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“Outpost’s mission is to build the backbone of freight," Akselrod said. (Outpost)

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launched aimed at improving yard operations and safety, the truck terminal operator announced Aug. 14.

The platform uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to cut costs, improve yard security and automatically capture more gate events with auditable data. Outpost said that the system can reduce gate operating costs by 70%. The technology is available to shippers, enterprise fleets and terminal operators across the U.S.

We had our network of terminals that we were paying roughly $25,000 a month to operate,” told Transport Topics. “We tried solving this with off-the-shelf solutions. We tried a lot of different things and couldn’t find anything. So, we had a hunch when we started that there was a big gap in the industry for it.”

Akselrod said Outpost kept the potential for customer interest top-of-mind throughout the development process. Company leaders held discussions with some to gauge interest.

“They were running into a whole bunch of challenges that we ran into when we started,” Akselrod said. “They asked, ‘Is this something that we can actually use at our own facilities?’ That catalyzed and ultimately accelerated us bringing it to market.”

Akselrod said an early development challenge was machine vision and software — specifically, training the software to handle the job. Also included was creating a remote operations tool so a human could intervene if the computer encountered an unfamiliar situation. From there,

developers turned to creating hardware that could operate in varied conditions and recognize different types of equipment. Last was the challenge of commercial installation and, later, maintenance and repairs.

“We saw the kinds of things [customers] needed,” he said. “Like the gate log. [And] the accuracy, all the downstream uses for that — whether it’s visibility for their customers with freight, managing things needing to go in for maintenance, and checking to make sure the right tractor is with the right trailer and the right driver.”

Werner Enterprises showed early interest in the technology, and those discussions helped to speed development.

“Outpost is taking the pain out of gate operations,” said Ryan Gass, vice president of safety, terminal management, security and facilities maintenance at Werner Enterprises. “Our drivers get through faster, our teams have better visibility, and our equipment is more secure. Using the platform at Outpost and our own terminals gives us cleaner data, faster terminal throughput, and a unified view of our fleet across Werner and Outpost sites.”

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The platform uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to cut costs, improve yard security and automatically capture more gate events with auditable data. (Outpost)

Werner ranks No. 18 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 32 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America.

The platform includes computer vision that covers 20 points of detection, recognition and inspection. It was trained to respond to a wide variety of vehicles, drivers, documents and anomalies by continuously learning and improving with each gate event.

Key capabilities include multipart identification that detects vehicle type, make, model, color, trailer class and fuel type. It also has identification and compliance recognition that reads Department of Transportation and motor carrier numbers, as well as license plates, trailer and container identification. It also��can read chassis markings, hazmat placards, red tags and company logos.

Features include damage and safety inspection that detects dents, rust, scratches, broken lights, missing mud flaps, tire tread, sidewall issues, improper driver safety gear and dashboard obstructions. It has security verification that identifies seal presence, confirms driver ID through face-to-identification matching, validating license authenticity and flagging tractor-trailers that were not properly dispatched.

The platform also features situational awareness for tracking equipment movement, speed, full stops, tailgates and gate malfunctions. It has document and cargo intelligence capabilities that can extract data from paperwork such as bills of lading. That�� includes detecting trailer and container cargo. The platform also provides the ability to customize detections and utilizes AI voice agents at the gate.

Outpost also highlighted the security benefits of its gate automation platform. The company pointed out that warehouses and distribution centers have become significant targets for cargo theft activity, including the threat of insider participation.��

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