#2: Accessing 30,000+ carriers in under 4 weeks with our Convoy integration
On how we used AI and Nuvo OS to help our customers tap into 30,000 carriers, world class fraud prevention software, and the ability to execute end to end no-touch loads in less than 1 month.
Everyone building software in freight knows that integrations are crucial to real automation and to drive growth.
Today with AI, integrations are getting significantly easier and faster if you have an AI native engineering team and a proprietary platform that you can integrate with easily - like NuvoOS.
Most legacy 3PLs take anywhere from 3 to 10 months to integrate with partner technology platforms. When Convoy opened its API-only marketplace, we integrated NuvoOS in under four weeks. With the internal tooling we’ve built since, we could do it in about one week today.
Our pace and quality of integrations is accelerating thanks to AI and to the approach we took in building NuvoOS. After 18 months of making NuvoOS AI-native and API-first, every data point is structured, and every workflow is addressable by API. That lets us pair our own LLM workflows with deep integrations, without waiting on a legacy TMS to catch up.
On top of this, we will be releasing our own MCP for NuvoOS soon which will allow LLMs to interface directly with NuvoOS without relying on API integrations and simply using natural language to execute an action or get the data you need.
We’re still iterating on how to make integrations go faster and better, but the broader learning is clear: build the pipes first, and every integration will get easier and compound value. More specifics on Convoy’s integration below.
BTW: Huge shout out to the Convoy team for the recent deal with DAT and for building world class technology that moved our industry forward in a big way! (Shout out to Dan Lewis, Ryan Petersen, Bill Driegert, Dustin Teves, and the rest of the Convoy team).
The Pain: The old way of covering freight
For most brokers, covering an intra-US load is still a human intensive and manual process:
Posting the load across multiple boards.
Calling or emailing dispatchers one by one.
Negotiating rates back and forth.
Manually re-entering shipment info into the TMS.
Endless follow-ups for tracking, PODs, and invoices.
This is slow, expensive, and creates inconsistent service. Even "tech-forward" brokers require heavy ops involvement on every single load today. Some startups are helping automate pieces of this puzzle but the vast majority of the industry still runs this way.
What we built: Plugging into Convoy
In Q4 2024, we plugged NuvoOS directly into Convoy’s API-only platform. This gave us direct access to their network of 30,000+ vetted US carriers, many of them owner-operators and small fleets with leaner cost structures with better rates for our shippers.
For our shippers, this was impactful. It instantly expanded their lane coverage and helped them unlock access to a high-quality carrier base that most shippers or brokers take years to build.
How It Works Now in NuvoOS
As soon as an intra-US load is created in NuvoOS, it’s instantly posted to Convoy’s marketplace (as well as to our own internal loadboard and other integrated partners for capacity).
Thousands of Convoy’s carriers see the load and then Convoy’s machine learning handles the negotiation dynamically with AI/ML and with rates we specify (“max buy”).
Once there’s a good fit between the load and a carrier, a match is booked automatically back into NuvoOS. Zero emails, phone calls, or messages needed.
End-to-end tracking flows directly from the driver’s app into NuvoOS, with every milestone time-stamped for full visibility every 5 minutes.
PODs and invoices flow back automatically and kick off the same AI-powered validation process I wrote about last week. All without a single manual touch.
This only works for a portion of our loads today, but the share of no-touch loads is growing. As NuvoOS gets more powerful and as LLMs get smarter, we are seeing a clear path to automate most workflows for all types of North America truckload freight (domestic US, US-MX-CAN cross border, FTL, LTL, dryvan, reefer, multi-stop, specialized, etc.).
However, it has required a really powerful foundation to make all this possible.
How we integrated 4x faster than competitors
Most brokers run on decades-old TMS systems. They can’t speak to a modern API without heavy middleware and months of custom development. Every workflow from booking and tracking to invoicing, has to be stitched together manually.
NuvoOS was built API-first from day one, so every shipment, milestone, document, and rate is already structured and ready to connect. This meant we could plug Convoy’s workflows straight into ours with almost no new work.
We don’t rely on a legacy vendor to build workflows for us. We do it ourselves and even heard from the team at Convoy that we were their most technical partner in comparison to other 3PLs at the time. This is another one of countless reasons we feel there’s a huge advantage to building your own proprietary technology.
The results:
Access to 30,000+ vetted US carriers.
World class fraud prevention technology for intra US owner operators
More competitive rates, often 5-10% below traditional spot prices
End-to-end automation & visibility on every load directly integrated into Nuvo OS
Lower cost-to-serve, letting us scale efficiently and pass on savings to our shippers
All of this built in less than 1 month (and would take ~1 week today)
If you want a demo of our Convoy integration or of Nuvo OS (our AI native operating system for North America freight), please book some time with our team here.
We’re always excited to share any of our learnings and how we are helping North American shippers reduce freight spend, boost customer service levels, and adopt AI across their entire North America supply chain.