Uber Freight technology release notes
A year of innovation: Building the end-to-end logistics platform
December 2024
At Uber Freight, we’re focused on building new products and features to optimize and streamline your logistics operations. We’re pleased to share our latest technology release notes, so you can peek “under the hood” and see what we’ve been building for you.
Procurement
Planning and Execution
Visibility
Payments
Insights
It's been an impactful 2024 for Uber Freight as we continue building our end-to-end logistics platform tailored to the evolving complexities of the supply chain industry.
Procurement
Planning and Execution
Visibility
Insights
Payments
Simplifying freight procurement through innovation
Seamlessly plan and execute with flexibility across evolving markets
The era of logistics AI is here
Get eyes on every shipment, anytime and anywhere
Timely and accurate invoicing and payments
Simplifying freight procurement through innovation
Traditional procurement processes are manual, time-consuming, and complex, leaving businesses struggling to optimize their procurement strategies. At Uber Freight, we envisioned a freight procurement marketplace that mirrors the neutrality, transparency, and efficiency of financial exchanges called Uber Freight Exchange. It allows shippers to optimize their procurement strategies with comprehensive insights and advanced tools to unlock efficiencies, strengthen relationships, and make more informed decisions in a single platform. For carriers, Uber Freight Exchange helps them save time, make better and faster decisions, and grow their business.
This year, we made significant strides in turning that vision into reality, introducing key innovations to simplify procurement, strengthen relationships, and deliver tangible results.
Shippers
Carriers
Powerloop
Empowering shippers with advanced tools:
Procurement is no longer a puzzle for shippers. With Uber Freight Exchange: Contract now generally available, shippers can streamline mini-bid and RFP processes, simplifying complexity with ease.
But we didn’t stop there. We enhanced the mini-bid process with improved bid progress visibility and seamless integration with the Uber Freight TMS. Whether managing a small-scale bid or an RFP, our new tools for bid editing, file uploads, and link sharing for invites provides flexibility and control.
We’re excited to offer early access to Uber Freight Exchange: Spot for our Transportation Management customers, providing real-time access to spot freight options.
When it came to spot freight auctions, efficiency became the priority. A robust search function and streamlined results table now allow shippers to make faster, more informed decisions.
For carriers, 2024 was a year of opportunity and growth. At our 9th Annual Carrier Summit, we announced Uber Freight Exchange: Spot, a game-changing tool that has already facilitated over 11,500 auctions. Supporting all equipment types, modes, and commodities, Uber Freight Exchange: Spot offers carriers the flexibility they need to save time and make smarter decisions.
We also introduced Book-it-Now, allowing carriers to skip the waiting game for spot auctions. With this feature, carriers can see the set price for a spot auction and book the load immediately, or submit their bid to end the auction on their terms. This means no more waiting for auctions to close or wondering if theirs will win. Book-it-Now saves time and empowers carriers to act quickly, helping them grow their business more effectively.
Empowering carriers with new opportunities:
We expanded our drop-and-hook capacity solution, Powerloop. Shippers can leverage Uber Freight’s Powerloop solution to access dry van trailers, securing capacity to move goods without the need to own trailers or other assets.
Powerloop helps carriers of every size realize the advantages of a single, scaled trailer pool system: less detention time, more hours on the road, and new business opportunities. This year, we introduced key advancements to enhance the optionality and flexibility for carriers, inclusive of:
Expanded nationwide access for carriers, inclusive of Powerloop bundles—or tours of multiple loads from top shippers—all without requiring carriers to supply their own trailers
Flexible Trailer Returns—offering greater convenience and control over holding and returning trailers on carrier’s terms
Powerloop
Uber Freight's Powerloop trailers are state-of-the-art equipment with real-time GPS tracking capabilities, so we always know what’s happening with our loads. We can access this data through Uber’s portal. Real-time data has, over the last 3-4 years, become a key component of monitoring our carriers’ performance
- Jeff Bishop, Category Manager Transportation and Logistics Procurement at Molson Coors
Shippers and their transportation teams are navigating increasingly complex supply chains, underscoring the need for centralized systems to manage networks effectively. Without these tools, businesses risk higher costs, reduced agility, and diminished service quality.
To address this, Uber Freight streamlined order and shipment entry within Uber Freight TMS to minimize setup time with intuitive initiation tools and integrated product lookup. Shippers can seamlessly input essential details—like modes, carriers, routes, and rates—streamlining operations and improving supplier onboarding. Additionally, a streamlined, network-customized data repository now offers quick, accurate access to location data and comprehensive facility performance overviews. This enhancement ensures safety, improves data accuracy, and facilitates smoother appointment scheduling while reducing manual entry and errors.
Seamlessly plan and execute with flexibility across evolving markets
8-15%
Average savings on costs
2-3x
Performance improvements for users
Get eyes on every shipment, anytime and anywhere
Military standoffs, port disasters like the Key Bridge collapse, and rising freight fraud underscore the inevitability of supply chain disruptions. In today's world, end-to-end visibility and traceability are table stakes for staying ahead and addressing challenges proactively.
