Article content
Route optimization software development helps businesses navigate more efficiently and perfect their logistics. However, to deliver a solid product, you must first do some navigation yourself. Finding the correct path through the complex process of developing an AI-powered solution isn’t exactly easy. Thankfully, you can rely on Amconsoft’s experience for help.
With AI routing, companies can adjust their logistics based on precise data analysis. It means there’ll be no risk of human error or miscalculation. As a result, businesses can make quicker, cost-effective deliveries. Regardless of which industry a company belongs to, if it deals with shipments, it can benefit from planning its routes better.
In this guide, we will discuss how to create route optimization software. Along the way, we will offer tips on cost management, discuss the advantages of AI over traditional solutions, and show success stories of software in this niche. Using Amconsoft’s cases from the logistics and routing market, we will share insider knowledge that only comes with experience. Let’s get started.
Essential Functionality for Routing Software
While every solution is unique, and you will want a custom feature or two, there are some must-have building blocks. This section will briefly touch upon some key features and explain their importance.
Live Route Optimization
It’s not enough to develop a route optimization software that builds optimal pathing beforehand. Having a system that adapts and changes the route plan in real time is essential. It helps the company’s fleet deal with unforeseen incidents, navigate traffic fluctuations, and be more efficient regardless of the situation on the roads.
Full Tracking Options
From truck tracing with GPS to cargo monitoring with in-cabin sensors, your software needs to give businesses the tools to know everything about their deliveries. Having precise data on the status of shipments helps understand whether there are problems to address. It’s particularly pressing when trucks cover nearly a quarter of their route with no cargo. Meanwhile, on the customer side, things like proof of delivery and status tracking mitigate cargo loss or unexpected delays.
Vehicle Inspection Tools
There are a lot of checks to be done before, during, and after a shipment. This helps ensure the trucks are in working condition, adhering to the route, and arriving at destinations on time.
Using an app for this is more efficient than traditional bureaucratic methods, as it saves time and stores immutable data, preventing fraud and inaccurate filing.
Preparing for Route Optimization Software Development
Before you dive into creating your logistic solution, laying its foundation is important. For that, take a few extra steps to ensure the longevity and relevancy of your software. We’ll quickly go through all of them and highlight their value.
Understand the Requirement List
Before you create any solution, including ones for transportation, you need to understand what problem you’re trying to solve. Collect data about your shipments and routes, see what can be improved. This is the stage where you need to clearly define your goals and structure your development accordingly.
Evaluating System Interoperability
Your route software should ideally fit neatly into your business infrastructure. Having all systems interconnected means being able to sync data efficiently, gain unique insights, and automate more. This is especially crucial when it comes to connecting routing and warehouse management software, as it allows to streamline shipments substantially.
Learn About the Solutions on the Market
You get two major benefits by researching the already available software. For one, you might find a temporary solution to tide you over while your custom one is in development. But even if you don’t, there’s a lot of knowledge to glean from looking at the market. You’ll understand what general software is missing and how you can expand on it to better fit your needs.
Build with Scaling in Mind
While your company might have certain pressing needs that have to be addressed with this software, you also should understand how it will change in the future. As a business grows, it faces new, unique problems, and it’s much easier to nip them in the bud by planning ahead.
Use analytics to forecast your growth and make sure the solution accounts for it.
With multiple logistics projects in our portfolio, Amconsoft is positioned to help you cover all of this prep. From diagnosing the problems to creating a custom solution for routing, we handle it all.
Get in touch to learn more.
AI vs Traditional Route Optimization Software
When you start looking into building a custom vehicle routing software, you might question whether AI-powered solutions are much better than regular ones. We’ll cover the difference between the two types and let you be the judge, based on your needs.
Higher Analysis Accuracy
We already mentioned that AI helps create more precise data processing, which leads to more accurate time estimates, as well as better route discovery. While traditional software does a good job, there’s still room for improvement that artificial intelligence fills. It becomes especially relevant over time, as AI models are trained and refined, resulting in a bigger divide between the two.
