Every freight AI vendor quotes an automation rate. Almost none publish what's behind it. Here's the methodology question brokerages should be asking and what Chain's 3M-load dataset reveals.
A FreightCaviar follower spent weeks quick-paying carriers on a steel project before learning the shipper was fake, the carriers were in on it, and not a single load was ever real. Plus: Congress takes aim at chameleon carriers, diesel keeps falling, and more.
“When I say you’re going to require high levels of authenticity and authentication at the point of entry... that is no longer going to be enough to prevent access. You’re going to need multiple points that all need to match in order to unlock access- that’s where we’re going."
Plus: ArcBest proves EV trucks can go the distance, Port of LA hits record volumes ahead of tariff hikes, J.B. Hunt’s Q2 shows strong intermodal—but squeezed margins, and more.
Happy Hump Day. From AI bots booking loads to warehouse robots with a sense of touch, automation is moving faster (and smarter) than most of us thought possible. In today’s feature, we break down where the freight industry really stands on full automation.
Plus,
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🍳 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT
⚡ ArcBest’s Tesla Semi Pilot Shows EV Trucks Can Compete with Diesel. ArcBest’s ABF Freight completed a three-week pilot of the Tesla Semi, logging 4,494 miles and achieving 1.55 kWh/mile in energy use, surpassing prior pilots by DHL and PepsiCo. The electric truck proved capable on demanding routes, including Donner Pass, and matched diesel performance on daily averages of 321 miles. “It must meet or exceed the performance and total cost of ownership targets of our most efficient diesel units,” said ABF President Matt Godfrey. The results strengthen the case for EV freight adoption as Tesla eyes full production in 2026.
⚓ Port of Los Angeles Breaks June Record as Importers Race Tariff Deadline. The Port of Los Angeles moved 892,000 TEUs in June—a new monthly record—driven by shippers frontloading cargo ahead of U.S. tariffs set for August 1. “With pushing back the tariffs… we’re going to probably get one last push on imports,” said Executive Director Gene Seroka. Imports rose 10% year-over-year, with five extra loaders deployed. The port expects July to climb even higher, but warns volumes will sharply drop post-August as holiday orders are already en route. First-half 2025 throughput reached nearly 5 million TEUs, up 5% from 2024.
📊 J.B. Hunt Delivers Mixed Q2 as Intermodal Volume Offsets Margin Squeeze. J.B. Hunt reported Q2 2025 earnings of $1.31 per share, down slightly year-over-year, with flat revenue at $2.93 billion. Intermodal load growth (+6%) lifted segment revenue by 2%, though shorter hauls weakened yields. Dedicated revenue held steady despite a smaller fleet, while brokerage losses narrowed to $3.6 million amid pricing gains. Operating income fell 4% as margin pressure persisted. CFO John Kuhlow emphasized cost discipline in a “slowly improving” freight market, with CEO John Roberts reaffirming the company’s long-term focus on intermodal scale and efficiency.
Last month, Highway blocked 186,043 fraudulent email attempts to carrier profiles due to compromised email inboxes.
As one of the fastest growing attack vectors coming for your freight, Highway has introduced Secure Rate Con Delivery, a new secure way to send rate confirmations—so sensitive load data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
With Secure Rate Con Delivery, brokers can send rate confirmations through a secure, authenticated link—protecting carriers from spoofed emails and unauthorized access. No more vulnerable attachments. No more guessing who’s on the other end.
The result? Fewer load detail leaks, stronger defense against inbox-based fraud, and confidence that only trusted parties see your freight.
Secure Rate Con Delivery is now available to Highway customers—another step in closing the loop on freight fraud before it starts.
A year ago, if you told a seasoned broker that an AI bot could negotiate a rate, vet a carrier, and automate check calls, you’d probably get an eye roll. That kind of nuance, the back-and-forth, the instinct, the gut feel, was supposed to be too human to replicate.
Fast forward to mid-2025, and tools like HappyRobot are handling those exact tasks. Quietly. Efficiently. Without needing PTO.
So now we have to ask:
If we underestimated AI bots, are we doing the same with physical robots?
Let’s take a look.
