PCS Unveils Cortex AI Engine to Automate Freight Operations
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PCS Software is introducing built-in artificial intelligence capabilities for its transportation management system to help fleet operators automate manual tasks and speed up decision-making.
The company’s new AI engine, dubbed Cortex, is designed to help PCS customers optimize their operations, enhance workflows, streamline communications and convert data into business insights.
“We’ve focused on AI that matters — tools that improve margins, automate busywork and give fleets that rely on PCS a true competitive edge,” said PCS CEO Mark Hill.
Unlike stand-alone AI tools, Cortex is built directly into the PCS TMS and can enhance workflows across dispatch, planning, safety, driver management and maintenance operations.
Cortex AI is here.
Built into PCS TMS—not bolted on.
📦 Faster dispatch
📬 Smarter comms
📊 Real-time insights
🔧 Less clicking, more hauling
25 years of freight grit—not AI hype.
Launching Sept 25 at the PCS Summit.
🔗 — PCS Software (@PCSsoftware)
“Cortex is designed to act as an intelligence layer embedded natively inside of the TMS,” said Danielle Villegas, chief product officer at PCS.
The first Cortex-powered capabilities will focus on intelligent dispatch, routing and scheduling to help dispatchers and fleet managers identify opportunities to boost profitability.
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At a time when trucking companies are contending with climbing costs and a persistently soft freight market, AI will enable fleets to do more with less and make smarter business decisions, Villegas said.
“Cortex looks at historical data, operational data and financial data to present the best scenarios and the best use of their time to manage their companies more effectively,” she said. “We’re not just reporting the data. We’re really understanding the data. It’s learning the behaviors of the users of the system and then it acts as part of the everyday workflow to automate as much as it possibly can.”
PCS also intends to use Cortex to improve customers’ communications via email, text, voice or through electronic interfaces such as electronic data interchange or application programming interfaces.
Beyond that, PCS aims to support better, faster decision-making by delivering business insights to the right people at the right time.
“We leaned into AI early — not for hype, but for real results,” said Villegas, “Cortex isn’t just an add-on or an experiment, it’s a competitive weapon that helps fleets do more with less.”
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Hill said PCS is aiming to bring more advanced capabilities to midsize carriers, which fulfill an important role in supply chains but have always been at a disadvantage to large fleets in terms of technology investment.
“We think this latest wave of technology can really become a great equalizer for them,” Hill said.
Unlike some other cutting-edge technologies, the latest advances in AI are becoming affordable and accessible to mid-market and small transportation businesses.
“With Cortex, PCS is giving us enterprise-level tech that used to only be for the giants — and making it work for fleets like ours,” said Tim Reilly, vice president at truckload carrier and logistics provider Voyager Express, a PCS beta customer.
The first Cortex modules will be available to PCS customers beginning this fall after its public release on Sept. 25 at the PCS Customer Summit in Houston.
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