Freight check call automation
Freight check call automation uses a voice agent to call drivers or dispatchers at the points you set, record location, ETA and issues in the TMS, and alert the rep when a load is running late or a driver reports a problem. Reps stop making routine calls and spend the time on exceptions.
Check calls · one run
Rules · Model · Person- 1
Schedule the calls
Rules - 2
Place the call
Model - 3
Record the answers
Model - 4
Cross-check
Rules - 5
Alert
Rules - 6
Follow up
Person
- What goes in
- Load schedule, driver or dispatcher phone numbers, ELD or tracking data where available
- What comes out
- A structured status record in the TMS per call, and alerts for late loads or problems
- Who approves
- Rep or on-call dispatcher, for every exception
Where the time goes today
What logistics teams tell us about this work.
Check calls fall off at the end of the day
A call before pickup, one mid-route and one before delivery, across dozens of loads. When the desk gets busy the calls drift, and the first sign of trouble is the shipper phoning.
Drivers dislike being called repeatedly
Dispatch, the broker and customer service each ring the same driver. Many do not answer while driving, which produces more calls.
The answer lives in someone's notes
'Delayed, three hours at the shipper' ends up in a text, a sticky note or memory instead of the load record, so the next rep starts from nothing.
How the automated workflow runs
Each step is fixed rules, a model reading or drafting, or a person on your team. The people steps are where approvals sit.
- 1
Schedule the calls
Plans calls from each load's appointments: before pickup, after pickup, at mid-route intervals you set and before delivery. Quiet hours and driver rest windows you configure are respected.
Rules - 2
Place the call
A voice agent calls the driver, or the dispatcher for company drivers, identifies the load and asks short questions: location, ETA and any issue.
Model - 3
Record the answers
Turns the conversation into structured fields: city or mile marker, ETA, loaded or empty, status, issue type and a link to the transcript.
Model - 4
Cross-check
Compares the reported location and ETA with tracking pings and the appointment. A mismatch beyond your threshold is flagged on the load.
Rules - 5
Alert
A late load, no answer after your retry limit, or a reported problem such as a breakdown or long detention notifies the rep through your channel.
Rules - 6
Follow up
The rep decides what happens next: call the customer, move the appointment or arrange a recovery truck. The agent's record is already on the load when they pick it up.
Person
Want to see how a project like this is scoped and delivered? Read how we work.
Controls and approvals
- Calls follow the quiet hours and retry limits you set. A driver can ask for a person at any point, and a note goes to the rep.
- Reports of an accident, injury or breakdown trigger a fixed script and an immediate alert, with no judgment left to the model.
- Call recording and AI disclosure rules are confirmed for each state and country your drivers work in before launch.
What we leave to people
A voice agent does not give drivers instructions, discuss rate or pickup changes or handle an emergency. If a driver reports an accident or injury, it tells them to contact emergency services and alerts the rep at once. For drivers who prefer it, we recommend text or app check-ins instead of calls.
Systems it connects to
Examples of tools we work with for this workflow. Anything with an API or a controlled interface is in scope.
- McLeod
- MercuryGate
- Turvo
- Samsara
- Motive
Schedules and loads are read from your TMS, and status records, transcripts and alerts are written back to the load. Where you already receive ELD location through Samsara or Motive, we use it to cross-check what drivers say.
What to measure
We set a baseline from your own records in the audit, then report these every month.
Illustrative example
With 60 active loads and 4 check calls per load each day, that is 240 calls. At 3 minutes each, it is 12 hours of rep time a day. Loads with reliable ELD location may not need a call at all, which the audit shows by comparing call answers with tracking data.
| Measure | How to read it |
|---|---|
| Check-call completion rate | Calls that produced a usable status, out of those scheduled. |
| Time from issue to rep alert | Minutes between a driver reporting a problem and the rep being notified. |
| Rep minutes on routine calls | Time the desk spends on calls the agent now makes, sampled before and after launch. |
| Late loads flagged before the customer asked | Delays the rep knew about first, as a share of all delays. |
Common questions
Will drivers talk to an AI voice agent?
Some will and some will not. Our approach is to offer text or app check-ins to drivers who prefer them and to measure the answer rate by driver and carrier. If a driver asks for a person, a rep follows up.
Do we still need ELD or tracking data?
Tracking data is better than a spoken answer for location, so we use it wherever you have it. The agent is most useful for what tracking cannot tell you: why a load is late, how long the driver has waited and what the driver needs.
What does a check call cost?
Cost depends on call volume, call length and the telephony route, and we do not quote a per-call figure without your data. The audit estimates it from your load schedule and then gives a fixed build price and a monthly run fee.
What happens when the driver does not answer?
The agent retries within the limits you set, leaves a short voicemail if you allow it, and then alerts the rep. A string of unanswered calls on one load is itself a signal worth a person's attention.
Related
Tell us how your logistics team handles this today.
A 30-minute call with an engineer. You will leave knowing what a system could do for that workflow and what it would take to build.
What happens next
- 1
Strategy call
We learn how the workflow runs today and what a good outcome would be.
- 2
Workflow audit
We map the process and measure where a system would save the most time.
- 3
Proposal
A written scope, timeline and fixed price for your first system. No obligation to build.