Double Nickel has launched an artificial intelligence agent to automate employment verifications for trucking companies, targeting a time-consuming part of driver recruiting and regulatory compliance.
The New York-based company said Thursday, Oct. 22, that its Vera agent completed 40% of employment verifications autonomously during beta testing. Two trucking carriers with more than 500 trucks between them tested the product over the last 30 days. During that period, Vera attempted about 250 verifications and autonomously completed more than 100, according to the company.
Verifications completed by Vera took an average of one day, compared with four days for manual verifications handled through Double Nickel’s applicant tracking system, according to the company. Vera costs $7 per verified employment experience, Double Nickel said. The company charges customers only when a verification is completed.
The agent identifies contacts at a driver’s previous employers, sends verification requests and follows up by phone and email. It also records and transcribes calls and logs its attempts. Double Nickel said Vera identifies itself as a virtual assistant and informs call recipients that the line is recorded. The company said consent to recording is collected during the application process through its applicant tracking system, where Vera operates.
Obtaining the information can require recruiting or safety staff to locate the right contact at a former employer, send requests and follow up when responses are delayed. If contact information is missing, Vera can call the former employer to obtain it and save the details for future requests, Double Nickel said.
When Vera cannot complete a verification, it helps carriers document their attempts to contact the previous employer, according to the company. Vera may be unable to complete a verification automatically if a former employer has closed, does not respond to its requests or uses a third-party platform the agent does not yet support, Double Nickel said. In those cases, carriers may need to handle the verification themselves or document their attempts to obtain the information. The company said it is working to support additional platforms.
Vera is now available to all Double Nickel customers.
Federal rules
The launch addresses a process governed by federal regulations requiring motor carriers to investigate the safety performance histories of prospective drivers who worked for other Department of Transportation-regulated employers during the previous three years.
Under 49 CFR 391.23, carriers must investigate a driver’s employment history and safety performance, including relevant crash records and certain drug and alcohol violations. Carriers generally must obtain the required information or document their good-faith efforts within 30 days of the driver’s first day of service. The records must be maintained as part of the driver’s qualification file.
The federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which launched in January 2020, has centralized records of drug and alcohol violations for commercial driver’s license holders. Since January 2023, employers have been required to query the Clearinghouse as part of pre-employment checks rather than relying on previous employers for those records. However, carriers must still investigate other required aspects of a driver’s employment and safety history, including applicable crash records and safety performance information.
“Fleets we talk to consistently tell us that employment verifications remain one of the most manual, time-consuming parts of the driver hiring process,” Francisco López Roualdes, CEO and co-founder of Double Nickel said.
Carriers remain responsible for meeting federal driver investigation and recordkeeping requirements when using outside services. The FMCSA says motor carriers must retain safety performance history records for the duration of a driver’s employment and three years afterward.
Why this matters
Driver employment verifications can delay hiring as carriers wait for former employers to provide records. Automating the process could reduce administrative workloads and help carriers move drivers through recruiting faster, though Vera’s 40% autonomous completion rate suggests human involvement remains necessary for many verifications. Carriers also remain responsible for meeting federal requirements when using automated tools.
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