An In-Depth Guide to Trucking App Development

The on-demand transportation market keeps growing every year, making trucking apps a very lucrative niche. However, it’s essential to know what you’re getting into with competition as sharp as ever. Efficient and high-quality development requires good planning, expert knowledge, and a skilled team. We’ll teach you the first two in this very guide.

Exoft has been delivering cutting-edge solutions for more than ten years now, and we will base this article on our own experience. The guide will include:

• a step-by-step guide through truck management app development;
• information about its architecture;
• a list of essential features;
• a breakdown of the app’s price.

We want to help you understand the vast potential of truck apps and capitalize on this industry. Having worked on logistics software , we see the small details that need to be covered to give your app the extra polish. So let’s get started! We’ll share all of our knowledge about trucking app development.

The Process of Developing a Truck App

First things first, we will lay out all the steps that go into the development process. These are all essential parts of the work, each as important as the others. We’ll lay out the components of each stage and give ideas on how to make them more effective.

Planning and Requirement Gathering

At this stage, you need to set a few points straight. First, what will your app’s purpose be? Or, more accurately, what is its hook? It must be set apart from the competition in some way to make it marketable. A unique value proposition lets you build a trucking logistics app with a solid understanding of how to sell it and how it will benefit the market.

This helps create a foundation for your freight app and lets your team know the direction of the trucking app development. When you have everything planned, move on to the next step.

Design and Prototyping

With the app likely to host much information, you want to give special attention to its design. The UX must be clean and well thought-out, while the interface must not be too busy, allowing for easy navigation. That’s why it’s crucial to run some A/B testing and spend time on mockups and wireframes.

If you want to develop truck app, it has to be just as convenient and intuitive. That way, it’s easier for people to order freight services, and the eye-catching design builds brand recognition. Remember to change based on user feedback, adapting to your target audience.

Development and Implementation

To start off development right, consider which platforms you’re going for and what the tech stack will be. Per the mobile app development trends , hybrid apps are on the rise, emphasizing optimized performance combining the best parts of web and native apps. In most scenarios, you’ll need to use HTML and languages like Java and Swift for your mobile app.

For the cloud infrastructure, it’s best to use standard choices like Azure or AWS, with Angular, Python, or JavaScript for the backend. Obviously, the final cost will be influenced greatly by your choice of technologies. This means you must consider both your intended feature set and the budget you’re willing to invest in your trucking app development.

Testing and Deployment

One of the easiest ways to guarantee your app some goodwill with clients is to make sure it runs smoothly. That requires extensive testing and bug fixes, covering all aspects of the app. Make sure to run several passes of testing and implement feedback from each. Your QA team can be the best tool at your disposal, in terms of value for money and the app’s longevity.

Once that’s done, you’re technically finished with truck app development and can deploy the app. We won’t go into details about marketing and outreach, as that’s not really part of development. However, we will mention that the first months are crucial to an app’s reputation and you should make sure that you’re presenting your best work.

Maintenance and Updates

Naturally, you need to put effort into regular quality-of-life updates for the app, adding new features to stay competitive. Keep up with reviews and user feedback to stay on top of what needs to be adjusted. While the trucking app market isn’t exactly volatile, it will inevitably see major shifts and you want to be aware of them ahead of time.

Don’t limit updates to just features, of course. Regular maintenance and patches to improve performance or refine design elements are a must. Having a good companion to handle development and post-launch work for you would be very helpful. This is why Exoft offers dedicated team services to any company needing custom app development.

Trucking Application Architecture

Any modern mobile application has several layers to its architecture, and your logistics app will not be an exception. You can separate architecture into the following layers for Android:

• UI/UX layer;
• Data layer.

The names are pretty self-explanatory, with the first layer being all about presentation. It’s what the users see, interact with, and control. Meanwhile, the data layer processes any data-related operations, contains the business logic, and forms the application's backend. Both layers will have their own team members working on them, and neither is more or less important than the other.

Now, iOS is a bit more complex, as it features these levels:

• Kernel level;
• Core services;
• Media level;
• Interface level.

Kernel works with the iOS device’s file system and handles certificate validation. Crucially, it’s also responsible for the security of your app. Thus, it should be given special attention to make sure your app is as secure as a fortress. Meanwhile, core services process the database connection, which means it’s an essential part when you make a trucking services app.

As for the media level, it covers the task of working with any media you throw its way. The interface level is pretty self-explanatory, handling UI/UX for your app. If you want to have a good chance of outlasting the competition, a polished interface level is an absolute must. We’d recommend really focusing on that and the security of your app.

Essential Features of an App

Now that we’ve talked about your app’s architecture, let’s discuss the features you should implement. We won’t go into detail about optional bits but rather focus on the essential functionality that any delivery application needs.

User registration and profile management

You need to provide registration and personalization tools for both types of users - the drivers and the clients. Having additional information about the freight carriers is important for your business users, as they can make informed decisions then.

