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Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

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Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#91

Post by DonHopkins »

On the topic of the transforming and optimizing the future of trucking, just last night I watched a so-bad-it's-good movie called "Space Truckers", which was mentioned in the "Crapularity Hermeneutics" paper and that I had to see for myself:

"(This scenario has countless precursors in popular science fiction, including for example Stuart Gordon’s 1996 movie Space Truckers in which the protagonists transport square pigs that have been genetically modified to make more efficient use of limited spaceship cargo capacity.)"

http://cramer.pleintekst.nl/essays/crapularity_hermeneutics/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Truckers

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#92

Post by wodenokoto »

DonHopkins wrote: post #91

On the topic of the transforming and optimizing the future of trucking, just last night I watched a so-bad-it's-good movie called "Space Truckers", which was mentioned in the "Crapularity Hermeneutics" paper and that I had to see for myself: "(This scenario has countless precursors in popular science fiction, including for example Stuart Gordon’s 1996 movie Space Truckers in which the protagonists transport square pi…

And here's the trailer for Space Truckers [1], truly looks like a B-movie that isn't willing to admit it.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IerJF2xKwuo

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#93

Post by jessaustin »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #60
adventured wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Trucking is badly broken, especially in the US. I'd like to see this supported, particularly the "especially" part, given the extraordinary scale of hauling going on in the US via trucking. The economic facts on the ground in the US overwhelmingly disagree with you. If it's so broken, and the US economy relies so much on it, how is the US GDP per capita so high? Both can't be true. It's either functioning well, lea…

There are several ways trucking could be badly broken but still consistent with your statements: a) Say today, company X sells a thing for $100, of which $15 covers shipping cost, $15 is profit and $70 is what they paid their middleman for the thing. Suppose further that shipping cost could be reduced to $11 just by properly managing trucking, increasing the profit margin by 27%. These are of course made-up numbers,…

If trucking causes lots of health issues...

Visit a truck stop; take a look around. Truck drivers are in poorer health than late-morning Wal-Mart shoppers.

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#94

Post by DonHopkins »

wodenokoto wrote: post #92
DonHopkins wrote: post #91

On the topic of the transforming and optimizing the future of trucking, just last night I watched a so-bad-it's-good movie called "Space Truckers", which was mentioned in the "Crapularity Hermeneutics" paper and that I had to see for myself: "(This scenario has countless precursors in popular science fiction, including for example Stuart Gordon’s 1996 movie Space Truckers in which the protagonists transport square pi…

And here's the trailer for Space Truckers [1], truly looks like a B-movie that isn't willing to admit it. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IerJF2xKwuo

I was hilarious, but I don't think they were prepared to admit it was a comedy, either.

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#95

Post by jessaustin »

patrickg_zill wrote: post #89
someguydave wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11134.pdf See the table on page 22. When you add together extra road maintenance, accidents, particulate & NO emissions, congestion and subtract the taxes and fees you end up with a cost to society of $55 per million ton-mile for trucking and $9 for rail.

Only low value, commodity items are shipped via rail however.

I live pretty close to some train tracks, so I observe trains on a regular basis. There are a fair number of coal cars, which I guess is a "low value commodity", but that portion is dwarfed by the overwhelming majority of rail cars that transport intermodal shipping containers. Is everything in a shipping container a low value commodity? Would it really be faster to transport containers by truck, so they would actually only travel 10 out of every 24 hours? You seem to really misunderstand freight shipping.

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#96

Post by jessaustin »

kbart wrote: post #87
frandroid wrote: post #25

Next up, they will hit up on the idea of dedicated roads for truck convoys; also, a single engine to pull them all; and finally, the creation of roads with steel rails to put the trucks on.

Trains are very efficient when you need to move huge volumes between industrial centers, ports, metropolises etc. but we still need trucks for the end mile or else good luck laying tracks to every country shop out there.

Travel by interstate sometime, and you'll note that "end mile" trucking is a tiny fraction of the total. Of course this is because of the vast subsidies that truck freight enjoys.

If we get the self-driving thing figured out, I expect that last-mile freight will use fewer actual trucks than are used today. Rather, the typical robofreighter will be quite small. Every time I receive a truck freight delivery, the trailer is basically empty. They use a big tractor-trailer rig because they have to hire a driver anyway, and sometimes they have enough freight to fill the trailer.

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#97

Post by TeMPOraL »

baillon wrote: post #70
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One interesting thing that Uber/Lyft/similar did in terms of markets was make it much simpler for people to track and view the reputation of a particular driver - which shapes behavior. I wonder if something like Convoy would do similar -> rapidly highlight the unreliable truck drivers. Allow a good truck driver to carry their reputation from manufacturer to manufacturer, etc.

There's another side to that, too: Highlighting shippers that are unreliable or hostile to drivers. E.g. shippers or facilities that have disorganized staff, incur egregious waits, etc.

Is there something that incentivizes the facilities to stay unorganized? If no, then maybe there is a way to help them get better (and make money on that helping)?

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#98

Post by jzisk32 »

47 wrote: post #42

A bit of tangent, But i am in the market for the Software that Convoy and CargoFone are building. We have our own FT, LTL and Final Mile Carrier network. We have negotiated custom rates with them. What i am looking for the Software service through which i send Orders and get updates from these Carriers. Is there a solution like that out there?

Not exactly sure if we have what you want but we have a cloud based order management system. We receive your orders and then route them to the appropriate facilities for shipping. We can also integrate with Carriers for rates. Check out www.snowfalltech.com or email me at jzisk@snowfalltech.com. Thank you, Jeff Zisk, CEO

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#99

Post by [deleted] »

47 wrote: post #42

A bit of tangent, But i am in the market for the Software that Convoy and CargoFone are building. We have our own FT, LTL and Final Mile Carrier network. We have negotiated custom rates with them. What i am looking for the Software service through which i send Orders and get updates from these Carriers. Is there a solution like that out there?

[deleted]

Re: Convoy raises $62M from Bill Gates and other luminaries to transform trucking

#100

Post by rubidium »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #97
baillon wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's another side to that, too: Highlighting shippers that are unreliable or hostile to drivers. E.g. shippers or facilities that have disorganized staff, incur egregious waits, etc.

Is there something that incentivizes the facilities to stay unorganized? If no, then maybe there is a way to help them get better (and make money on that helping)?

Yes there is. It costs money to train and retain good workers. Cut costs, increase revenue, decrease service. As long as it's not too terrible you still have a business.

There are a lot of people running businesses poorly (from and efficency standpoint) and still making a buck.

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