That’s why we prioritized delivering next-generation visibility through comprehensive updates to the Control Tower and Tracking Portal within our TMS, inclusive of:
End-to-end, real-time shipment tracking across all modes, regions, and carriers for streamlined and automated management
Automation for ocean and air freight data, ensuring continuous updates for timely decision-making and risk mitigation
The Control Tower as the new default landing page, enabling faster access to critical insights
A redesigned Tracking Portal with a unified interface for seamless collaboration between vendors and TMS users
And we didn’t stop there. Once goods reach the warehouse, efficient truck movement is critical to reducing dwell times, avoiding detention charges, and minimizing costs. That’s why we enhanced Dock Scheduler with simplified setup and real-time tracking, streamlining operations and helping shippers strengthen carrier relationships and become a shipper-of-choice.
McBride, a top European manufacturer of household goods, leverages Uber Freight TMS solutions to enhance data visibility and control. Since adopting Uber Freight TMS, McBride has improved routing guide compliance to 97% and saves over €1 million annually by improving transport data visibility.
Timely and accurate invoicing and payments
Bridging the accuracy and timeline gap between billing and payments across your supplier network is crucial to keep your logistics operations running smoothly.
Uber Freight’s TMS financial tools unlock essential auditing capabilities that leverage proprietary AI models and automation to meticulously scrutinize invoices against contracted rates and shipper rules. This proactive approach helps align shipper and carrier expectations and payments with the necessary documentation, ultimately helping ensure fast, accurate discrepancy resolution to streamline the billing process. To simplify oversight and give transportation teams the insights they need to make informed decisions, we:
Introduced customizable financial boards to provide transportation teams with actionable insights for better decision-making
Enhanced user experience for streamlined end-to-end accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) workflows
Improved freight spend visibility and forecasting at managerial and organizational levels
Streamlined accessorial management through carrier self-service for resolving rate discrepancies
Improved efficiency in carrier payments with API integration and intelligent OCR-driven FAP audits
On the horizon: In 2025, we will deliver AR and AP single shipments, providing enhanced visibility into carrier payments and outstanding balances, empowering shippers to optimize spend, reduce disputes, and gain confidence in financial operations
25-35%
Efficiency boost for operators resolving carrier disputes
AI is transforming industries, including supply chain and logistics, where 50% of leaders plan to invest in its applications. At Uber Freight, our inaugural generative AI tool, Insights AI, is already helping transportation teams accelerate decision-making, automate tasks, and harness data effectively. Based on a year of learning what teams need from an AI co-pilot, we’ve introduced three advancements:
Conversational chat that can handle complex queries and provide precise, real-time answers tailored to a user’s supply chain
An AI-generated KPI dashboard that democratizes insights across your core KPIs in a user-friendly, regularly updated format transforming individual interactions into valuable, accessible resources for the entire team
On the horizon: Proactive recommendations are coming to Insights AI in 2025 to surface suggested actions based on best practices developed over 20+ years of managing transportation for some of the world’s largest shippers
The era of logistics AI is here
This is just the beginning of the era of logistics AI for Uber Freight. Our industry has an opportunity to double down on AI innovation and it starts with infusing AI-powered capabilities acrossTMS tools and processes to optimize the entire load lifecycle. By automating tasks, optimizing shipments, and delivering tailored insights, we empower transportation teams to make faster, smarter decisions proactively. We will continue enhancing our TMS to be more adaptive and proactive—anticipating needs, addressing challenges, and ensuring seamless supply chain operations.
Interested in learning more?
Visit one of the links below or connect with your Client Engagement representative if you’re already a customer to learn when updates will be coming your way.
Freight, TMS
Read our H1 2024 Technology release notes
June 27, 2024
TMS
Book a free Uber Freight TMS demo
Insights AI
Follow our journey in building Insights AI
Drop and Hook, Powerloop
June 27, 2024
Powerup with Powerloop
Uber Freight Exchange
Start running your bid cycle for free with Uber Freight Exchange
Reintroduced Uber Freight Shipping—a one-stop shop for quoting, booking, and tracking shipments from pickup to drop-off—showcasing our expanded capabilities and dedication to meeting the evolving needs of our customers.
Expanded Powerloop—our drop-and-hook capacity solution—to provide nationwide access for carriers. This includes Powerloop bundles, or tours of multiple loads from leading shippers, eliminating the need for them to provide their own trailers.
We’re excited to share how we’re driving innovation across procurement, planning, execution, visibility, and payments—integrating timely, relevant data to equip your teams with actionable insights. All of this is done with a steadfast focus on supporting the shippers behind our +$20B in Freight Under Management and our network of +121,000 carriers.
At our annual Deliver conference, we announced key advancements including a strategic integration with Uber Direct, modular TMS functionality, advanced Insights AI features, and flexible procurement software to provide greater transparency, control, and intelligence across the supply chain. In addition to these milestones, we:
+121,000
Carriers
Freight under management
$20B
Deliver 2024
Watch our Deliver 2024 Innovator’s Keynote
