Datatruck Raises $12M Series A to Accelerate AI-Native TMS for Carriers
5/1/26, 4:44 PM
Truck Routing Software That Saves Fuel and Tolls
The wrong route burns money before the truck leaves the yard. A standard car-routing app picks the shortest distance, ignores weight and height restrictions, and routes the truck through tolls that cost more than the fuel saved. Truck routing software is supposed to fix that, but most platforms still treat tolls as a footnote. The fleets cutting fuel and toll spend by double digits run routing built for trucks, not retrofitted from a passenger app.
Why generic routing burns fuel and toll budget
Standard mapping engines optimize for distance and current traffic. Truck routing software has to layer height, weight, hazmat, time-of-day restrictions, and toll cost on top of the same map.
The fuel and toll cost shows up at the end of the month. AS Cargo recovered $4K per week after switching to a TMS that lets dispatchers preview toll cost on every route. Without that visibility, a dispatcher cannot tell which lane is bleeding money.
What truck routing software has to handle
The bar is higher than it sounds. The platforms that actually save fuel and toll spend share a short list of capabilities.
Equipment-aware routing that respects height, weight, and hazmat restrictions
Real-time toll cost estimates per route, not aggregate guesses
Toll-free routing as a one-click option when the math favors it
Canada and Mexico routing for cross-border fleets, not just the U.S.
Integration with the dispatch board so the route is the load is the truck
How Interactive Maps v2 routes inside Datatruck
Datatruck, a TMS for carriers, ships Interactive Maps v2 as the routing layer. Drag-and-drop route customization, real-time cost and distance display, toll-free routing as a one-click option, and Canada routing all sit on top of Google Maps fallback for reliability.
Dispatchers see toll spend per lane before the truck rolls. The route, the rate confirmation, and the dispatch board all share state, so changing the route changes the projected margin in real time.
Toll-free routing and when it actually saves money
Toll-free is not always cheaper. The fuel cost of an extra 60 miles can outpace the toll. Truck routing software that calculates both numbers side-by-side lets the dispatcher pick the right tradeoff for each lane.
Lane Type | Toll-Free Usually Wins | Tolled Route Usually Wins |
Short urban runs under 100 miles | Yes, the toll outweighs the fuel | No |
Mid-distance regional 200-500 miles | Sometimes, depending on toll density | Sometimes, faster delivery |
Long-haul over 800 miles | Rare, fuel cost outpaces tolls | Yes, time and fuel both win |
Heavy haul or oversize | Sometimes, permit-driven | Often, restrictions force it |
Where the fuel savings show up
Fuel saving comes from two places: better lane selection and better daily routing. Better lane selection cuts deadhead miles, which usually beats a $0.10 rate bump once cost per mile is factored in. Better daily routing cuts off-route fuel burn that never shows up on the rate confirmation.
Published Datatruck ROI numbers put AI routing fuel savings in the 3 to 8 percent range. AS Cargo's TollGuru workflow recovered roughly $4,000 a week on tolls alone. Dispatch boards that surface fuel and toll spend by load, not by truck-month, are the ones where those savings stick.
Canada and cross-border routing without the workarounds
Cross-border lanes break most U.S.-only routing engines. Truck routing software that ships Canada routing natively saves the dispatcher from copy-pasting between two tools and getting an estimate that does not match the real route.
Datatruck's Interactive Maps v2 routes Canada lanes alongside U.S. lanes with a Google Maps fallback when the carrier's mapping data is incomplete. That keeps cross-border fleets on a single platform.
The weekly workflow truck routing software should support
Routing is one input into the weekly margin loop. The carriers seeing real fuel and toll savings run the same five-step rhythm.
Pre-plan the week with target lanes and target RPM
Run truck routing software on every load, equipment-aware
Compare toll versus toll-free options before booking
Auto-parse the rate con and lock the route into the dispatch board
Review profit per truck every Sunday and prune the lanes that do not clear cost
Stop running cars and trucks on the same map
The wrong route burns money on every load. The right route only saves money when truck routing software is doing the math on equipment, tolls, and lane economics together. See the full connected stack on the integrations page, read how AS Cargo recovered $4,000 a week with TollGuru inside Datatruck, or check pricing for a mid-sized fleet. Book a live demo and we will route your real lanes side by side.
FAQs
What is truck routing software and how is it different from a regular map?
Truck routing software is mapping built for commercial trucks. It respects height, weight, hazmat, and time-of-day restrictions, calculates toll cost per route, and offers toll-free options. A regular map ignores most of those constraints, which is why generic apps route trucks under low bridges and through restricted streets.
How much can truck routing software save on fuel and tolls?
Datatruck's published AI routing numbers put fuel savings in the 3 to 8 percent range, and AS Cargo recovered roughly $4,000 a week on tolls alone after switching to the TollGuru workflow inside Datatruck. The combined savings depend on lane mix and toll density.
Does truck routing software handle Canada and cross-border lanes?
Yes. Datatruck's Interactive Maps v2 routes Canada lanes alongside U.S. lanes with a Google Maps fallback. That removes the copy-paste step most cross-border fleets do today between two routing tools.
Should truck routing software be standalone or built into the TMS?
Built into the TMS. Standalone routing tools save the dispatcher distance but break the link between route, rate confirmation, fuel cost, and dispatch board. A TMS-native router lets a single change update margin, ETA, and toll spend together.