Real-time truck tracking and location sharing

This feature is also all about information. By having accurate tracking for the trucks, you let clients know when their freight will be delivered. They can also control how efficient the driver is and make sure that optimal routes are chosen.

Efficient order matching and dispatch system

It’s vital to make order placement and dispatching as streamlined as possible. You want to minimize the time that clients actually spend on ordering. The longer it takes, the more likely they are to become frustrated and opt for a more efficient way of handling deliveries. Thus, pay special attention to these features and put an emphasis on their UI, too.

In-app communication and messaging

Unlike rideshare and taxi apps, freight applications imply longer cooperation between driver and client. Thus, it’s crucial to have a convenient way for them to reach one another without leaving the app. It’s a simple feature but one that you can’t really create a trucking business app without.

Secure payment gateway and transaction processing

This is a pretty obvious one, as you want to make sure your clients can pay for the order and drivers can get their fare, all done securely and fast. It’s very important to work with vetted payment providers, which makes it easier to keep all transactions secure and build trust among your users.

Advanced route optimization and fuel efficiency algorithms

While many clients will have their own preferences and route structuring, it helps to provide your own alternatives. Using algorithms, you can optimize all deliveries’ routes and fuel usage. This helps clients save money and makes them more likely to choose your app. That is, of course, if your routing is good, so put special care into this feature.

Load capacity and cargo management tools

You’re aiming for a pretty broad target audience - businesses that need something shipped. That something can range from electronics to tiny manufacturing parts to fragile or dangerous materials. Thus, it’s important to implement tools that help drivers treat their cargo with the care it deserves, as well as report any irregularities.

Document scanning and electronic bill of lading (eBOL)

Any freight transportation ends up with a lot of bureaucracy that needs to be done. Help clients and drivers make things easier by offering electronic document processing. This streamlines the most tedious parts of the delivery and digitalizes documents, making storing, categorizing, and archiving them easier.

Additional Features for Your Trucking App

With the essentials out of the way, let’s discuss what extras you can throw in to make your app a bit more appealing. These aren’t necessarily must-haves, but it usually pays to have some additional functionality that isn’t available from competitors.

For example, implementing support for an offline mode is a good idea for trucking apps. Some stretches of the road will have spotty coverage, meaning the vehicle will lose internet connectivity. Despite that, the driver should still be able to verify information on the app and ping their location over to the client.

Similarly, it helps to have weather widget integration, to let the driver know if their trip may be disrupted. The same goes for traffic notices, which will help optimize the delivery further. Plus, a chatbot that provides updates to drivers and clients when the other side is busy. It prevents miscommunications, as well as handles small issues in the users’ stead.

Cost of Developing a Truck App

Now, let’s discuss how much it actually costs to build app for logistics. Your development cost will be influenced by your own choices, as usual. For one, the more complex and feature-rich you want the app - the more money you’ll spend. What matters here is finding the balance between expenses and returns on your investment.

With the app being prepped for multiple platforms, you’re also facing extra expenses through having several teams working simultaneously. That effectively doubles the amount you’ll spend on the developers but does guarantee better market coverage.

But what you really want are some hard numbers, so here our estimations for the cost of the trucking app development.

Monetization Strategies for a Trucks App

You know about the app development cost, so let’s now talk about how to make that money back. There’s a variety of ways to monetize a trucking application, such as:

• Commission fees;
• Subscription plans for frequent shippers;
• Paid premium features;
• In-app ads.

Commission is the most traditional format, but for the trucking niche, it might make sense to establish subscriptions. Most companies prefer to stick to a particular set of drivers and would thus be tied to your app for the long haul, no pun intended. Similarly, premium features that offer a higher-quality experience will likely attract major corporate clients more than an ad-filled app.

Ultimately, your strategy depends on what kind of clients you’ll aim for. Adapt your approach and you’ll undoubtedly have a successfully monetized app.

Build a Truck App with Exoft

As you can see, the process of trucking app development is complex with many moving parts. To get a high-quality product easier, rely on Exoft, an experienced team with more than a decade of experience in mobile development.

We’ve already mentioned our experience with creating custom apps for logistics and trucking , providing our background in the industry. In addition to that, we’ve done work on a mobile GPS tracker , integrating it with maps and developing a flexible control panel for users. This helped us understand how to craft navigation-centric solutions and streamline them.

Our team also has experience with long-term projects like this supply chain automation software . We spent years polishing the application to ensure that a large business could see proportionately strong improvements. The project also pivoted at the end, but our team adapted quickly and shifted priorities to deliver exactly what the client wanted.

Conclusion

We hope you found this complete guide to trucking app development helpful. We covered the key features, the potential costs, and the development steps. Now, all that’s left to do is start your project. Exoft’s team of professionals is always happy to assist, handling the development and maintenance of the app for you. So if you feel ready to begin, contact us now and let’s create an app you can be proud of.