You may know Uber best as the service that shuttles you from Point A to Point B for a preset price, but back in May, the ridesharing service debuted a service meant less for passengers and more for drivers. And not just any driver — specifically truckers.
Uber Freight, available on both iOS and Android, can almost be described as a job-seeking service, pairing truck drivers with companies who need to get their precious cargo from Point A to Point B (where Point A and Point B are often hundreds if not thousands of miles apart). And now, Uber Freight has two new features, both of which seek to make it easier for drivers to book multiple jobs. Ultimately, Uber noted in a Medium post, the goal is to “deliver an even more seamless experience and help our carriers and their drivers maximize their time and productivity.”
The first new feature is called Post My Truck, which allows drivers to indicate where and when they will have availability to pick up a load. They can also note the sort of job they’re open to — whether it’s a short, medium, or long-haul trip — then receive notifications once they’ve been selected to carry cargo. In many ways, it’s much like the way traditional Uber drivers mark themselves available to pick up human passengers, but Uber says that the technology behind the two features is different.
Then, there’s the Reloads feature, which “keeps carriers and their drivers moving and earning by minimizing empty miles.” This, Uber hopes, will keep truckers using Uber Freight, rather than switching over to another platform to find work. With the Reloads feature, drivers and carriers alike can see a list of backhauls and reloads (which are loads that can be picked up near a trucker’s current drop off location) so that they can quickly and easily book their next trip. That means that drivers won’t have to waste time looking for a new job in what may be a new city, and can instead keep their income stream up as they continue to take on new cargo.
Folks with the Uber Freight app should be able to see the new Post My Truck feature on the app now, whereas Reloads will make an appearance in a few weeks on both Android and iOS.
