Let’s hit that cheesy metaphor quota right from the start and be done with it. So, trucks are like hemoglobin of the world economy transporting important stuff through the concrete vessels of the lands to keep the markets breathing and people consuming. And trucks do it at an unimaginably high rate. In the US alone, there 3.5 million professional truckers, and this number is still isn’t enough. And while the economy does not seem like chilling out (except for when its plans get interrupted by the unforgiving Mother Nature and bats), the demand for truck services will continue to grow. Besides, it’s quite possible that after the economy gets restarted, it will get running twice as fast to catch up with the lost opportunities. So, while making trucks drive twice as fast is not a good idea due to various reasons, optimization and simplification of the trucking service is always a far-reaching and positively good thing to do. This is where the development of the Uber-like app for trucks will come in handy and make the trucking world more ‘user-friendly’ and efficient.
This article will be your step-by-step guide into the world of uber tracking app development and will acquaint you with its foundations.
Content:
1. What Precisely do Uber-like apps for Trucking Do?
2. The Functionality of Uber for Trucking Industry
3. How Much Does It Cost to Build a Truck App?
What Precisely do Uber-like apps for Trucking Do?
We’ve already established that there are a lot of truckers, but we need even more of them to keep the market spinning at maximum capacity. Nonetheless, while the world has millions of truckers, there are even more people who aren’t drivers but work in services related to trucking, not the least of which is logistics and management of the trucking operations. Logistics is a complicated hellish hustle in and of itself and it is even more complicated in the trucking business considering the load on the industry.
Therefore, while driving cargo from point A to point B is an exhausting (for truckers, God bless them) yet straightforward process, the organization of the delivery and finding a suitable provider is often both exhausting and complicated. Often such a process calls for inconvenient intermediaries, which leads to a longer and more expensive process. An Uber-like app for trucks can target this issue and make the process simpler and more efficient. Such an app creates a direct link between people who need trucking services, people who help plan optimal routes, and people who truck, eliminating anxiety and frustration related to finding a suitable provider.
Therefore, whether you belong to
– Freight and trucking business
– Logistic companies
– Moving companies
An app like uber for commercial trucking will be beneficial for you.
With an uber cargo delivery app, you simply post a description of cargo that should be delivered, from where it should be delivered, and what’s its destination point, assign the task, and wait for a trucker to handle it. Truckers benefit from the convenience such an app grants tremendously as well.
The Functionality of Uber for Trucking Industry
To make an app like Uber for trucks, you have to understand its basic structure and functionality. In general, such apps have four different user sides.
1. Admin panel
The Admin panel is a control panel of the tracking app. The panel gives Admin control over the app’s operations. Usually, the Admin panel should have
– Dashboard with all important information about routes, shippers, truckers, etc
– Tracking of trucks
– Invoice and bill management
– Ability to send notifications to users
– Ability to ban users
2. Driver’s side
This is a driver’s headquarters from where he or she can manage the facilitation of the deliveries. The driver’s part of the app should have
– Information about available shipments with convenient filtering and sorting by type of cargo, date, sizes, etc.
– Ability to request the cancelation of the delivery in case of emergencies or unpredictable circumstances
– Real-time route tracking
– Proof of cargo delivery
– Driver’s ratings and reviews
3. Shipper/Logistic company side
This is where shipment or logistics companies manage the deliveries and facilitate the creation of optimal routes. The side should have the following features
– List of available orders for cargo deliveries
– List of available trucks in a certain region
– Schedule management
– Booking of the deliveries beforehand
– A variety of payment options
– Truck tracking and the possibility to optimize routes on the go
4. Customer Side
From here, a customer can make requests for transportation of cargo with all essential information regarding the task. Also, customers can contact shipment or logistic company directly, without this feature.
Add to the mentioned functionality an in-app messaging, and you will have a well-rounded app like Uber for commercial trucking However, the aforementioned features don’t draw a complete picture. Instead, they are a necessary foundation, upon which you can unleash your creativity to make the app more interesting and user-friendly.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Truck App?
The costs of developing custom Uber-like software depends on the complexity of the system, technologies involved in the development process, platforms for which the app should be developed, and the rates and experience of developers that were hired to build software. For instance, Ukraine is a sought-after IT-outsourcing destination, which has an attractive price-to-quality ratio because of the presence of numerous professional workforce, tense competition, unique drive, and economic situation. Here, you will be able to find great propositions for developing quality software.
Thus, determining the costs of developing Uber for the trucking industry is a question of hours of meticulous research and the stage of the idea’s development.
Perhaps, the surest way to determine how much trucking software building will cost is to conduct a discovery phase. The discovery phase will not only provide you with the most accurate estimates of future costs but will deliver you, depending on the chosen package,
– product concept from Product Manager
– prototypes from Business Analyst
– a visual concept from UI/UX Designer
– architecture concept from System Architect
– estimates of development costs
As a result, you will know the price and have accurate blueprints required to build the project as well as an exact plan to follow and deliverables to present to inventors to obtain additional funding.
Final Thoughts
If you are to create a truck app like Uber, you should know the traditional workflow of software development, which is a staple in creating lasting and relevant products quickly (relatively to other approaches) and efficiently. Without diving into oh-so-many interesting but painstakingly meticulous details of the software development workflow, we will distill the software development workflow into several simplified steps. Those steps are:
– Idea and research. During this stage, the initial idea is being analyzed and the market researched to polish the roughness of the concept, determine the functionality required for competitiveness, and overall improve the idea to make it marketable.
– Design. During this stage, the results of the previous phase are used to craft intuitive UX mockups for further development.
– Software development itself. The development of the product itself, that involves planning and testing.
– Support and Maintenance. Upgrading the product to maintain its relevance.
Such a process requires quite a big team to conduct it properly and deliver a robust uber freight app.
However, if you want to develop a moving app like Uber and don’t want to create an in-house team that consists of developers, QAs, business analysts, DevOps engineers, and UI/UX designers who are required to create a relevant and competitive product, we can back you up and provide you with such a team. We work according to several business models: time & materials, fixed price, and a dedicated team. The last provides you with complete control over the team as well as the feel of in-house team nearshore. The team will be completely dedicated to your project and cause. Also, we can help you with finding the best.
In any case, we have plenty of expertise in mobile software development and experience in various industries to help you or give some valuable advice.