How AI with Dijkstra’s algorithm optimise route example
More Automation
Using AI-powered devices and systems, you can establish a whole network that fulfills tasks with practically no human input needed. This includes things like proof of delivery, scheduling trucks,
and accounting for delays in real time. As a result, you cut costs and can reassign employees to more intricate tasks.
Reduced Long-Term Cost
While traditional software will require regular updates to implement new technologies and keep its routing analysis on a solid level, AI models are more likely to withstand the test of time. They would certainly need updates too, but rarer ones. Plus, the initial cost of training AI may be high, but you’ll need to invest much less into it over the years, compared to the traditional solutions.
Route Planning and Route Optimization
Software Development Process – Step-by-Step
It’s time to discuss the nitty-gritty of crafting a route optimization solution,
so you can clearly understand what it takes.
This is the point where you need to know fully what you’re creating: design, features, desired performance, and the approximate launch date. It will not only make your development smoother, but ultimately save your budget, as you won’t have sudden changes in the project’s direction.
When picking a team to build transportation optimization software, you can pick the right approach based on your situation. One way is hiring in-house developers, who will need to be onboarded and signed on long-term. The other is getting help from a professional vendor that handles custom development.
For example, Amconsoft has been providing this service for more than 7 years now and we’ve had multiple cases in the transportation industry. We know a thing or two about dynamic route optimization for delivery business needs and would be glad to help you with your own project.
With a professional team, this step will be easy enough. They’ll provide progress updates, showing off the MVP, the results of design AB testing, and, eventually, the finished product. While you still need to keep control and ensure that things are going according to plan, having a good team gives real peace of mind.
Once the solution is ready and you wish to use its supply chain management services, you will need to introduce your staff to it. Make sure the relevant personnel can handle the software and get good results out of it. While that’s going on, your development team can test and refine the application.
Once the solution is ready and you wish to use its supply chain management services, you will need to introduce your staff to it. Make sure the relevant personnel can handle the software and get good results out of it. While that’s going on, your development team can test and refine the application.
You’ll already be reaping the benefits of route optimization software implementation, but the development team should still be on call. In addition to providing necessary support and troubleshooting, they will offer maintenance and updates. This is important to ensure the solution is viable long-term and has no major issues.
Top 5 Route Optimization Solutions to Consider
We want to preface by noting that even the best of these don’t bring the same value that custom solutions do. For one, they don’t offer the same flexibility and the ability to add highly specific functionality. Moreover, they require putting sensitive data in the hands of a different company with little oversight possible from your side.
It’s always worth it to develop a route optimization software tailored to your company, even if mass-market options are used by some smaller businesses. This section will cover some of the most popular of these to give you an idea of what’s available and show you their shortcomings.
Onfleet
Armed with real-time location updates, support for a massive number of drivers, proof of delivery, and powerful predictive algorithms. As a result, it can accurately estimate ETAs for the whole fleet of a large enterprise, handling the bureaucratic side of things as well. The software also comes with a free trial to let you see if it fits your company’s needs.
RoadWarrior
While this solution may not offer an extensive feature set, it’s highly competitive in terms of price. One of its tiers is $10/month per user, with both iOS and Android apps available. In terms of usability, while this application is quite straightforward, it does offer live tracking and routing capabilities. If you just need something to tide you over, while you craft a custom solution, this is a serviceable choice.
Samsara
If you specifically want an AI-powered solution, Samsara is worth a look. It handles dispatching and live data collection, used for both delivery tracking and rerouting vehicles. It’s a pretty powerful choice in terms of functionality. However, Samsara isn’t the only AI-centric choice on the market, and its hidden pricing system knocks it down a peg.
IntelliShift
This one uses the same cost system as Samsara – with the price only divulged after an official request and set based on the client. On top of that, it also offers AI predictions to optimize routes, follow along deliveries, and inform drivers of any changes.
