Finding a good load used to mean scrolling through load boards, calling broker after broker, and hoping someone would pick up. If you’ve heard of AI dispatching before, you might picture a bunch of filters and checkboxes. That’s not how it works anymore.

TruckSmarter’s Dispatch is now a chat. You type or say what you need in plain English (or your preferred language), and Dispatch does the searching, comparing, market research, and broker calling for you. This guide walks through what that actually looks like, what it costs compared to a human dispatcher, and answers the questions most drivers have What’s New in Dispatch for 2026before they try it. 

Whether you're new to AI dispatching or you've already heard about Dispatch, here's what it does and how it works.

What Is TruckSmarter Dispatch?

TruckSmarter Dispatch is an AI dispatch assistant built for owner operators and small carriers.

Think of it as another member of your team. Instead of spending your day researching loads and waiting on hold with brokers, you can hand those tasks to Dispatch while you focus on driving and running your business.

With Dispatch, you can:

• Search loads across supported load boards

• Compare multiple loads side by side

• Check today's market spot rates by lane or region

• Estimate take-home pay after fuel and deadhead miles

• Pull fuel cost insights from TCS to factor into your next load

• Call brokers directly to check load availability

• Search load offers sent to your Gmail

• Set reminders to follow up on a load later

• Set up load alerts for your hot lanes

• Ask Dispatch to find backhaul options for your route

• Remember your preferred lanes, equipment, and search preferences

The goal is to cut down on the endless scrolling and repetitive work that comes with finding and booking freight, and help you put more money in your pocket.

Dispatch Features That Work for You

Dispatch includes exclusive features designed to save you time and help you work smarter: 

1. Search Feedback: Get real-time tips when searches return zero results, so you can adjust filters faster and find loads without trial and error.

2. Bid & Book: Contact brokers with one tap. Quick-call buttons or auto-populated emails with all load details included. No retyping, no looking up contact info. 

3. Calling Assistant: Dispatch dials brokers, navigates phone trees, and waits on hold—connecting you only when a real person is ready to talk. Browse other loads while you wait. 

4. Email Assistant: Connect Gmail to bring verified broker load offers directly onto your TruckSmarter load board—so important opportunities don’t get buried in your inbox.

From Search To Asking

Login to Dispatch, you’ll see a chat window ready to go. Ask it to find loads, get real-time insights on hot lanes, track down brokers, and more. But here’s what happens when you use Dispatch, step by step.

1. You ask in plain language. Something like: “Find me a dry van load out of Chicago heading south. Call the broker and check if it’s still available. If not, find me a backup.”

2. Dispatch searches. It scans load boards and freight in real time, matching your request against your equipment, lanes, and preferences.

3. Dispatch checks the details. It verifies the rate, pickup time, delivery time, and location, and whatever else you want to know before it gets back to you.

4. Dispatch calls the broker(s). Using the Calling Assistant, it dials, waits on hold, and only connects you once a real person is on the line. Dispatch can call multiple brokers at once to speed up the load finding process.

5. You get the full picture. Rate, deadhead miles, route, and take-home estimate, all in one message.

6. You make the final call. Dispatch doesn’t book anything without you. You review the details, ask questions if you need to, and book when you’re ready.

That’s the workflow: ask, search, verify, call, decide. No extra tabs, no separate apps, no waiting on hold.

A Typical Dispatch Conversation

You don’t have to ask one question at a time. A conversation with Dispatch usually starts with one question, and builds over time as you narrow down your options. 

It might start with:

Find me a load leaving Phoenix tomorrow.

After reviewing the results, you might ask:

Which one has the highest estimated take-home?

Once you've narrowed it down:

Call the broker and see if it's still available.

If the broker says the load is already covered:

Find me another load with similar pay going in the same direction.

You never have to leave the conversation or start another search. Each question builds on the last one, making it feel less like using software and more like working with someone who's helping you get the job done.

The system learns from your choices over time, getting better at load matching that aligns to your actual business patterns, while helping you improve cost savings over time.

Is this going to replace dispatchers? 

No. Dispatch doesn't automatically book loads. It doesn't choose which freight you haul, negotiate your business strategy, or make decisions for you. It gives you the information you need to find, compare, plan, and book loads, but ultimately you’re still the person behind the wheel that’s making the decisions.

What Can You Ask Dispatch?

One of the biggest advantages of Dispatch is that you don't have to memorize commands or learn a complicated system. If you know how to send a text message, you already know how to use it.

Most drivers start with basic questions: 

• "Find me a dry van load leaving Chicago."

• "Is this rate any good?"

• "Call the broker."

As you get more comfortable, you can ask Dispatch to handle more of the work for you.

You can also combine several tasks—called workflow chaining—into one request.

For example, you can type:

Find me a dry van load leaving Kansas City tomorrow that pays above market, keeps deadhead under 75 miles, and gets me close to Dallas by Friday. Then call the broker for the best option and let me know if it's still available.

Instead of doing each step yourself, Dispatch works through the request and brings everything back in one conversation.

