LogiPilot
Check a carrier

Glossary

Load tracking

Also: Freight tracking · Shipment visibility · Truck tracking

Load tracking is the process of knowing where a shipment is and when it will arrive between pickup and delivery, done by phone check calls, driver apps, ELD or telematics feeds through visibility platforms, or text-message location links; the output that matters is not the map but the status: on time, at risk or late against the appointment.

Shippers ask “where’s my truck” for one of two reasons: a customer is waiting for the freight, or the freight is high value and they want to know it has not stopped somewhere it should not. Either way the broker has promised an answer, and the tracking method is how the broker keeps the promise at fifty loads a day.

The methods, roughly in order of how much they cost the driver:

  1. Check calls. Universal, labor-intensive, low hit rate on the first try.
  2. Text-message location links. A text with a link; the driver taps once and the phone shares its position. Works on any phone, no install, but requires the carrier’s consent to be texted and a registered sending number.
  3. Driver apps. Continuous tracking for the duration of the load, if the driver installs the app, keeps it running, and grants location permission. Adoption is the problem.
  4. ELD and telematics feeds. Automatic and precise, through visibility platforms, for carriers that connect and authorize. Best for contract carriers, weakest for the spot market.

Most brokerages use a mix, and the interesting design question is the ladder: what to try first, when to escalate, and when a person should be told. A tracking program that produces a hundred pings a day is not the goal; the goal is a short list of the loads that need a human this morning, with the reason and the last known place already on it.

Related terms

Guides that use this term

Updated September 11, 2026 · All terms

FAQ

Questions about load tracking.

Why is load tracking still done by phone?

Because the carriers that haul spot freight are mostly small and change with every load. ELD integrations need each carrier to connect and authorize; driver apps need each driver to install and open one per broker. A phone call works with every driver on the first load, so it remains the fallback, and for many brokerages the default.