GREEN BAY, Wis. — When it comes to freight transportation, up-to-date and accurate information is key to planning and maintaining a world-class supply chain.
Earlier this year, Schneider piloted new estimated time of arrival (ETA) technology to provide more accurate arrival times to customers.
In addition to providing the improved ETA data through existing channels, Schneider is introducing a new tracking application programming interface (API) that leverages the improved data. With the company’s ETAi technology powering automatic updates of estimated load arrivals, and an API serving up near real-time visibility, shippers gain an important edge. More accurate ETA information enables Schneider and its customers to make any necessary adjustments to keep supply chains moving at peak efficiency.
“We know that visibility is one of the top concerns for shippers,” said Schneider executive vice president and chief information officer Shaleen Devgun. “When we studied it across the transportation industry, we were surprised by the level of ETA inaccuracy that has become commonplace. We recognized an opportunity to leverage our proprietary data science and advanced analytics engines to provide more accurate, automated ETA information to our customers. With ETAi and the rollout of our tracking API, customers and drivers are in lockstep from the first mile to arrival.”
Devgun said Schneider’s ETAi technology is an example of the company’s technology leadership in the transportation and logistics industries by providing customers access to more accurate, near real-time ETA information at a time when increased transparency and visibility are in high demand. Because ETAi leverages a multitude of data points not available to data aggregators, along with proprietary data science, Schneider has seen up to 39% more accuracy than tracking aggregators are able to provide. Furthermore, with the new tracking API, shippers will have a new channel to obtain ETAi data on demand and pull it into their own systems and tools.
The benefit is not limited to shippers, Devgun said. A pilot group of more than 4,000 Schneider drivers realized productivity improvements leading to more miles driven per day. With 79% of the fleet now utilizing ETAi, Schneider has seen a 26% improvement in its ETAs compared to the prior method. ETAs are automatically updated without driver intervention, eliminating the need to stop driving to make updates to arrival times when a trip is impacted by traffic, weather or other unforeseen situations.
Schneider’s Van Truckload company drivers are already equipped with ETAi technology and the company is rapidly adding the technology to other service offerings. Deployment to its entire fleet is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2019. Schneider expects its tracking API with ETAi data to be available to all customers over the course of the next year.
For more information, visit www.schneider.com.
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