How Dispatch Helps You Negotiate Better Rates

Negotiating with a broker works best when you’re not guessing. Dispatch gives you the numbers to back up your ask before you ever pick up the phone.

1. See the market rate before you call. Dispatch pulls in live spot rate data through FreightWaves SONAR TRAC, so you know if a broker’s offer is fair, low, or high before you say a word.

Example prompt: “Is this rate above or below today’s market for this lane?”

2. Know your real take-home pay, not just the rate on offer. In the Dispatch app, tap any load to expand its details and find where it factors in fuel costs and deadhead miles to estimate what you'll actually pocket. That tells you whether the load is worth taking, and what number you'd need to hear to make it worth it.

Example prompt: “What would I take home on this load after fuel and deadhead? What rate would I need for this to be worth it?”

3. Get help positioning your ask. Once you know the market rate and your numbers, Dispatch can help you figure out how to bring it up with the broker.

Example prompt: “The broker’s rate is below market. How should I ask for more?”

You still make the call and do the talking. Dispatch just makes sure you’re walking in with the same information a good dispatcher would have.

How Much Time & Money You Can Save

In a survey of beta users, drivers told us that Dispatch can save them an average of 3 hours daily. Where's it come from? Time drivers used to spend searching, comparing, researching market rates, calling, and waiting on hold for brokers.

How much time you save or money you earn depends on your operation. A driver running long, steady lanes with familiar brokers will likely save less time than someone constantly searching for new freight in unfamiliar markets. 

Ultimately, Dispatch savings come from cutting out repetitive tasks, like scrolling load boards, calling and waiting on hold for brokers, planning backhauls, and more. The judgment calls, like deciding which load is actually worth taking, still belong to you.

How Much Does Dispatch Cost?

Hiring a third-party dispatcher usually means giving up a percentage of every load. Many dispatch services charge between 3% and 10%, so the more freight you move, the more you pay. TruckSmarter Dispatch works differently. 

You can try Dispatch for free with a limited number of requests—most new drivers use only about a third of the weekly allotted usage while they're exploring the tool. If you want unlimited access, it's available for $49 per month. That gives you unlimited access to features like load search, broker calling, market rate comparisons, estimated take-home pay, and scheduling, without paying a percentage of each load.

What’s New in Dispatch for 2026—And Coming Soon 

Here's what's already live, and what the team is building next.

1. You talk to Dispatch like a person. Instead of filters and checkboxes, you say what you need: "find me," "check if," "call and ask."

2. Live market and fuel data. Dispatch pulls real-time spot rates through SONAR TRAC, so you can see how a rate compares to the market before you commit. It also factors in real fuel costs through TCS, so your take-home estimate reflects your actual route, not a flat average.

3. Verified access, then teammates. Owners go through a multi-step check to confirm they hold the carrier authority, which keeps unauthorized users out. Once verified, owners can add teammates like company or leased drivers.

4. Direct booking, where it's available. Dispatch already books directly with brokers when the technical integration exists. Expect more of these direct connections as more brokers come online.

5. Full week planning is coming. Dispatch already understands how backhauls and reloads connect, but it doesn't plan your whole week automatically yet. The team is rebuilding the backend now to support that kind of multi-step scheduling.

6. Smarter bidding across loads. Right now, you can ask Dispatch to make multiple broker calls at the same time. The team is working toward a system that uses what it learns from multiple live calls at once to help set better bids on other loads in play.

7. Historical rate trends, down the road. Dispatch shows real-time rates today because that's what matters most when you're negotiating right now. As the data set grows, the team may add the ability to see how rates have moved over time.

8. A fuller picture of your take-home pay. Today, the take-home estimate factors in fuel cost, equipment type, weight, and reefer fuel. It doesn't yet account for costs like parking or lumper fees, but that's on the roadmap.

9. Toward setting a goal and letting Dispatch run with it. Long term, the vision is to give Dispatch a target, like a revenue goal for the week, and it brings you options to approve or pass on.

What's the difference between Dispatch and the free load board?

The free load board is where you browse and search available loads yourself. Dispatch sits on top of it as your AI assistant, handling the manual work: it recommends loads based on your preferences, contacts brokers for you, waits on hold, verifies load details, and keeps monitoring the board around the clock so you don't have to. The free load board and Dispatch work together, with Dispatch making the free load board faster and easier to use.

Want to see Dispatch live in action before you try it out? Watch this quick demo with TruckSmarter's CEO Dan Kao: 

And we want to hear from you. If you're working loads with Dispatch, drop your feedback right in the app or through the TruckSmarter website. Tell us what features you want to see next.

The Final Word 

Finding good freight isn't just about finding the highest rate. It's about finding the load that makes the most sense for your business. 

Dispatch helps bring those pieces together so you can spend less time researching and more time making decisions. It won't replace your experience or make choices for you, just the repetitive work that comes with finding and booking freight. 

If you're curious about AI dispatching but aren't sure where to start, Dispatch is an easy way to see what it can do—and you can try it for free. Ask it a simple question, compare the results, and decide for yourself whether it fits the way you run your business.

This article was originally published on September 15, 2025, and updated on Wednesday, July 22.