At S&S Activewear, the warehouse of the future is already operational. The company faced a common but painful issue: a 90-day training curve for new pickers and massive warehouse footprints that drained productivity.
Their answer?
Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs).
The robots handle miles of travel across massive warehouses while people do the skilled tasks: verifying, adjusting, problem-solving.
It’s augmentation, not automation. For now.
Amazon’s latest warehouse tech is a robot called Vulcan, and it may be the company’s boldest step toward physical automation yet.
What makes Vulcan different?
Still, Amazon insists this doesn’t mean humans are out of the picture.
“If we had to get Vulcan to do 100% of the stows and picks, it would never happen.”
— Aaron Parnest, Vulcan team lead
Even Vulcan’s strongest advocates admit the flexibility of humans is still unmatched. The real benefit? Making warehouse jobs safer and more ergonomic. Vulcan handles high and low shelves; humans work the middle “power zone.”
But not everyone is convinced this ends in collaboration.
“Everything will be automated in 10 years. It has to be, because of customer demand.”
— Daniel Deio, Amazon stower of 11+ years
Autonomous trucking gets a lot of buzz, but very little delivery. The common perception is that movement has stalled.
But Waabi is quietly pushing the boundaries with a very different approach: mixed-reality testing.
Instead of racking up real-world miles, Waabi trains its autonomous systems in virtual environments, simulating millions of edge cases, from tire blowouts to sudden weather shifts. All without putting a single truck on the highway.
It may not look like progress, but it’s laying a foundation for long-term scalability. Freight won’t be running coast-to-coast driverless tomorrow, but Waabi is building toward it with clinical precision.
"With MRT, Waabi is able to explore countless safety-critical cases that would require billions of real-world miles to encounter even once. Rare edge cases that were previously impossible to recreate physically can now be tested with extraordinary levels of realism and, importantly, without real-world consequences." – Raquel Urtasun, Waabi Founder & CEO
The rapid ascent of AI software in freight was the canary in the coal mine.
If digital tools can win over the “relationship-driven” freight world, don’t bet against robots that solve even bigger labor and safety bottlenecks.
It’s not a matter of if robots will reshape freight, it’s a question of where you’ll first feel it:
The “future” doesn’t always show up with flashing lights and big announcements. Sometimes, it’s just already here.
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🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB
🚨 Meth Found in Carrots. Border agents seized $15.6 million worth of meth hidden in a tractor-trailer hauling carrots. Authorities called the bust “gargantuan” in scale. This is the second-largest meth bust in less than a week at Pharr International Bridge.
🏠Daimler Layoffs. Daimler plans to lay off 2,000 employees across the U.S. and Mexico, citing shifting market demand and a realignment of production schedules.
đź©ş Paper Med Waiver. FMCSA will temporarily permit commercial drivers to use paper medical certificates during its transition to an electronic submission system. This waiver will remain in effect until October 12, 2025.
⚖️ Tesla's Trial. Tesla is set to go to trial in Florida over a 2019 fatal crash involving its Autopilot system after it failed to detect a parked SUV. Tesla’s defense on this case is that it was on “driver error.”
🛢️ Fuel Fraud. John Bowman has been arrested for allegedly making $15,000 in fraudulent fuel purchases, according to police. He “had used the company fuel card to make numerous personal fuel purchases from July 2020 through May 2025.”
🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER
FREIGHT HUMOR
A FreightCaviar follower spent weeks quick-paying carriers on a steel project before learning the shipper was fake, the carriers were in on it, and not a single load was ever real. Plus: Congress takes aim at chameleon carriers, diesel keeps falling, and more.
“When I say you’re going to require high levels of authenticity and authentication at the point of entry... that is no longer going to be enough to prevent access. You’re going to need multiple points that all need to match in order to unlock access- that’s where we’re going."
FMCSA launched a new carrier registry three weeks ago to stop freight fraud — zero new carriers have been registered since. Plus: PepsiCo is running 41 driverless trucks, peak season and a shrinking driver pool, cameras know where your carriers have been, and more.
The freight boom arrived. For some carriers, it arrived too late. We explain why in today's feature. Plus: real gouda fellas, satisfactory doesn't mean safe, LTL is waking up, and more.
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