Short answer
Load tracking is how a brokerage knows where a truck is and whether it will make the appointment. The four main methods are manual check calls, driver app tracking (Macropoint, Trucker Tools, Load Market), ELD or telematics feeds, and AI voice check calls. Most brokerages mix them. The exception process matters more than the method.
What load tracking has to answer
Tracking comes down to a few questions your team has to answer on every load, fast enough to act. Where is the truck now? Will it make the next appointment? If not, who needs to know, and what will you do about it? And afterward: can you prove when the driver arrived, for detention, for the customer’s scorecard and for your own carrier ratings?
Shippers expect you to answer before they ask. Some want emails at each milestone, some want a tracking link, and EDI shippers want 214 status messages. All of those come from the same tracking data, so a gap in tracking becomes a gap everywhere. The check call is the oldest way to get that data, and it still fills the gaps the newer methods leave.
Load tracking methods compared
| Method | How location arrives | Driver effort | Main weakness | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual check calls | Your rep calls or texts the driver or dispatcher and writes it down | Answer the phone | Labor-heavy, and the location is whatever the driver says | Small carriers without apps, loads at risk, confirming what tracking shows |
| Driver app or tracking link | Driver’s phone shares location through an app, text link or browser link | Accept the request and keep location on | Phones die, drivers decline, the wrong driver gets the link | Spot loads with owner-operators and small fleets |
| ELD or telematics feed | A visibility provider pulls the truck’s location from the carrier’s ELD or telematics vendor | None once the carrier connects | Tracks a truck, not a load, so the truck assignment must be right | Carriers with connected ELDs, dedicated and repeat lanes |
| AI voice check calls | A voice agent calls the driver and logs location, ETA and issues | Answer the phone | What the driver says isn’t GPS proof, and escalation rules are needed | Covering calls at volume and after hours |
Manual check calls
A manual check call process usually follows the load: confirm dispatch, confirm arrival at pickup, confirm loaded and rolling with the BOL number, a midday call on longer runs, a call before delivery, and confirm unloaded with POD. Each call gets a note with time, location and ETA.
It works, and it costs time. Every call is a person dialing, waiting and typing. The data is only as honest as the person on the other end, and it arrives on your schedule, not when something changes. That’s why most brokerages now use calls to confirm and escalate rather than as the primary source.
Driver app and link-based tracking
App-based tracking uses the driver’s phone. You send a request, the driver accepts, and location flows to your team until the load ends. The main providers work a little differently:
- Descartes MacroPoint tracking can take location from a carrier’s ELD or GPS system, from the carrier’s TMS by API or CSV, or from its mobile app. MacroPoint’s FAQ says it doesn’t charge carriers for any of those integration methods.
- Trucker Tools offers text-to-track by SMS or WhatsApp using the driver’s phone number, plus ELD integrations and automated late alerts.
- Load Market sends tracking links that open in a browser, with a driver app and ELD connection as other options, and shareable links for customers.
The failure modes are the same across providers. A driver declines or never opens the link. The phone dies or location permission gets switched off. The carrier swaps drivers and the link is still on the first driver’s phone. Build your process around those cases, because they are the loads that go wrong.
ELD-based tracking
Drivers who must keep records of duty status generally log hours on an electronic logging device, with some exemptions. Visibility providers can pull location from the carrier’s ELD or telematics vendor once the carrier authorizes it. project44’s carrier FAQ describes a one-time integration that retrieves location data from the ELD provider, free to carriers, tracking a truck only during a mutual customer’s load. It also says project44 factors available hours of service into its ETA but never shares that data.
Don’t confuse the ELD’s legal record with a tracking feed. FMCSA’s ELD FAQ says the device must record location at 60-minute intervals while the vehicle is moving, at roughly a 1-mile radius during on-duty driving and about a 10-mile radius during personal use. Visibility providers typically read the vendor’s telematics location rather than the log itself, so update frequency depends on the provider and the carrier’s hardware.
The main risk is assignment. An ELD feed follows a truck. If the carrier dispatches a different truck than the one on your load, you’ll track the wrong vehicle with total confidence.
