FourKites gains patent for AI-powered ETA tool

Real-time supply chain visibility platform FourKites has been awarded a US patent for its Smart Forecasted Arrival (SFA) capabilities, which provide companies with highly frequent and accurate ETAs for freight in transit — even when that truck lacks any technology to transmit location data.

SFA is now available to FourKites’ customers globally, extending the benefits of real-time visibility to freight that would otherwise be invisible to modern supply chain management solutions.

Even as companies worldwide accelerate their investments in real-time transportation visibility platforms (RTTVPs) to better track and manage their freight in transit, they have been hindered by the portion of loads that previously couldn’t be tracked, usually due to the lack of electronic logging devices (ELD) onboard, errors in asset assignments or carrier compliance issues. SFA solves this longstanding problem by applying cutting-edge artificial neural networking (ANN) and machine learning (ML) technologies to the industry’s largest supply chain data network.

SFA is able to estimate the location of freight in transit based on other signals and data in the network, ultimately providing ETAs on 97% of untracked loads with 85% accuracy. The system correctly predicts late loads more than 90% of the time. This further strengthens FourKites’ Tracking Quality Guarantee, which establishes the highest standards in supply chain data quality across all modes.

SFA removes blind spots and compensates for poor-quality or even a complete lack of tracking data. Its breakthrough capabilities are underpinned by the unrivalled breadth and sophistication of FourKites’ platform, which tracks 70 billion miles across 275,000 distinct stops, and churns out one billion ETAs each year. FourKites’ continued track record of industry-first innovations help companies reduce fines and lower inventory, maximise productivity, drive operational efficiencies and improve customer service.

“Smart Forecasted Arrival is a much-needed breakthrough for the real-time transportation visibility software category, and a perfect illustration of the unique power of the FourKites global network,” said FourKites CEO and Founder Mathew Elenjickal.

“Thanks to our first-mover advantage, we have the densest shipper ecosystem in the entire world, creating the most robust and highest-quality visibility data set. Paired with our unmatched investment in our world-class data science team, we are years ahead of our competitors in offering these kinds of leapfrog capabilities to the market. Starting today, FourKites customers can get frequent and highly accurate ETAs on every single load.”

Smart Forecasted Arrival is available immediately to all FourKites customers.