connect electronically and automate time-con- suming tasks such as freight matching, price negotiations and load tracking. "When we started building a market- place, we realized we had a problem – we didn't have carriers or shippers," says Tsybaev, chief executive and founder. "We had no value for anyone." To build a community and show inves- tors it could grow a company effectively, Trucker Path created an app for the An- droid platform to give truckers and fleets useful trip planning tools – all for free. The app uses crowdsourcing to create a database of ratings and reviews of truck stops, rest areas and other truck parking locations. The app can be used to check if parking locations are empty or full and if weigh stations are open or closed. The Trucker Path app automatically will detect when drivers are at a truck stop or other parking location. Drivers receive a pop-up notification to update the parking lot's status. The system col- lects information from multiple users to verify the updated status. With a community of 200,000 active users, mostly independent contractors and small fleets, Trucker Path has at- tracted a community of 300 brokers with 30,000 truckloads per day. The first ver- sion of its marketplace is in beta-testing with launch planned for this month. Revenue will come from offering users premium marketplace features, while other services such as truck parking will remain free. Untitled-28 1 4/15/15 1:54 PM Trucker Path's app uses crowdsourcing to create a database of ratings and reviews of truck stops, rest areas and other truck parking locations.