Kuebix AI is here to streamline your shipper TMS operations. FreightWise CEO Chris Cochran explains how their new AI-enabled platform, built from a legacy Kuebix system, is disrupting traditional logistics by offering an “order to pay” solution. Say goodbye to manual routing flaws and hello to optimized, efficient supply chains managed with clean, actionable data. Learn how AI is changing freight tech and what it means for your business.
FreightWise has unveiled Kuebix AI, an artificial intelligence-enabled transportation management system built exclusively for shippers, after roughly two years of redevelopment on a platform the company purchased from Trimble almost three years ago. The launch, demoed at the F3 conference, targets small and midsize businesses and small enterprise shippers that struggle to navigate contractual freight modes and translate orders into optimized shipments across LTL, parcel, and truckload.
The core engineering change replaces the rule-based optimization algorithms that have long driven TMS routing decisions with AI that the company says is cheaper to build, cheaper for shippers to operate, and less prone to the false positives that plague traditional systems. “All across the board, AI has disrupted the algorithms that you need PhDs and coders to do of old,” said the FreightWise executive presenting at F3. “The same thing for the routing guide principles and rules — those are rigid and complex and tough to manage for planners. AI makes it conversational.”
“Once we built this application, we were really fortunate that we already had hundreds and hundreds of shippers on it and hundreds of millions of dollars moving. So it was able to learn and develop through that without replicating the problems of the old systems.”
A standout feature is multi-stop truckload planning, where a planner can view multiple route options on a single screen — seeing trade-offs between longer miles to protect delivery appointments versus shorter miles that reduce cost but require rescheduling — and drag the preferred option into execution. The company argues this eliminates the black-box planning that forces routers to work outside the TMS when a suggested route is clearly unworkable.
FreightWise also built its own carrier API network in-house after determining that outsourced rating tools did not deliver the speed or breadth its clients needed. The company acknowledged the effort was difficult but said it now enables faster carrier onboarding on both its managed transportation service and the Kuebix AI SaaS offering. A middleware module called Kuebix Connect lets business users map fields from ERPs, WMS platforms, and point-of-sale systems to the TMS visually, with AI writing the underlying integration code — removing the need for dedicated IT involvement in routine data feeds.
On the intelligence side, FreightWise Intelligence is positioned as a step beyond standard dashboards. The platform ingests data from order through ACH payment — dropping funds directly to carrier treasury — so that analytics draw on a single, unbroken data set rather than reconciling a separate freight audit and pay provider. When a KPI falls out of range, the AI surfaces a root-cause explanation rather than requiring logistics analysts to investigate and report upward.
The executive flagged two broad risks for shippers evaluating AI adoption industrywide. First, AI requires clean, accurate data to function correctly and will produce hallucinations and false conclusions without it, putting data-poor shippers at a competitive disadvantage. Second, FreightWise is deliberately keeping AI out of direct customer-facing support, arguing that human account managers should handle shippers in a pinch. The company also acknowledged it delayed its own AI rollout by six to eight months beyond its original target to avoid shipping chatbot-style features that created proof of concept rather than proof of value. Shippers and carriers can learn more at Kuebix AI or freightwisellc.com.
- FreightWise rebuilt the Trimble-acquired Kuebix platform over two years, replacing legacy routing algorithms with AI to reduce costs and eliminate false positives in truckload planning.
- The new Kuebix Connect middleware module lets business users integrate ERPs and WMS platforms visually without IT involvement, with AI writing and monitoring the integration code.
- FreightWise warns shippers that poor data quality will undermine AI adoption and says it is keeping AI out of direct customer support to protect account relationships.
This Summary is generated thanks to a transcription of the interview, for the full interview please enjoy the video above.
