AI is accelerating, but how can trucking use it effectively? - Transport Topics

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AI is accelerating, but how can trucking use it effectively?

Connected data seen as key to future gains

Key Takeaways:

- At ACT Expo 2026 in Las Vegas, trucking and logistics leaders said AI is reshaping operations by improving decision-making, automation and business performance.

- Executives from Werner, Platform Science and Penske said successful AI adoption depends on understanding business needs, targeting specific pain points and avoiding ineffective investments.

- Companies are expanding AI use in scheduling, predictive maintenance and benchmarking while pursuing stronger data integrations and connected-vehicle platforms to support future applications.

LAS VEGAS — With artificial intelligence promising to transform the way businesses operate, a key challenge for trucking and logistics leaders will be finding the right ways to implement this technology within their own enterprises.

Emerging AI tools can automate processes and draw out insights from data to help improve business performance and profitability, but companies will need to determine how and where they can use them effectively.

AI is already driving a major shift in the way companies run their businesses, said Daragh Mahon, executive vice president and chief information officer at truckload carrier Werner Enterprises.

“Fundamentally, it’s making us quicker, it’s helping us make better decisions, and I think long term, it just becomes a natural part of the operation. I think we’ll forget it’s there eventually,” Mahon said during a panel discussion at ACT Expo 2026 in May in Las Vegas.

In particular, AI is poised to enhance decision-making processes in freight.

“Let’s be honest, humans make a lot of really bad decisions all of the time, every day, multiple times a day, and most of those decisions are made because they don’t have the data or the experience or the knowledge to make the correct one,” Mahon said.

Penske’s Sherry Sanger encourages fleets to experiment with AI capabilities alongside Coretura’s Johan Lundén (left) and Platform Science’s Jack Kennedy at ACT Expo 2026. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)

Werner ranks No. 19 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.

The foundation for a successful AI rollout is clearly understanding your own business, said Jack Kennedy, CEO of telematics vendor Platform Science.

He urged industry leaders to figure out what makes their businesses unique and where they excel, then focus on picking the right AI tools that solve the right problems.

“The tools will get easier, but not knowing your business won’t,” Kennedy said.

Today and in the coming months, he said, businesses need to be “ruthless” with their questions as they evaluate potential AI systems and use cases.

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“I cannot emphasize that enough,” Kennedy said. “More money is going to be spent chasing the wrong rabbit holes because someone else is already doing it, somebody told you to do it, and you forgot what makes your fleet business unique.”

While AI can automate many processes, it can work well with humans still in the loop, said Sherry Sanger, executive vice president of strategy and marketing at truck leasing and logistics giant Penske Transportation Solutions.

“There are a lot of things that fleets need an assist with right now, and AI can provide a pretty profound assist,” she said.

Sanger encouraged fleets to be “very outcome focused” and zero in on solving pain points as they consider applying AI to their operations.

She also advised industry leaders to actively test AI and learn about new capabilities, which they can do through partnerships with companies like Penske that are investing in the technology.

“Don’t sit on the sidelines,” Sanger said. “Find ways to experiment and try things at a small scale.”

Penske, for instance, is using AI to enhance predictive maintenance and inform customers proactively when it detects that a problem could lead to a breakdown.

The company also is using its Catalyst AI platform to create benchmarks for operating metrics such as fuel economy and asset utilization. Customers use that information to track their performance versus comparison fleets and identify opportunities to improve.

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Mahon said Werner recently deployed an AI communications tool that automates thousands of phone calls per week for freight appointment scheduling. In addition to the time savings, the technology optimized appointment times for Werner’s trucks so they could get loaded or unloaded earlier, get back on the road sooner and boost utilization.

Looking ahead, clean integrations between applications and platforms will be important for AI because it will need visibility into all relevant data to perform at the highest level, Mahon said.

Over time, those data connections could take the form of AI agents talking to other AI agents, he added.

Connected vehicle technology will be another enabler for future AI applications, said Johan Lundén, CEO of Coretura, a joint venture of Daimler Truck and Volvo Group that is developing a software-defined vehicle platform for commercial trucks.

Coretura’s digital platform will ease data integrations and streamline connected-vehicle software and services, he said.

“That way you can accelerate a lot of innovation that otherwise is time spent trying to just integrate,” Lundén said.