Critical Shifts:
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Faster Turnaround Times: The integration of load searching and end-to-end transaction tools into a single mobile app means carriers can fill trailers and clear your lot faster, reducing the time vehicles sit in inventory.
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Improved Document Accuracy: Enhanced electronic Bill of Lading (eBOL) and invoicing features reduce manual errors and administrative friction, providing you with more reliable shipment tracking and clearer financial records.
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Greater Logistics Transparency: As carriers adopt these mobile-first inspection and reporting tools, dealers gain better visibility into the transport process, leading to more predictable delivery windows and improved customer communication.
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For auto transportation carriers, the road is the office – and Central Dispatch is expanding its mobile technology around that reality. Cox Automotive’s logistics brand announced a new wave of enhancements to the Central Dispatch carrier mobile app, building on its evolution from an inspection tool into a more connected, powerful platform that enables carriers to find loads across the industry’s largest automotive logistics marketplace and execute key parts of the transaction end-to-end on the go.
The latest enhancements bring more of a carrier’s core workflow into the app, enabling them to search for loads, access and share electronic bills of lading (eBOLs), and generate detailed invoices – all from their phones. With these capabilities integrated into a single mobile experience, carriers can manage key steps of the transport process without switching tools or returning to a desk, helping keep loads – and their businesses – moving.
“Carriers spend much of their time moving – between jobs, yards and deliveries – and they need tools that work the way they do,” said Lainey Sibble, head of Central Dispatch at Cox Automotive. “We started by solving one important need with inspections, then kept building based on what carriers told us they needed next. These latest enhancements are another step in that evolution, connecting more of the transport process in one mobile experience.”
Since its launch in 2024, the Central Dispatch carrier app has been downloaded more than 141,000 times and used to complete more than 4.7 million inspections.
The newest updates focus on reducing friction in everyday tasks carriers manage on the road:
- Search Available Loads: Carriers can now search for loads directly within the app, bringing one of the most critical parts of a carrier’s workflow into a mobile first experience. Using many of the same filters available in their desktop workflow, carriers can search by origin and destination, look along preferred routes and easily refine results. With more than half of carriers accessing Central Dispatch from a mobile device, this addition supports load discovery and application – making it easier for carriers to keep their trucks full on the go.
- Easier eBOL Management: Carriers can view, share and download eBOLs directly in the app, so they don’t have to switch to a mobile browser. The experience more closely aligns with desktop functionality, making it easier for them to seamlessly send over documents and shipment updates for stronger, easier connections with customers while on the road.
- Enhanced Invoicing: Carriers can now add incidental charges, such as tolls or storage fees, directly to invoices within the app. By capturing these costs in one place and attaching supporting details, carriers gain greater visibility into total shipment costs and communicate them more clearly to their customers.
With continued investment, Central Dispatch plans to further expand the platform’s capabilities to support carriers wherever the road takes them – driving adoption and usage that, in turn, can deliver greater visibility and transparency for shippers.
