Dive Brief:

• Uber Freight has released a new web portal that will allow fleet dispatchers to assign, book and manage loads using a desktop rather than a smartphone, the company announced yesterday.
• "As the team continued to work with fleets and dispatchers, they learned that many operate with desktop interfaces in their day-to-day," an Uber spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
• The company is also rolling out a new app design that provides more information on load cards like rate per mile and reload details to help carriers book loads. Facility ratings are also included in the redesign, which means drivers can see ratings at a location before booking a load, the spokesperson said.

Dive Insight:

This move from app-only operations into the area of web-based work shows that Uber is looking to make its service fit into the workflow of more, and bigger, businesses.

This kind of marketplace has been introduced by multiple legacy freight companies in recent years, companies which Uber has listed as its competitors. In 2017, J.B. Hunt Transportation Services launched J.B. Hunt 360 to help shippers and carriers find each other, and XPO Connect came onto the market in 2018 to accomplish similar goals.

Earlier this summer, Coyote Logistics also announced upgrades to its digital freight platform, which is available online and as an app, and includes a similar facility reviews feature.

Uber is making its service more convenient to use by putting its marketplace on a phone, tablet or desktop. But aside from convenience, the marketplace will also have to offer competitive rates for both shippers and carriers to ensure users keep returning. As many freight marketplaces make the move online, the factors differentiating these tools could come down to other incentives as legacy players get onboard and technology becomes an expectation rather than an added bonus.