Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Ryder opens Silicon Valley technology lab to prepare for waves of AI in supply chain

Office will be led by co-founders of Baton, the transportation tech startup acquired by Ryder last year

ryder FINAL - Baton Infographic - 7.30.23.jpg

Transportation and logistics provider Ryder System Inc. says it is preparing for a coming wave of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in supply chain networks with the launch this week of a Silicon Valley-based technology lab led by the founders of tech startup Baton, which it acquired last year.

Miami-based Ryder acquired Baton in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, noting that the then-three-year-old firm’s software could speed up urban truck routes by creating local “drop zones.” Baton’s new mission is to pioneer a suite of customer-facing technologies designed to let Ryder’s customers digitize and optimize their transportation and supply chain networks at a level not currently available in the industry, Ryder said.


Leading Ryder’s innovation lab are Andrew Berberick and Nate Robert, who together co-founded San Francisco-based Baton and are now Ryder’s co-chief product and technology officers.

Baton’s original technology was a transportation management system called Radius that optimized the schedules of local drivers, finding freight on local load boards to complement gaps in drivers’ schedules. The firm then shifted its focus to the software that it now plans to apply more broadly to Ryder’s 50,000 customers, breaking down corporate data silos to match the waste and surplus of truckers’ empty backhaul miles, Berberick says.

Some innovation labs in the logistics sector get a bad reputation for developing ideas that never go anywhere, since they were incubated far away from real world customers, says Berberick. However, the Baton lab intends to buck that trend by traveling far outside California’s famous tech hub—he spent last week huddled with Ryder transportation customers in the busy trucking corridor of York, Pennsylvania—and applying lessons about industrial trailers, freight, and drivers.

As it pursues that goal, Baton will be able to lean on the deep pockets of its new owner. According to Ryder, “The establishment of a Silicon Valley-based technology lab is a natural evolution for Ryder, as we build on the $1.3 billion in strategic investments we’ve made over the past five years to develop, acquire, and invest in innovative technologies, products, and services that help make our customers’ logistics networks more efficient and resilient,” Karen Jones, Ryder’s CMO and head of new product development, said in a release. “To build on that success, it’s paramount we continue to invest in recruiting the brightest technology minds out there and provide them with a startup environment where they have the space and freedom to create, along with the resources of a $12 billion company.”

 

Recent

More Stories

cover of report on electrical efficiency

ABI: Push to drop fossil fuels also needs better electric efficiency

Companies in every sector are converting assets from fossil fuel to electric power in their push to reach net-zero energy targets and to reduce costs along the way, but to truly accelerate those efforts, they also need to improve electric energy efficiency, according to a study from technology consulting firm ABI Research.

In fact, boosting that efficiency could contribute fully 25% of the emissions reductions needed to reach net zero. And the pursuit of that goal will drive aggregated global investments in energy efficiency technologies to grow from $106 Billion in 2024 to $153 Billion in 2030, ABI said today in a report titled “The Role of Energy Efficiency in Reaching Net Zero Targets for Enterprises and Industries.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Logistics economy continues on solid footing
Logistics Managers' Index

Logistics economy continues on solid footing

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in November, continuing a steady growth pattern that began earlier this year and signaling a return to seasonality after several years of fluctuating conditions, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index report (LMI), released today.

The November LMI registered 58.4, down slightly from October’s reading of 58.9, which was the highest level in two years. The LMI is a monthly gauge of business conditions across warehousing and logistics markets; a reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Keep ReadingShow less
iceberg drawing to represent threats

GEP: six factors could change calm to storm in 2025

The current year is ending on a calm note for the logistics sector, but 2025 is on pace to be an era of rapid transformation, due to six driving forces that will shape procurement and supply chains in coming months, according to a forecast from New Jersey-based supply chain software provider GEP.

"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of top business concerns from descartes

Descartes: businesses say top concern is tariff hikes

Business leaders at companies of every size say that rising tariffs and trade barriers are the most significant global trade challenge facing logistics and supply chain leaders today, according to a survey from supply chain software provider Descartes.

Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo of worker at port tracking containers

Trump tariff threat strains logistics businesses

Freight transportation providers and maritime port operators are bracing for rough business impacts if the incoming Trump Administration follows through on its pledge to impose a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariff on China, analysts say.

Industry contacts say they fear that such heavy fees could prompt importers to “pull forward” a massive surge of goods before the new administration is seated on January 20, and then quickly cut back again once the hefty new fees are instituted, according to a report from TD Cowen.

Keep ReadingShow less