Today’s thriving trucking industry is all about what tools one uses. Truckers have to deal with the road: from the complexity of routes to the saving on fuel costs, handling loads, and most especially, being up to date on new regulatory compliances. The trucking approach has changed with mobile apps. With a smartphone or a tablet, truckers can access a treasure trove of materials to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and decrease stress. Here are some of the best apps around for trucking regarding navigation, saving fuel, and much more.
1. Trucker Path
One of the most popular and trusted apps in the trucking industry, Trucker Path offers everything a driver could need with its exhaustive features. It provides real-time parking availability, weigh station availability, truck stops, and fuel prices. The navigation also shows truck-specific routes that help the driver avoid low bridges or restricted areas. Further, it has a feature of fuel-saving help truckers to save their money in terms of fuel by providing the best fuel price available along the route for filling. More than a million downloads make Trucker Path a reliable buddy to optimize the trips for drivers.
- Waze:
Although not truck-specific, Waze is one of the top navigation apps where one could find real-time traffic updates. The app relies on user-created data in terms of accidents, traffic jams, road hazards, and speed traps. Waze is not specific for trucks, but this could be applied in combination with other apps so as to get the fastest route to a destination. For truckers who operate within congested areas, most probably this app will save them hours, if not days, for long delays.
3. GasBuddy
In addition to profit-boosting fuel efficiency, the cost of diesel is one of the biggest overheads that truckers must manage. Trick of the trade: knowing how to get the best value for money when buying diesel can be very important in keeping profitability. Drivers can use GasBuddy to find the cheapest fuel stations on their route. The application is updated by users, reporting prices in real-time and is thus always accurate. The rewards program placed on GasBuddy makes its users capable of receiving discounts on the purchase of fuel; thus, giving additional bangs for your buck. This app is a must-have for any long-haul truckers in terms of keeping fuel costs in check.
4. KeepTruckin
Any trucking driver has to be fairly careful about hours of service rules-respect it. KeepTruckin helps to be more in control of this. This is a relatively popular ELD application that focuses tracking hours, streamlines logbooks, and helps ensure drivers in trucks remain abreast of FMCSA regulations at all times. Above that, it also offers fleet management tools, GPS tracking, and real-time diagnostics for the vehicle. It is user-friendly and also reputed for the reliability in industry.
5. CoPilot GPS
Especially designed for professional drivers, CoPilot GPS has been fine-tuned to recognize more advance navigation optimized for large vehicles. The app allows users to input the size, weight, and type of load their vehicle carries, thus ensuring that all routes suggested will be suitable for trucks. With its features of offline maps, which are important for areas or regions where not much coverage of signals has been made available, CoPilot also features data related to truck stops, fuel stations, and weigh stations, thus making it a multi-faceted tool for long drives.
6. TruckMap
Another navigation-related truck application is TruckMap, which allows free truck-legal routing based on factors including weight limits, bridge heights, and restricted truck items. It provides real-time traffic updates and hazard or accidents alert, along with features such as accessing rest stops, fuel stations, and parking places. TruckMap also finds jobs or loads, so it may work for owner-operators who wish to find an all-in-one system.
7. myPilot
Long-distance haul routes can be very strenuous with regards to fuel and breaks for truckers, and the myPilot app from Pilot Flying J has helped to make that process easier. Through the app, truckers can find a location of Pilot or Flying J near them; see how much fuel will cost at that time; and reserve a parking spot before arriving. Using mobile payment, drivers have the option of paying for fuel without ever leaving their cabs. The app also offers reward points that could be redeemed to save money for either fuel or in-store purchases, which will help save the drivers even more.
8. DAT Load Board
For the solo truckers and owner-operators who are willing to maximize revenues, this DAT Load Board is one of the excellent platforms that could find high-paying loads. It provides a tool for easy access to thousands of new loads posted daily, thus filtered on lanes, freight types, or even by rate preferences. DAT Load Board ensures that truckers stay busy and profitable even at slack seasons with built-in tools for rate negotiations and booking jobs.
9. Motivation (Formerly known as KeepTruckin)
Motive is an all-inclusive app for drivers and fleet managers on compliance, fleet management, and safety. It has GPS tracking, vehicle diagnostics, and fuel usage reporting, which help businesses optimize their fleets to increase efficiency. For the drivers, the Motive application would be able to help with electronic logs and further insightful information on driving behaviors that ensure safety on the road. All these in one tool where both the driver and the business can have the upper hand controlling their business.
10. Hammer
Hammer is a free truck navigation app on the go that helps truckers avoid restricted roads and unsafe routes. It comes with turn-by-turn directions, customizable routes aligned with vehicle measurements, and live traffic updates. Hammer stands out from the competition because it’s 100% free and has no in-app purchases or subscriptions, which, in short, makes it an inexpensive solution for a driver seeking to enhance the navigation function.
The game of trucking is super competitive and challenging. The right apps can mean the difference between life and death in the line of duty on a daily basis for the driver. Whether for navigation or knowing who has the best price for fuel in town or to stay compliant, these apps are vital tools that truckers must possess to boost productivity, cut costs, and simplify life on the road. In this way, these digital tools allow focusing much more on the road ahead instead of the problems along the route.