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Truck Route Planning

Truck route planning is an essential part of logistics. It enables efficient and cost-effective control of transportation processes by determining the optimum route for trucks. Not every road is suitable for trucks. If low bridges, narrow roads, weight-restricted roads, and roadworks, etc. are not considered in route planning, detours or risky turning manoeuvres can quickly occur, costing time and money.

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What is a truck route planner?

A professional truck route planner, like PTV Map&Guide is a planning system that has been developed to meet the requirements of the transport & logistics industry and truck drivers. It considers the special needs of trucks, such as vehicle size, weight restrictions, and traffic rules that are not relevant for other types of vehicles. Planning refers to determining the optimal route the vehicle should take from its starting point to its destination. 

The aim is to make the journey as efficient as possible by taking traffic jams, fuel consumption, tolls, and other obstacles, like low tunnels and bridges inaccessible to trucks into account. Route planners are crucial for efficiency and safety in freight transportation. They help to find the best routes, avoid traffic jams, and comply with legal regulations. This saves time and money and increases safety on the roads.

EV Routing Trucks

And how about eTruck or eVan route planning? Learn more about PTV EV Truck Route Planner and how to calculate routes using more than 400 digital twins of electric trucks and gain insight into how these vehicles operate on the road. Calculate energy consumption, range, and optimized charging scenarios for realistic truck routes that include multiple stops with varying payloads, considering weather, elevation, truck restrictions, road traffic, or driver behaviour.

Run your simulation with different weather conditions, battery aging, or battery condition settings. 

What is the difference between route planning and route optimization?

Truck-Specific Route Planning

Plan routes tailored to your truck's vehicle profile, considering key restrictions like clearance height, maximum weight, speed limits, environmental zones, and other truck-specific requirements.

 

Route Optimization

Also known as tour planning or tour optimization, it considers the entire transportation process and multiple routes. It includes the optimization of several routes, the consideration of vehicle parameters such as height, weight, and dangerous goods class, compliance with driving times and traffic regulations, as well as the integration of loading and unloading times. 

Constraints during truck route planning

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Traffic data and forecasts

Up-to-date traffic information is crucial for planning. Real-time data helps to avoid traffic jams and select alternative routes if necessary. Forecasts make it possible to include future traffic conditions in the planning.

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Truck toll and cost calculator

Truck toll costs can make up a considerable proportion of transportation costs. A toll calculator helps you to find the cheapest routes and keep an eye on the total costs.

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Consideration of vehicle restrictions

Trucks or vans are often subject to certain restrictions, such as weight limits or clearance heights. These must be considered during planning to avoid penalties and delays.

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Route selection and alternative routes

Choosing the right route is crucial. In addition to the main route, alternative routes should always be planned to be able to react flexibly to unforeseen proceedings.

Would you like to find out more about how truck route planning software can support your company?

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PTV Map&Guide

What does truck route planning software do?

A professional tool for truck route planning, such as PTV Map&Guide, not only provides the fastest and most efficient route from A to B but also optimizes the sequence of the individual stops. 

  • Plan and compare truck-specific routes
  • EV simulation & planning
  • Sequence optimization
  • Calculate times and distances
  • Calculate truck toll costs
  • Calculate transport costs
  • Calculate and report CO2 emissions

The basis for efficient route planning: truck vehicle profiles

Every route calculation is based on the vehicle profiles stored in the software. These specify the vehicle characteristics, such as length, width, height, or weight. The PTV Map&Guide route planner provides standardized reference profiles for trucks (40 t, 11.99 t and 7.49 t), articulated lorries, vans, and cars, which leads to traceable and transparent billing. That makes them ideal for shippers and transport service providers. If required, the profiles can also be adapted to your fleet's vehicles.

Customer satisfaction and cost savings

Another important success factor is customer satisfaction. Punctual deliveries within the agreed time windows are crucial for companies to remain competitive. At the same time, route optimization offers cost savings, for example by reducing the number of kilometers driven and the decrease in resource consumption. The combination of precise planning and flexible adjustment improves both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. This makes route optimization an indispensable tool for long-term success.

Basic functions of a truck route planner

A truck route planner software offers functions such as the consideration of bridge heights, weight restrictions and specific traffic rules. Standard features also include real-time traffic monitoring, information on fuel stations with fuel prices, arrival time predictions and fleet management integration. Route planners must consider various legal regulations in different countries and regions, which can be complex and time-consuming.

Software and hardware requirements

Truck route planners require a robust software platform and often special hardware that can withstand the rigours of everyday driving. They must support mobile data connections and offline navigation capabilities.

Limited functions of free route planners such as Google Maps

Google Maps is a popular route planning app, but only offers limited functions for trucks. The app does not consider specific restrictions such as weight or height. Therefore, it is often better to use specialized routing software that takes these factors into account. If a driver follows Google Maps navigation, they run the risk of entering roads that are not suitable for motor vehicle traffic or are simply closed: Low emission zones, bridges, or underpasses. Then it is time to turn around. Delayed deliveries and a lot of frustration are the result. The driver may even exceed his or her statutory driving time.

