Uber Integrates Freight and Delivery-as-a-Service Platforms

Uber Freight announced an integration with Uber Direct, the company’s on-demand Delivery-as-a-Service platform.

“The partnership brings together one of North America’s largest logistics networks with one of the largest same-day delivery courier networks,” Uber Freight said in a Tuesday (Sept. 10) news release. “Central to the integration is Uber Freight’s Parcel Transportation Management System (PTMS), which is now integrated with the Uber Direct platform to power new and faster delivery options, including same-day and scheduled deliveries.”

Uber Freight has managed more than 250 million parcels in the past year through its PTMS product, and millions of packages are delivered each year by retailers and merchants via Uber Direct, according to the release.

“We are confident that this will deliver meaningful value to growing and enterprise shippers by speeding up their network, lowering transportation costs, improving service reliability and enhancing customer experience,” Hany Elkordy, head of last-mile logistics for Uber Freight, said in the release. “It’s the right time to offer this expanded service to shippers leveraging our scale at Uber Freight and integration with Uber Direct and others.”

The integration is part of a larger series of updates to the Uber Freight platform, including “modular TMS functionality, advanced Insights AI features, and flexible procurement software,” the release said.

America’s growing delivery needs have left companies searching for more efficient and cost-effective delivery solutions, PYMNTS wrote earlier this year.

“Lower costs for robots and other supply chain automation tools ensures smaller and niche carriers and third-party logistics can offer solutions that compete with the mega spend of the largest players,” Keith Biondo, publisher of Inbound Logistics magazine, told PYMNTS in July. “That development opens up the latest solutions for direct-to-consumer companies of all sizes, including startups and new entrants, to speed and reduce inventory and serve customers fast while keeping fulfillment costs low.”

Meanwhile, PYMNTS spoke last month with COE Distributing Chairman and CEO J.D. Ewing on the issue of soaring shipping costs impacting small businesses. He pointed to three factors that have negatively affected his company.

“Increased transit times, which wreak havoc on our inventory availability and forecasting,” he said. “Capacity constraints, which further increase lead times on products, put more pressure on our inventory availability and forecasting. Increased costs for ocean freight, which decreases gross margin and bottom-line performance.”