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AI agents for trucking: how automated check calls work
Automated check calls are status calls and text messages that an AI agent sends to drivers at set points of each load, with the answers recorded in your transportation management system (TMS). A well-designed agent reads tracking data first, contacts drivers only when the truck is parked, keeps brokers and customers informed and hands every exception to a dispatcher.
By the KDS security engineering teamPublished 7 min read
Key takeaways
- An AI check-call agent works from the load schedule in your TMS and writes each answer back to the load.
- FMCSA rules prohibit commercial drivers from texting or holding a phone while driving, and prohibit carriers from allowing or requiring it.
- Good design reads tracking data first and contacts drivers when the truck is parked, not stopped in traffic.
- Dispatchers keep the decisions: reroutes, extra charges, breakdowns, hours of service and anything that affects safety.
- Measure dispatcher hours, update freshness, early delay notices and contacts made while trucks were moving.
On this page
A check call confirms where a load is and whether it will arrive on time. Each load needs several: at pickup, in transit and at delivery. Brokers and customers also ask for their own updates. For a dispatcher running many trucks, these calls take hours that should go to planning and problems.
This article explains how an AI check-call agent works from start to finish, the driver safety rules it has to follow and how to judge whether it works for your fleet.
How automated check calls work, step by step
The agent runs the same loop for every active load. Your dispatchers set the rules once, and the agent applies them to each load.
- It reads the schedule from your TMS. Active loads, stops, appointment times, the assigned driver and the check points you choose, such as arrival at pickup, departure and a set time before delivery.
- It checks tracking data before it contacts anyone. If the electronic logging device (ELD) or telematics feed shows the location and the estimated time of arrival (ETA) is on track, the agent updates the load without a call.
- It waits for a safe moment. The agent contacts the driver when the truck is parked, for example at the shipper, the receiver or a fuel stop. The safety sections below explain how it decides.
- It asks short, specific questions. Loaded or not, the pickup or seal number, the new ETA and whether anything is wrong. Drivers answer by voice or text in their own words, and the agent repeats the key facts back.
- It updates the TMS. Status, ETA, notes and time stamps go to the load, with the transcript attached for your team.
- It informs brokers and customers. Each one gets updates in the format and at the frequency you set, and a delay notice goes out before they have to ask.
- It hands exceptions to a dispatcher. A breakdown, an accident, cargo damage, a refused load, a delay past your limit or a driver who doesn't answer goes to the dispatcher on duty, with a short summary.
Step 2 matters to drivers as much as to dispatchers. A call that tracking data makes unnecessary is a call nobody has to answer, and the calls that remain are shorter because the agent asks only what the data can't show.
Driver safety and the FMCSA phone rules
Two Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules shape every check-call design. 49 CFR 392.80 (opens in a new tab) prohibits texting while driving a commercial motor vehicle, and 49 CFR 392.82 (opens in a new tab) prohibits using a hand-held mobile phone while driving one. Both rules also say that no motor carrier may allow or require its drivers to do these things. A system that expects drivers to reply while the truck is moving puts the carrier's own duty at risk.
The definitions in 49 CFR 390.5T (opens in a new tab) and in the two rules matter for design:
- Texting includes reading text on a device, not only typing it. A message that arrives while the truck is moving invites the driver to read it.
- Using a hand-held phone means holding it for a call, dialing or answering by pressing more than one button, or reaching for it in a way that takes the driver out of the seated, belted position.
- Driving includes being stopped in traffic, at a traffic light or in other short delays. It ends when the driver has pulled off the road and parked where the truck can safely stay.
FMCSA explains the risk in its mobile phone restrictions fact sheet (opens in a new tab): in research it commissioned, the odds of a safety-critical event, such as a crash or near-crash, were 6 times greater for commercial drivers who dialed a phone while driving.
How we design check calls around driving
The federal rules cover hand-held use and texting. A hands-free call answered with a single button falls outside those definitions, but a conversation still takes a driver's attention. So we design check calls to wait for the truck to stop, and we agree the details with your safety manager:
- Parked means parked. A speed of zero can mean a red light. The agent looks for a stop at a known location, a truck that has stayed parked for several minutes or an ELD duty status of on duty, not driving.
- Texts ask for a reply once parked. If the truck starts moving, the agent sends nothing more until the next stop.
- Resting drivers are left alone. When the logs show a driver in the sleeper berth or off duty, routine check calls wait. A dispatcher decides whether something is urgent enough to call.
- No driving instructions. The agent gives no instruction about routes, speed, breaks or hours of service. Those questions go to a dispatcher.
- Your policy comes first. Your company phone policy and the state rules where your trucks run become part of the agent's calling rules.
This section is general information, not legal advice. Your safety manager and legal team approve the final calling rules.
What stays with the dispatcher
The agent gathers facts and keeps records. Decisions that affect safety, money or customer commitments stay with your team:
- Reroutes, new appointment times and load swaps.
- Detention, layover and other extra charges. The agent records arrival and departure times, and your team agrees the charges with the broker or customer.
- Breakdowns, accidents, cargo damage and refused loads. The agent collects the location and details and alerts the dispatcher at once.
- Questions about hours of service, rest breaks and routes.
- Any call where the driver asks for a person, sounds upset or reports something the agent's rules don't cover.
The agent says it is an AI assistant on every call and message, and drivers can reach a dispatcher at any time. For the full list of dispatch tasks an agent can take on, see how AI agents work for trucking companies.
Brokers, consent and call records
Freight brokers run the same loop with a carrier's dispatcher or driver, and add shipper updates and carrier paperwork. See how AI agents work for freight brokers for the broker version, including guardrails for carrier vetting.
Automated calls and texts also raise consent questions. In 2024 the FCC ruled (opens in a new tab) that calls made with AI-generated voices count as artificial voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), so the same consent standards apply to them. Ask your legal team how drivers and carrier contacts give consent, for example in onboarding documents, and how they can choose between calls and texts.
Every call and message is logged with a transcript and linked to the load. When a customer disputes a delivery time, your team can see what the driver reported and when. In our attack testing, we also check that a caller can't talk the agent into changing a delivery address or a contact number on a load.
What to measure in a check-call pilot
Record a baseline for 2 weeks before the pilot, then compare the same numbers every week:
| Metric | What it shows | How to measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Dispatcher time on check calls | Hours freed for planning and exceptions | Time study before the pilot, compared with the calls the agent made |
| Update freshness | How current each load's status is | Share of active loads updated at each check point |
| Early delay notices | Whether customers hear about delays from you first | Delays reported before the customer or broker asked |
| Driver response | Whether drivers accept the method | Share of contacts answered, and time to answer |
| Contacts while moving | Whether the safety rules work | Calls or texts sent while the truck was moving. The target is zero. |
| Hand-off quality | Whether dispatchers get what they need | Exceptions handled without a second call to the driver |
Start with one terminal or one group of drivers. In our projects, a pilot runs 4–6 weeks after a 1–2 week audit of your loads, calls and systems, with success criteria agreed before it starts. The AI for logistics page lists the systems the agent connects to.
Sources
- 1.49 CFR § 392.80: Prohibition against texting, eCFR, Office of the Federal Register (opens in a new tab)
- 2.49 CFR § 392.82: Using a hand-held mobile telephone, eCFR, Office of the Federal Register (opens in a new tab)
- 3.49 CFR § 390.5T: Definitions, eCFR, Office of the Federal Register (opens in a new tab)
- 4.Mobile Phone Restrictions Fact Sheet, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 2013-12-30 (opens in a new tab)
- 5.FCC makes AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal, Federal Communications Commission, 2024-02-08 (opens in a new tab)