Its standout features are centered around cargo and driver safety, as the app offers dash cam analysis through AI and detects when the driver isn’t looking at the road. Couple that with G-force sensors that detect excessively turbulent driving, and your cargo is guaranteed to be safe.
Motive
If you haven’t been impressed with most solutions, seeing the same features over and over, Motive may win you over. This app is specifically aimed at longer deliveries with fuel usage tracking, ELD compliance, and easy communication with the drivers. It also offers dash cam controls, allowing dispatchers to monitor the driver’s progress and status.
As you can see, these solutions come with caveats and flaws, some major, some minor. Avoiding these is impossible when you’re dealing with a one-fits-all type of software. Those seeking quality would be better off with custom development that accounts for their needs.
How Much Does It Cost to Build Vehicle Routing Software?
We’ve touched on the prices of general solutions, so let’s cap off that discussion by circling back to custom software. A few core factors determine its final cost, and we’ll talk about them here.
The list is as follows:
- Features
- AI model
- Choice of team
- The size of your company
Features and Their Complexity
There’s a reason why the most basic software is the cheapest. With no truly innovative functions or modern, AI-powered analytics, creating a solution is much easier and doesn’t cost as much. However, that doesn’t actually bring any value that makes the whole ordeal of custom development worth it. So it’s worth it to go for extra functions that might increase the cost.
AI Model
Since we’re specifically talking about AI solutions, you will need to take the cost of an AI model into account. Training one from zero would be extremely costly, but there are options on the market that you can use. Depending on how refined they are, their price can vary quite a bit.
This is where Amconsoft can help you by integrating an appropriate AI model into your solution.
Choice of Team
As we’ve mentioned, you can go with an in-house team or outsource the work to a vendor.
The latter usually turns out cheaper, as you can opt for regions with lower rates. Besides, an outsourcing company will have years of experience and thus be more efficient in development.
This helps cut down the cost substantially.
Company Size
Depending on how many vehicles you’re running, you’ll need more processing power for the software, as well as hardware. This directly affects the amount of money that you will need to spend on the project. Plus, you will also need to build in extra capabilities with your company’s future in mind. As a result, your own success determines the price of the solution.
Here’s an approximate breakdown of the cost of custom logistics software creation. However, as we’ve stressed above, the price can vary based on various factors. You can get in touch with our team to get a quote on your specific custom project.
Amconsoft as Your Custom Route Optimization Software Development Partner
Since we were just talking about the advantages of partnering with an outsourcing partner, it makes sense to recommend one – ourselves. Amconsoft has been on the market for over seven years, and we’ve worked on various logistics-centric projects. For example, our TMS module helped a business cut person-hours by 30%, boosted its revenue by a staggering 38%, and nearly doubled its vehicles’ load factors.
We also helped create a dispatch and schedule system for a taxi company. With both a web interface and a mobile app, the drivers could arrive faster, communicate easily with dispatchers, and provide a better service to the clients. As a result, satisfaction rates went up 30%, once again highlighting the value of modern solutions.
Of course, one of our proudest achievements is working with AI and machine learning. We use these technologies to future-proof businesses, automate daily processes, and provide cutting-edge analysis. We’ve used AI for custom development and find it to be an effective addition to the routing software functionality.
Get Your Custom Solution from Professionals
We’ve told you how to build a route optimization software, what influences its cost, and what features are an absolute must. Using AI, you can take good care of your fleet with scheduled hauls and maintenances, plan routes more efficiently, and optimize load distribution. Your management staff will always know vehicle locations and the status of every single delivery.
At this stage, you’re likely already buzzing about what this custom solution can include to benefit your company. If that is indeed the case, you will need a trusted partner to help bring those ideas to life.
Whether you already have a full picture of your project in mind or need a bit of inspiration, Amconsoft is happy to help. Our experience in logistics software creation has given us insight into the best practices for developing route optimization software. The Amconsoft team can help you choose the right AI solutions for your transportation issues.
Get in touch with us today to increase load factors, streamline truck management,
and optimize your hauls.