C.H. Robinson is using artificial intelligence to tackle missed pickups, a long-standing pain point in less-than-truckload shipping.

The company has introduced AI agents that, according to a news release, are successful at tracking down missed pickups, using advanced reasoning to determine how to keep freight moving, and generating new operational data that carriers can use to improve scheduling and network performance.

C.H. Robinson said its AI agents are now resolving hundreds of shipments a day across more than 11,000 customers. According to the company, 95% of checks on missed LTL pickups are now automated, saving more than 350 hours of manual work per day. Freight is moving up by a day, and unnecessary return trips to pick up missed shipments have been reduced by 42%.

The system uses one AI agent to contact carriers about missed pickups, while another determines the appropriate next steps. Working together, the agents can make 100 calls and 100 decisions simultaneously, the company says in the release.

“A missed pickup isn’t just a minor inconvenience,” said Greg West, vice president for LTL at C.H. Robinson. “When a truck arrives and the freight or packaging isn’t ready, or the carrier couldn’t make it because they got stuck in traffic, it forces another truck to come back the next day. That might not even be our shipper’s freight, but it creates a domino effect for other freight that was supposed to get picked up and for all the other trucks down the line.”