Smartphones have changed the way we play and socialize – beyond Pokemon Go. But we can use them to make our working lives better, too. There are now many smartphone apps designed to make our work-life better across all industries, and the trucking industry is no exception.
People who aren’t truckers generally consider trucking to be a relatively simple, if arduous, job, but trucking is more than just sitting behind the wheel of a rig. Thankfully, mobile apps created specifically to help truckers are streamlining some of these tasks. Here are the 10 best applications for people driving big rigs.
- Trucker Tools. Trucker Tools is not just one large app but a suite of mini-apps. Find truck stops along your route and sort them by extras like CAT scales, bulk exhaust fluid, TripPak, restaurants, overnight parking, private showers, and more. Get turn-by-turn directions on your route. Optimize your fuel costs and usage. There is also an app in the Trucker Tools suite for tracking loads.
- Fuelbook. This application started in 2010 with the single goal of helping truckers save on fuel. Since then, Fuelbook has grown in popularity so that now thousands of drivers use it every day. The app allows drivers to search regularly updated gas prices at more than 7,000 locations across the United States and Canada. Fuelbook estimates that is has saved drivers more than $3 billion in fuel thus far. The app also allows fleets to put their “Cost Plus,” “Retail Less,” and “Better-off” discounts into one fuel code for their fleet. Their drivers can then input the fuel code and immediately search for cheap fuel based on the fleet’s discounts.
- BigRoad. The BigRoad application not only can provide drivers with real-time traffic information along their routes, but it can estimate how much longer a trip will take. Drivers can also use the app to file logs, and managers can view all these logs in one place to make auditing them more efficient. The app will also warn users when there are potential inspection violations in their logs. BigRoad users can also file vehicle inspection reports and other documents quickly.
- Waze. Waze is a community-based navigation and route information application. It isn’t marketed for truck drivers specifically, but they can use it to avoid bad traffic conditions. Waze users input and access information on traffic conditions, alternate routes, inaccurate maps, and cheap gas stations.
- The Weather Channel App. Truck drivers need to have accurate up-to-date information on weather conditions all along their routes. Many of them have come to rely on weather information applications rather than the radio to warn them of thunderstorms, snow, and more. Of weather apps, The Weather Channel has some of the most predictive and accurate analytics due to its long history of weather analysis.
- NOAA Weather Radar (iTunes) and Weather from NOAA (Android). Because knowing the weather specific to a region is crucial for truckers, having an application with a focus on radar is crucial. Working more in conjunction with The Weather Channel application than as an alternative, NOAA Weather’s Doppler radar is generally easier to read, and it provides more emergency weather information than The Weather Channel provides.
- TRANSFLO Mobile (iTunes and Android). This scanning application from Pegasus TransTech is one of the best applications for drivers, carriers, and brokers to send documents to each other. The aim of this app is to get drivers paid faster. Once documents have been scanned into the app, they can be indexed and doc typed. The app also has several tools to increase the quality and readability of documents – de-skewing, lightening, darkening, etc.
- DAT Trucker (iTunes and Android). The DAT Trucker application combines a popular free load board with information on parking, truck stops, scales, fuel, and more. The app has a daily-updated directory of truck stops and travel plazas. Drivers can search nearby truck stops for amenities such as showers, service bays, and laundry facilities. Drivers can also use the app to find hotels that cater to truckers and truck services.
- GasBuddy. GasBuddy is a community-driven website and application for finding the lowest gas prices. Hundreds of thousands of users report low prices when they find them, keeping prices updated while spreading the information. The GasBuddy application encourages user participation by running leaderboards showing who has posted the most prices and by allowing users to enter daily drawings for free gas prizes.
- Trucker Path Pro. Trucker Path Pro is one of the best and most popular applications for information by truckers, for truckers. All the details on parking places, truck stops (with reviews, amenities, and nearby restaurants), fuel stations (search by brand, get up-to-the-minute pricing information, and calculate prices with the state tax), hotels, truck washes, rest areas, and low-clearance warnings are posted by other truck drivers. The application also lets drivers post their trucks to a load board and find brokers with available work.
Truck drivers have always needed information on many things – gas prices, parking places, truck services, etc. The information used to be passed on by word-of-mouth or found in thick trucker guides that quickly went out of date. Today’s truckers have access to more up-to-date information than truckers in the past could dream of, and they have it instantly, wherever they go. Smartphones are one of the handiest tools truckers can carry now, if they have the right applications.