Why driver experience is the AI opportunity carriers can’t ignore

It’s Truck Driver Appreciation Week. Terminals are grilling, awards are getting handed out, and drivers are (rightfully) getting their moment.

But appreciation is easy one week a year. The real question is what we do with the other 51.

Drivers have been asking for better working conditions for decades: more predictable schedules, less time on hold, fewer hours lost to paperwork and phone tag. For most of trucking’s history, “better” meant “someday, maybe.” Now it doesn’t have to. Agentic AI is giving carriers a real shot at fixing the driver experience instead of just talking about it.

That matters more now than ever. Retention is in crisis, and carriers that keep treating driver experience as a nice-to-have are going to keep losing drivers to the ones who don’t. AI isn’t a gimmick here. It’s a transformative opportunity that’s making real change possible.

The information gap

Historically, goods have only moved through the supply chain as fast as people could process information. Operators have to read and respond to hundreds of emails, calls, texts, and system updates just to keep a truck moving. As a result, information builds up in the supply chain the way plaque clogs an artery. Slow information flow causes slower decisions, and slow decisions have a direct impact on drivers.

At Augment, we’ve worked with some of North America’s leading carriers to analyze the way information flows from drivers to driver managers, and onward to brokers, shippers, facilities, and other key partners. We’ve found that nearly a third of driver communications ladder down to one question: what am I doing next?

The answer to that question lives inside a carrier’s TMS. To relay it, a dispatcher has to hunt it down, then make contact with their driver, who often won’t see it until late at night, when they’ve already stopped driving.

At Augment, we call this communication breakdown in supply chain the coordination tax: the manual updates that drain operator productivity in freight. Because of it, information doesn’t always reach drivers in a proactive, timely manner. Trucks experience more delays at facilities for pickup and delivery. They also miss more appointments and are more likely to be detained.

A recent report from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) found that drivers lose anywhere from 117 to 209 hours a year to detention. Carriers charge for detention as an accessorial, but ATRI also found that fewer than half of those invoices are collected, because when the customer asks for proof of the claim, the carrier can’t always provide it. Driver detention costs the industry more than $3.6B in direct expenses and $11.5B in lost productivity every year.

The driver retention crisis

This coordination tax costs drivers hours, and lost hours spur driver turnover. Driver turnover has been a problem in supply chain for decades. A National Academies report commissioned by the FMCSA found that FTL carriers averaged 92.7% in annualized turnover from 1996 to early 2023, while LTL averaged 11.8% and private fleets ran about 15%.

Driver turnover is caused by two trends: drivers leaving their carrier for a new job with a competitor, and drivers exiting the profession altogether. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent Population Survey found that 30.8% of truck drivers are aged 55 and over, meaning nearly one third of America’s current driver workforce will retire within the next decade. That makes driver retention more critical than ever.

How to improve the driver experience with AI

Eliminating the coordination tax is essential to retaining drivers. Without this tax, drivers will have a better working experience. More trucks will arrive at open docks, and more drivers will go home to their families on time.

In the last few years, agentic AI has advanced to the point where AI teammates can read and act on more information than humans could ever process by hand, 24/7. With agentic AI, carriers can deliver a high-quality driver experience. We have several live use cases already making an impact.

More efficient document collection

With agentic AI, drivers don’t have to spend time processing paperwork by hand. They can simply photograph a document and pass it on to an AI agent.

Drivers can photograph a BOL or a signed POD and text it directly to our AI teammate Augie. Augie reads the image, classifies it, routes it into the right workflow, and delivers it to the person who needs it. Augie also splits multi-document PDFs and uploads files straight into the TMS, so nobody renames attachments or re-keys reference numbers.

CRST, one of the largest carriers in the United States, is already taking advantage of agentic AI to make their drivers’ lives easier. Their drivers scan documents at the site; then Augie reads them and builds loads in McLeod. Loads come back in front of drivers within two to three minutes. Before Augie, the same work used to take hours or even days.

Reversing the missed appointment domino effect

When inefficient driver-to-carrier communication results in a missed appointment, the delays cause a domino effect on a driver’s schedule. A customer service representative pushes a delivery window by three hours, but the driver manager hears about the change late, and the driver arrives at the old time to find their dock already committed to another truck. The driver waits, causing their next stop to get pushed back, and so on throughout the rest of their route. Agentic AI can stop this problem before the first domino falls.

Augie takes a scheduling-ready load, fetches available facility times in the scheduling portal, and finds the optimal pickup and delivery slots for the carrier based on their rules and preferences. Augie then books the optimal slots and syncs confirmation back to the carrier’s TMS—all at the touch of a button. A rescheduled appointment for three hours later gets executed as soon as it needs to, with downstream events actioned immediately.

With agentic AI, drivers can arrive at available docks and move through the rest of their route on schedule, reversing the domino effect.

Automatic detention capture

Drivers have historically reported detention over the phone to their dispatcher, who may note the delay without confirming the in and out times in their TMS. When the customer pushes back, that claim doesn’t hold up. AI agents can confirm these details in real time.

Augie captures and organizes accessorials for carriers by detecting detention mentions in carrier calls and emails, then classifying them based on fee amount, wait time, and any additional notes. Augie then stores the data so that it is ready for billing, claims, or analytics.

With agentic AI documenting detention in real time, carriers can collect the payment they are owed, and drivers don’t have to play phone tag with their manager to get there.

Location updates without a phone call

Drivers shouldn’t have to answer calls or send a text when they are behind the wheel. AI agents can help carriers track them seamlessly.

Augie sends drivers a single-use link that the driver can tap to allow location sharing. Augie converts the coordinates into a city and state and writes the update directly into a carrier’s TMS. The driver doesn’t have to install a new app or answer the phone while driving. The tracking expires after 12 hours so that the driver isn’t being tracked after the load they’re transporting has been completed.

With agentic AI handling tracking, drivers can focus on driving safely and efficiently.

Use AI to improve the driver experience now, before the labor market tightens

We’ve only just scratched the surface of all the ways AI can eliminate the coordination tax for drivers, making their lives and jobs easier. They move through their route on schedule. They don’t have to wait for open docks. They make it home to their families on time. And they are more likely to stay with their carrier because they are happy to come to work.

Driver retention will matter even more in the next few years as wages and costs per mile increase, more drivers reach retirement age, and others are no longer eligible for the profession under new FMCSA rules. Carriers have an opportunity to improve the driver experience with AI now, so that they aren’t fighting for drivers down the line.