Amazon Hopes To Match Truckers, Shipments With New App

Amazon hopes that a new app will revolutionize the trucking industry — and make shipping its goods around the world cheaper.

Business Insider reports that the world's largest e-retailer plans to launch an "Uber for trucking" app next summer.

The report, which cited a source familiar with the matter, indicated that the technology would match truck drivers to available shipments without the use of brokers, which currently charge commissions to navigate the complicated cargo trucking landscape.

The app would offer pricing information, driving directions, shipment tracking and payment options.

The initiative aims to make trucking cheaper and easier, particularly for Amazon, which bought thousands of truck trailers as part of broader efforts to control more of its shipping operations.

The hub of the app project is Amazon's Minneapolis office, BI reports, but work is also underway in its native Seattle and in India.

Uber is working on its own app for truckers, and Amazon would also be competing startups Trucker Path and Convoy. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is an investor in Convoy, which was founded by four former Amazon employees.