A practical look at how freight AI is evolving from simple automation to operational decision support, and what it means for broker productivity, tribal knowledge capture, and more.
Harish Abbott, CEO of Augment, shares why the future of freight is already here and how to adapt to it.
The Supreme Court ruled Trump's tariffs illegal. Plus: an Illinois official took $300K and handed out illegal CDLs, cartel violence may affect your Mexico freight, 550 CDL schools just got shut down, and more.
Plus: chameleon carriers defend their tactics, UPS and FedEx ground MD-11s after a deadly crash, and Oklahoma steps up CDL enforcement.
Good Monday morning. Freight brokerage & tech just hit another speed bump with California-based Zuum Transportation filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. We break it down in today's feature.
Plus:
🦎 Chameleon Carriers: A “Survival” Tactic? Chameleon carriers are widely condemned in freight for undermining trust and safety. But some inside the industry say it’s not always about fraud, it’s about survival. One unknown commentator on X defended the practice, saying, “Any broker can slap a FreightGuard on your company just because they didn’t like a driver. That one click can wreck your reputation overnight.” They argue brokers hold all the power, and with no system for carriers to fight back, some resort to becoming a chameleon just to stay in business. Still, many like SuperTrucker disagree with this notion with SuperTrucker writing on X, “I do not agree with this justification, but the defense a lot of these carriers will use is that they have to do this because of a FreightGuard they received.”
✈️ UPS, FedEx Ground MD-11 Fleets After Kentucky Crash. UPS and FedEx have temporarily grounded all MD-11 freighters following the Louisville crash that killed 13 people, including three UPS pilots. Boeing recommended the suspension pending further engineering analysis after investigators confirmed the plane’s left engine separated during takeoff, causing the aircraft to plunge into an industrial park. The grounding affects roughly 70 aircraft worldwide, forcing both carriers to activate backup capacity plans to avoid major freight delays. UPS said the move will not materially impact operations.
🛃 Oklahoma, ICE Target Foreign CDL Holders. Oklahoma’s second I-40 immigration and CDL enforcement sting led to 34 arrests of foreign commercial drivers holding licenses from multiple states, including California, Texas, and Illinois. Dubbed Operation Guardian, the 15-hour sweep involved 209 truck inspections near the Arkansas border and detained 70 people overall. Governor Kevin Stitt said the effort enforces “common-sense standards” requiring legal status and English proficiency, while ICE officials warned that unqualified drivers “endanger everyone on the roads.” The crackdown comes as Craig Fuller and DAT’s Ken Adamo prepare to debate on Nov. 13 whether this “Compliance Crunch” will reshape freight markets in 2026 or prove, as Adamo argues, that the impact remains minimal so far.
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Zuum Transportation Inc., the Irvine-based freight-tech startup once aiming to "defragment" logistics, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov 6, 2025.
The company, which built both a digital brokerage and a TMS platform, listed $10 million to $50 million in assets and liabilities in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
Court filings show nearly $5.5 million in unsecured claims across 49 creditors, including Logitrans Inc., AAR Logistics, ITF LLC, and Accion Labs. CEO Matt Tabatabai continues to lead the company as it navigates restructuring.
When FreightCaviar first interviewed Matt Tabatabai three years ago, Zuum was pitching an ambitious idea: unite shippers, brokers, and carriers under one digital roof.
"We incepted Zuum in 2016 with the idea of how do we defragment the space and really bring the shippers, brokers, [and] carriers all together on one platform," Tabatabai said during our 2022 podcast.
Zuum launched from inside a 60-truck operation to stay close to drivers, a "bottom-up" approach.
That hands-on start gave the company credibility early on, but it also blurred its identity: a tech vendor competing against its own potential software customers.
"Right now, it's competition; the future is collaboration. Companies are looking at each other like 'what are you trying to do? steal my data?' For me that comes from a place of scarcity... why [don't] we all elevate together?"
Zuum’s pitch stood out during the pandemic freight-tech boom, and they had a clear three-phase plan.
"We believe in the RoboCop model which is you can’t completely eliminate the human being," Tabatabai said. "You need to empower that human intuition … to do more versus just eliminating that seat."
But as venture funding cooled, that hybrid model proved difficult to sustain. Tabatabai discussed this challenge in the interview:
"TMS has just kind of turned into a bad word almost," he admitted. “Same with the concept of digital freight marketplaces... [they've] created a little bit of stigma in the markets with VCs because they've been known to require a lot of capital...That's what I call 'DFM [digital freight matching] fatigue.'"
By October 23, 2025, Zuum’s board voted to file Chapter 11, citing "limited cash flow." The company hopes to restructure and seek new financing.
Carriers tell a more painful story. One carrier told FreightCaviar that Zuum owed his firm $42,000. Others described weeks of silence after loads delivered.
Another carrier alleged Zuum continued requesting PODs for customer billing before ceasing communication.
For small fleets and owner-operators, the bankruptcy deepens a rough year of slow freight and tightening credit.
Zuum’s 20 largest unsecured creditors are almost entirely trucking or logistics firms, owed anywhere from $139K to $664K each.
The filing lists between $10–50 million in assets and liabilities, a wide but common range for mid-stage startups seeking protection while keeping operations afloat.
Zuum says it may pursue a reorganization plan or asset sale. No prior bankruptcy cases are listed.
Zuum’s vision of collaboration over competition, what Tabatabai called "coopetition," still resonates in an industry that remains fragmented and ripe for better tech.
But in 2025, that same fragmentation can just as easily swallow the innovators trying to fix it.
FreightCaviar has reached out to Zuum Transportation for comment on the filing and the carrier payment claims but has not yet received a response.
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🥇 FleetWorks Wins. FleetWorks won TIA’s 2025 Shark Tank competition, impressing judges with its AI-driven freight dispatch platform, which has already handled over 6 million conversations between carriers and brokers.
⚡ Tesla & Volvo Move Ahead. Tesla updated its Semi for 'autonomy' and higher payload, while Volvo nears driverless freight ops in Texas, testing AV trucks with Waabi and Aurora.
🚂 Universal’s $81M Hit. Universal Logistics posted a $74.8M Q3 loss after an $81.2M intermodal asset impairment, citing weak volumes and margin pressure. Revenue fell 7% to $397M.
🏛️ Shutdown Deal Nears. Lawmakers signaled progress toward ending the federal government shutdown this week, with negotiators finalizing a short-term funding bill to restore operations, though some shutdown effects may still linger.
💰 Illinois Toll Hike. Illinois lawmakers approved a 30% truck toll increase on major interstates starting January 2026, aiming to fund infrastructure repairs and debt reduction under the state’s capital plan.
📉 Forward Air Slips. Forward Air’s Q3 revenue fell (to $631.8 million from $655.9 million) amid restructuring and leadership changes, as the company continues its post-merger overhaul and seeks to stabilize margins and service performance.
🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER
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