Freight forwarding company Flexport announced the launch of over 20 new AI-powered products, marking a shift to a twice-yearly product release strategy.
The move, inspired by Airbnb’s seasonal product announcements, aims to create more buzz and increase customer engagement.
“Brian Chesky told me to do it,” said Flexport founder Ryan Petersen, referring to Airbnb’s CEO.
Petersen said that grouping releases together creates urgency and better highlights Flexport’s technological progress. The next product release is scheduled for late summer.
New Flexport AI tools
Among the new products are:
- Flexport Intelligence. It allows businesses to track shipments using natural language prompts.
- Control Tower. It provides real-time oversight of an entire logistics network, including freight not managed by Flexport.
Petersen stressed that AI would enhance operations without replacing human roles.
“Automating work will lead to faster growth and more job creation,” he said.
Flexport is also testing AI voice agents to streamline communications with truckers and warehouses. The agents notify drivers about available loads and confirm operational details with warehouses. Petersen said the company is proceeding cautiously, ensuring quality before expanding AI’s customer-facing role.
The AI-powered tools are backed by OpenAI, Anthropic, and AWS, allowing Flexport to experiment and deploy updates rapidly.
Flexport’s AI push follows its 2024 expansion of the Convoy B2B marketplace, which connects truckers and carriers with vetted brokers and shippers. Convoy now allows brokers to manage loads, track shipments, and handle payments through the platform. The U.S. trucking market includes 30,000 brokers and over 750,000 carriers, 96% of which operate with fewer than 10 trucks. Flexport executive Bill Driegert said the move strengthens broker-carrier relationships and improves efficiency in the freight industry.
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