AI voice check calls
AI voice agents make the check call for you: they phone the driver, ask for location and ETA, log the answer to the load and raise issues to a person. TMS vendors are adding them. Tai announced a Track and Trace Agent on April 13, 2026 that calls drivers, logs location and ETA and moves loads to Delivered, with early access powered by CloneOps.ai. Ten4 Intelligence sells voice AI minutes as prepaid credits, starting at 200 minutes for $30 as of September 10, 2026, according to its pricing page.
Voice agents are strongest where calls are routine and volume is high, like midday calls and after-hours coverage. They don’t fix the underlying data problem. A driver who says “about two hours out” is still an estimate, so treat voice check calls as a fill-in for missing GPS, with clear rules for when a person takes over. FreightVero’s tracking agent is live and works in writing.
Why position alone doesn't give you an ETA
A dot on a map tells you where the truck is. It can’t tell you whether the driver can legally keep driving. Under FMCSA hours of service rules, a property-carrying driver may drive 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, and must take a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving.
So a truck 250 miles from a 6:00 a.m. delivery may still be late if the driver has to take a 10-hour break first. When a load looks close, ask the driver or dispatcher about hours. And always compare the ETA to the right appointment: the carrier’s appointment on the rate con can differ from the customer’s delivery window.
What a good tracking exception process looks like
Tracking only helps if someone acts on the loads that go wrong. These steps work whatever method you use.
Require tracking before dispatch
Decide what counts as tracked (app accepted, ELD connected or an approved manual call plan) and don’t dispatch without it. Record who approved any exception.
Flag silence, not just lateness
A truck that stops reporting is the earliest warning you get. Set a silence threshold and treat a load that goes quiet as an exception, even if its last ETA looked fine.
Grade risk against the right appointment
Compare ETA to the carrier’s appointment for operations and to the customer’s window for communication. Use a few clear levels, such as on plan, at risk and late.
Give every level an owner and a response time
Name who handles an at-risk load, how fast, and who covers after hours. An alert nobody owns is noise.
Escalate in a fixed order
Message the driver, call the driver, call the carrier’s dispatcher, call the carrier’s owner, then decide on recovery. Write down each attempt with the time.
Tell the customer before they ask
Send the new ETA, the cause and what you’re doing about it. One early, specific update beats three vague ones.
Review exceptions by carrier every week
Look at tracking acceptance, silent loads and late arrivals per carrier. Feed the results into who gets your next load.
Example exception levels
An example to adapt. Thresholds and response times here are illustrations, not benchmarks.
| Level | Example trigger | Owner | Action | Customer update |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On plan | Tracking active, ETA has comfortable cushion before appointment | Nobody | None | Milestones only |
| At risk | ETA inside a short cushion, or no location for a set period | Load owner | Contact driver, confirm hours and ETA | Only if the risk holds |
| Late or dark | ETA past appointment, or tracking still silent after first contact attempt | Load owner and a lead | Call dispatcher, arrange new appointment or recovery | Right away, with a new ETA |
Example only. Set your own thresholds by lane and customer.
Silence is the signal
The load that worries you least is often the one that’s gone dark. A last ping at 2:00 p.m. that still shows on time at 5:00 p.m. is old data. Make silent tracking an exception on its own, and confirm driver name and phone at pickup so a driver swap doesn’t leave you tracking an empty phone.
How FreightVero tracks loads today
The live tracking in FreightVero’s broker TMS runs on the Load Market integration, live since September 3, 2026. From the load, your team sends a tracking request to the driver’s phone, then watches position, ETA and risk on the load. Tracking that goes quiet for 45 minutes gets flagged. The check runs every 10 minutes, so the flag lands within the hour.
The ETA is simple and we’d rather you know how it works. It starts from the truck’s last position, estimates remaining distance as 1.2 times the straight-line distance, and assumes 50 mph, with no adjustment for driver rest. It’s checked against the carrier’s appointment. Green means more than 30 minutes of cushion, yellow means within 30 minutes, and red means the ETA is past the appointment or tracking is disconnected.
A driver confirming arrival on site moves the load status. A driver change reassigns tracking and keeps the history, and tracking ends automatically after delivery. Macropoint and project44 integrations are planned, not live.
Related terms, guides and integrations
See live tracking on a load
See how a Load Market tracking request, the 45-minute silence flag and green, yellow and red ETA risk work in the FreightVero broker TMS.
