Uber Freight partners with Blue Yonder on API for real-time quotes, booking

Dive Brief:

Uber Freight and Blue Yonder, a fulfillment-solutions provider specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, are partnering to power the freight network's real-time digital pricing API for shippers, according to a company press release.
Shippers already using Blue Yonder's Luminate digital fulfillment platform will have access to "automated execution, dynamic routing guides" and Uber Freight's network of 50,000 carriers across the U.S. and Europe, according to the release. Existing Uber Freight customers that don't use Luminate will still have access to the pricing API through Uber's existing dashboard, an Uber Freight spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive via email.
Using AI and machine learning technology to analyze and forecast market data, the API will give shippers access to real-time quoting and booking up to two weeks before a load is scheduled to take place. "As soon as those load requests were generated in the system for a new lane, they simultaneously hit Uber Freight’s instant pricing API, received a rate, used standard business logic to determine that the rate was in an appropriate price range, and tendered the load," Bill Driegert, Uber Freight’s head of operations, wrote in a company blog post.

Dive Insight:

The COVID-19 outbreak has intensified shippers' need for real-time data visibility and increased efficiency in their supply chains. Navigating disruptions across suppliers, freight markets and consumer demand has left businesses looking to enhance their digital transformation efforts in order to begin grappling with the "new normal."

In March and April, when disruption from the outbreak was at its most intense, Uber Freight "saw an increase of more than 150% in load volume from shippers using [our] API. In June, our API volume remained up by more than 100% compared with pre-pandemic levels," the spokesperson said.

The partnership between Uber Freight and Blue Yonder is the latest in a series the platform has made to boost its offerings. In May, it partnered with Oracle on an API that would integrate real-time quotes from brokers into Oracle's Transportation Management System, and in April it launched a pricing API with BluJay. Last year, the company announced it's quoting system would be available via SAP's Logistics Business Network for shippers.

Uber Freight's spokesperson said the company's "direct API integrations lead to reduced overhead costs [and] flexible, scalable operations for shippers," by reducing the time it takes to quote and book loads and by allowing shippers to use the digital systems they already have in place.

Uber isn't the only player in the digital freight field pursuing this strategy. Last week, Convoy announced a partnership with KeepTruckin on a freight tracking API that combines the platform's mobile app data with location information from KeepTruckin's ELDs, thereby improving shippers' visibility.