FreightWaves AI Excellence Awards Showcase Freight’s Most Impactful Innovations

FreightWaves has announced the winners of its inaugural AI Excellence in Supply Chain Awards, honoring companies that are deploying artificial intelligence for measurable results in freight and logistics and not just marketing buzz.

The awards, presented at the AI in Supply Chain Symposium in Washington, DC, recognized 10 companies whose AI solutions are improving efficiency, reducing costs, and strengthening resilience across the supply chain. Winners include Pallet, CloneOps.ai, Qued, Incorta, HappyRobot, project44, Fleetworks, C.H. Robinson, OTR Solutions, and Wirebee.

Beyond the Chatbot: Standout Innovations

This year’s honorees were recognized for using AI to automate critical freight workflows, improve security, and unlock operational capacity.

Pallet – AI Workforce for Supply Chains: CoPallet automates quoting, load building, rate negotiation, and portal updates, boosting throughput by up to 10× while cutting staffing costs by 50–70%.
CloneOps.ai – Conversational AI + Fraud Prevention: Automates 70% of inbound calls, reduces carrier vetting time by 95%, and uses Voice ID to flag identity spoofing before booking errors occur.
Qued – AI-Driven Dock Scheduling: Predicts optimal appointment slots based on real-time ETAs and facility capacity, reducing no-shows by 90% and increasing on-time performance by 25%.
Incorta – Live ERP Data for AI: Delivers real-time operational data to AI models, cutting ERP data load times by 60% and reducing excess inventory by over 10%.
HappyRobot – Automated Carrier Calls: Handles 40–90% of broker-carrier calls, blocks 20–40% of unqualified carriers, and integrates fraud detection into booking workflows.
project44 – Disruption Navigator: Analyzes over 8 billion data sources to flag 120+ categories of potential shipment risks, reducing disruption costs by 40%.
Fleetworks – AI Carrier Rep: Sources and vets drivers 24/7 with AI-powered photo and voice verification, boosting booking velocity by 10%.
C.H. Robinson – Generative AI Agents: Automates quoting, order processing, and appointment scheduling; 75% of LTL orders are now handled without human input.
OTR Solutions – Invoice AI + Fraud Defense: Auto-approves 80% of invoices in seconds and cuts write-offs from 4% to under 1%.
Wirebee – AI Voice Gatekeeper: Blocks spoofed calls and automates credential checks for 40–90% of inbound broker calls, improving fraud defense.

Why It Matters for Freight

The awards come amid rising cargo theft, tightening margins, and operational disruptions. According to CargoNet, theft reached $61 million in Q2 2025 — a sharp increase from last year. AI tools like those from CloneOps.ai and Wirebee are targeting the “voice channel,” often the most vulnerable link in fraud prevention.

Key takeaways from the winners’ impact:

Fraud prevention is expanding beyond physical security to the digital and voice layers of freight transactions.
Automation is shifting from “nice to have” to core operational strategy, helping companies scale without adding headcount.
AI is moving deeper into ERP, scheduling, and payment systems, creating time savings and reducing costly errors.

As the White House continues to develop a national AI strategy, these companies are already deploying solutions that deliver measurable returns and harden supply chains against disruption.

Source: FreightWaves