Should You Use Google Maps for Trucks?

Is there a Google Maps truck route option? It’s a question that’s been asked a lot by both drivers and fleet managers over the years who would love to see a Google Maps truck mode in the works. As of right now, however, there’s no dedicated Google Maps truck routing option that can account for the unique needs faced by truck drivers and route planners.

In spite of that fact, it might be tempting for smaller fleets to try to use a free route planning application like Google Maps to overcome routing challenges—after all, how hard could it be to work around a few limitations? But while Google Maps, Waze, and other maps besides Google can certainly be helpful, there are a number of reasons why they’re not really workable for optimizing truck routes. 

Can Google Maps Truck Routes Overcome the Top Challenges in Route Optimization

Route planning isn’t merely about ensuring that trucks get from one point to another. It’s a complex process filled with many challenges. When truck routes aren’t optimized, there can be a number of real implications:

Late deliveries

Poorly planned routes are often the result of failing to take into consideration various important variables in the delivery process such as differences in service time between different delivery types, vehicle dimensions, differences in truck driver speed, etc. 

Failing to factor in these variables not only causes delays in the delivery but can also mean failing to meet the delivery windows and ETAs that you’ve promised to customers. Considering how important customer experience is to success right now, it’s hard to overstate the importance of delivering on time consistently. 

Higher fuel consumption

Without effective route optimization, you’re stuck with higher fuel consumption. In contrast, finding the most efficient routes enables businesses to use less fuel per stop by minimizing the distance that trucks have to travel. An efficient route planner can also cut down wasteful truck idling.

This is true even when you add complicating factors like customer time window requests into the equation. Lighter route planners will completely fall apart in terms of efficiency when the parameters become too complex, but a sophisticated route planning solution will ensure efficiency no matter how much complexity you throw at it. 

Reduced route capacity

When you’re not taking the optimal routes between stops, you may be making fewer deliveries per day than you should be. This can result in situations where you think you need more trucks in order to handle order volumes, when what you really need is better truck routes. 

The right truck route planner helps address these challenges. Having a tool that not only utilizes AI and machine learning but also considers real-time information can help you find optimal routes, provide customers and clients with accurate ETAs and ensure delivery efficiency.

This is especially amplified if you’re adding more parameters than just “shortest route.” If you have specific customer time window requests you need to meet, or if you have to route a number of different product or service types that all have different truck and driver requirements, efficiency falls off a cliff almost immediately without the right tools. 

Is Using Google Maps for Trucks a Good Idea?

Many casual drivers use Google Maps to find the best route. However, there's a big difference between commercial trucking and driving for personal purposes. The goal of getting to one's destination quickly may be the same, but the priorities, scale, and delivery requirements are quite different. In commercial truck routing, you need to consider the size of the vehicle, the heights of overpasses, the widths of roads, and other trucking-specific factors on top of the usual driving constraints.

Simply put, Google Maps doesn’t offer the trucking-specific functionality you need to create accurate routes and ETAs. Not only does it fail to account for drive-time differences between trucks and cars, it also doesn’t give you the ability to adjust based on load type, vehicle time, service time, driver skill, etc. 

Here are some additional considerations for commercial truck routing.

• Time tracking: Truck drivers need to manage their workloads, keep track of their hours so they get paid, and comply with the government's rules for long-haul trucking. Free route planning apps don’t provide any way to manage these things. 
• Number of stops and distance traveled: Many truckers cross state lines during a single trip. Long-haul trucking means more planned stops and mandatory driving breaks, which can’t be optimized in Google Maps.
• Vehicle type: box trucks, to say nothing of 10- or 18-wheelers, don’t move as quickly on the road as SUVs or sedans. If you can’t account for vehicle type, this difference will lead to late deliveries and other disruptions. 
• Service times: It takes longer to drop a parcel off on a suburban doorstep than it does to carry a washing machine up a flight of stairs or install a new HVAC system. If your routing doesn’t account for that fact, your routes are going to run behind schedule almost immediately, and only get more and more late over the course of the day. 
• Connectivity and visibility: Simply put, a Google Maps truck route is never going to give you the ability to have customers, dispatchers, or customer service reps track route progress in real time—there’s simply no mechanism. That means that there’s no real visibility and no real connectivity across your delivery operations if you use Google Maps for trucks.  

All of these considerations are among the primary reasons why you simply cannot rely on Google Maps for trucks and truck routing. Google Maps was created for the use of private drivers so they can find directions easily. It's useful for finding accurate directions and quickest routes from point A to point B, but it can't plan for the complex routes or constraints that truckers have to factor in.

On top of all this, there’s a lack of automation. Drivers also have to manually add stops as they go to get around Google Maps’ cap of 10 stops. Simply put, truckers cannot optimize their fleet operations with Google Maps or other consumer navigation apps.

The Benefits of SaaS Truck Route Planning Software

Google Maps’ limitations might seem annoying—after all, who wants to shell out for a SaaS routing solution if they don’t have to? But the right route optimization engine with the right features can actually add value and help you achieve a positive ROI. How? There are a few distinct ways:

Faster and more accurate planning

Automating route planning by using software is more efficient and effective than manual planning. Conventional route planning takes many hours but is still inaccurate, because the manual process cannot account for many variables affecting delivery times. 

Lower fuel bills

Fuel expenses account for a significant chunk of your fleet's overall operating costs. Optimizing routes means cutting down the miles traveled and fuel consumption of each truck in the fleet, which can result in significant cost savings. 

Smart, flexible route planning

Fleet managers using the right fleet routing software can plan ahead for overnight routes that entail mandatory driving breaks by just clicking a few buttons. Same with routes that include store stops or reloads. Essentially, the right software will enable you to configure your routes your own way so you can get the most out of your fleet. 

Live tracking

Advanced route planning apps and software solutions for truckers allow fleet managers, dispatchers, and customers to track the delivery truck in real-time and provide stakeholders with live, accurate ETAs.

Improved productivity

Route optimization software allows you to fit in more orders for each shift of all drivers. This means you can increase delivery capacity using the same number of vehicles and employees. 

Higher customer satisfaction

Effective route planning allows businesses to arrive within the delivery time windows they provided to their customers. Meeting ETAs and delivering on time according to customers' preferences results in higher overall customer satisfaction.

Conclusion: Leverage Real Route Optimization Software Instead of Google Maps for Commercial Vehicles

There's no denying that navigational tools like Google Maps are useful, but they’re not the best tool for commercial truckers or the people who dispatch them. Luckily, the right truck router can help businesses lower costs, successfully ETAs, and provide great delivery service to customers.

If you’re interested in learning more about a routing solution that offers rapid route optimization, highly-accurate ETAs, and configurable parameters for your needs, get in touch with one of our experts today to learn more about DispatchTrack.