Freight Matching System Reducing Empty Miles via Vehicle Scoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
The freight transportation industry faces inefficiencies due to vehicle operators traveling empty miles, irregular routes, and unpredictable availability of vehicle capacity and shipments, leading to wasted time and fuel.
Innovation Solution
A system that automatically identifies available vehicle capacity and matches it with uncovered shipments by determining vehicle locations, distances, estimated arrival times, and suitability based on specific shipment requirements, using a server computing device to rank vehicles and shipments and transmit notifications to operators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If vehicle operators travel to pick up shipments without advance notice or routing information, then they maintain operational flexibility, but they waste fuel and time traveling empty miles
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively identifying available vehicle capacity before shipments are posted, pre-matching vehicles with suitable shipments based on location and capacity, and notifying operators in advance. This eliminates empty miles while maintaining flexibility because operators receive optimized routing information before needing to travel.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where vehicle location and capacity status are continuously monitored, matched with shipment requirements, and used to generate optimized routing recommendations. This feedback mechanism enables the system to reduce fuel waste by directing operators to profitable shipments while adapting to changing operational conditions.
2Productivity
If vehicle operators wait for shipment availability without active matching, then they maintain simple operations, but they experience unnecessary idle time and reduced productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically performing the matching function between vehicle capacity and shipment requirements without requiring complex manual intervention. The automated matching engine continuously scans for opportunities, evaluates compatibility, and presents matches to operators, thereby increasing productivity while keeping the operator's role simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces dynamic matching capabilities that adapt to real-time conditions such as vehicle location, capacity changes, and shipment availability. This dynamic approach increases productivity by continuously optimizing matches rather than using static routing, while the automated nature of the system prevents excessive complexity from manual management.
3Measurement precision
If the system continuously monitors and matches vehicles with shipments in real-time, then matching accuracy improves, but computational complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by focusing computational resources on evaluating specific matching criteria relevant to each vehicle-shipment pair rather than processing all possible combinations globally. This includes assessing location proximity, capacity compatibility, and shipment requirements selectively, thereby achieving high matching accuracy without excessive computational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The matching process is segmented into discrete evaluation steps: identifying available capacity, filtering compatible shipments based on key criteria, calculating match scores, and presenting top matches. This segmentation allows the system to achieve precise matching through modular processing, reducing overall computational complexity by breaking down the complex matching problem into manageable segments.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a memory and at least one processor to determine a location of each vehicle of a plurality of vehicles that have freight capacity, determine a distance of each vehicle to a location of each uncovered shipment of a plurality of uncovered shipments, determine an estimated time of arrival for each vehicle to arrive at the location of each uncovered shipment of the plurality of uncovered shipments, determine a particular vehicle of the plurality of vehicles having a highest score that is selected to service a particular uncovered shipment of the plurality of uncovered shipments, the highest score based on the distance, the estimated time of arrival, and a pick up time for the particular uncovered shipment, and transmit a notification to a computing device of an operator of the particular vehicle that indicates that the particular vehicle is selected to service the particular uncovered shipment.