Read blog why Google Maps can't be used for trucks in transport & logistics

Innovations and trends in truck route planning

New innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are revolutionizing route planners. These technologies enable more precise predictions and personalized route recommendations based on historical data and real-time information. Also EV in sustainability impacts truck route planning, think of integrating charging options, the optimization of charging options and enhanced calculation of energy consumption. 

Route planners with predictive analytics & connected vehicles

AI and machine learning are used to predict future traffic conditions and capacity utilization in freight transport. These predictions help with proactive route planning and the avoidance of bottlenecks. Adaptive algorithms learn from past data and adapt to changing conditions to continuously determine the best routes. Connected vehicles communicate with each other and with the infrastructure to exchange information. This leads to better coordination and more efficient use of the roads.

Multimodal transportation & real-time data analysts

The combination of different modes of transportation (truck, rail, ship) is integrated into multimodal route planning to increase the efficiency and flexibility of supply chains. The combination of special tools to optimize the last mile of transport takes urban challenges into account and enables more efficient delivery in cities. Real-time traffic data plays a significant role here. The use of this data makes it possible to adjust routes immediately to avoid traffic jams and delays.

Sustainability, green logistics & electric fleets

As the cost of CO2 emissions rises due to increasing CO2 pricing, sustainable route planners are becoming increasingly important. Route optimization considers factors such as traffic, topography, and vehicle type, reducing fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and transport costs. The integration of electric and hybrid vehicles means that route planning for electric fleet transportation is increasingly being adapted. The EV Truck Route Planner considers the specific requirements of electric and hybrid vehicles, including charging times and ranges.

Which industries benefit from truck route planning software?

Industry Freight

Transportation and logistics

Tracking and confirmation of deliveries.
Industry Retail and wholesale

Retail

Monitoring of shipped products and stops.
Industry Freight

Industry and production

Ensuring the timely completion and delivery of goods.
Courier, express and parcel delivery

CEP

Real-time tracking and delivery notification of all parcel consignments.
Delivery time

Wholesale

The wholesale industry connects manufacturers with retailers by distributing goods in bulk, relying on efficient logistics and inventory management.

These logistics companies boost their performance with truck route planning

The TMS provider used PTV developer components to integrate routing functions into their software solution.

AndSoft

Being one of the biggest logistics companies in Poland, Omega Pilzno needed a route planner that could perform highly accurate cost calculations.

Omega Pilzno

The Lithuanian company has chosen PTV routing software to organize its 35,000 transports per year.

Integre Trans

FAQs on truck route planning

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What are the main advantages of truck route planning?

The main benefits are time and cost savings, increased efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

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What do you need to consider when planning truck routes?

The most important factors in truck route planning are:

 

Efficiency: the route should be as short and as accurate as possible, avoiding traffic jams and congested areas to minimize travel time and fuel consumption.

Costs: Tolls, ferry costs and other route-related costs should be considered when choosing a route.

Time: It must be possible to reliably meet the arrival time of the recipient.

Safety: The route should be safe for traffic and not pose any unnecessary risks for the driver or the load.

Legal requirements: All traffic regulations and driving time regulations must be observed.

Vehicle parameters: The dimensions, weight and hazardous goods class of the truck must be considered when choosing the route to avoid transit bans and other restrictions.

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What do free route planners offer?

Free route planners such as Google Maps or Bing Maps offer basic functions for route calculation and traffic information. They can be helpful to get an initial overview of the route. However, these tools are not sufficient for professional truck route planning with complex requirements.

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Can you plan routes for trucks on Google Maps?

Google Maps is a popular tool for route planning but offers only limited functionality for trucks. It does not consider specific truck restrictions such as weight or height. Therefore, it is often better to use specialized route planners that take these factors into account.

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When is truck route planner software worthwhile for your company?

The use of specialized route planner software is particularly worthwhile if you: 

  • Professionally calculate costs and need to calculate the profitability of vans
  • Regularly have to plan several truck routes.
  • Manage complex transportation tasks with several stops and different delivery addresses.
  • Have to consider vehicle parameters such as height, weight, width and hazardous goods class.
  • Need to ensure compliance with driving times and traffic regulations.
  • You want to save costs and improve efficiency with optimized routes.
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What advantages does a specialized truck route planner offer?

Modern truck route planners offer a variety of functions that make your work easier, including:

Route optimization: the software calculates the optimal route considering all relevant factors.

Toll calculator: The software calculates the toll charges for the planned route.

Traffic data: The software takes current traffic data into account and suggests alternative routes in the event of traffic jams.

Navigation integration: The software can be connected to navigation systems to guide the driver along the optimal route.

Any Questions? Just get in touch.