We at Ship.Cars are constantly working on getting more and better-paying orders posted on our Loadboard. We’ve come across businesses that would like to provide great opportunities for our carrier network, but they require real-time tracking for where their vehicles are located from the moment they get picked up, to their drop-off.

Now we have the technology to allow carriers to be in compliance with these order-specific requirements. It is important to note that it is the Shipper company that is deciding whether they will need the carrier to share a load’s location and that we at Ship.Cars will be informing the driver if and when the location is being tracked.

HOW DOES IT WORK and how accurate is it?

Shippers and their customers are not interested in your absolute precise whereabouts. They will only get their load's approximate location - within a 1-mile radius. Your device will send an update only if you move another mile but not more frequently than 5 minutes since the previous update.

It is an order-specific requirement. You see which orders have that requirement within their Details page on the Loadboard

or on the Order Details page once the order is already dispatched to you.

You are also informed of the Location Sharing requirement before you accept the dispatch contract.

As a driver who has such an order assigned, you will clearly see if your location is being shared right after you open the application - there will be a banner above all your orders. If you are already sharing, tapping on it will show you a screen where you will be able to see your current location, the time since the sharing has started, all location sharing updates sent by now, and a button to stop sharing.

You will have the same option from within each order that requires location sharing separately.

When is my location being shared?

The application starts using your Location Services in two cases only:

During an inspection report, where your actual location is recorded on the BOL, and a Geo-tag is applied to the photos taken during the inspection process to help fight false claims from customers. This is valid for all orders, and the app stops using your Location Services once the inspection is signed-off, unless:
When an order requires active location sharing during transportation. If you have such an order, the load’s location is shared from the moment you start the pick-up inspection, and it automatically stops once you get the delivery contact to sign your drop-off inspection.

Note that location is shared only for loads that require it. That means if you have 2 orders from one broker but only one needs tracking, sharing will be provided for that one only, and it will stop with its delivery inspection.

Although we do not recommend turning off the location sharing services for orders you have agreed to keep active during transportation, we have provided the option for every driver to Stop Sharing via the button within the Location Sharing screen.

What happens when I go Off Duty?

You can always stop your location sharing while you are not moving the tracked load. Here is how to turn it on:

1. From your app’s home screen tap on the location sharing banner

2. Select “Stop Sharing”

3. Choose Go Off Duty

4. Set up the timer and confirm by tapping on the Go Off Duty button.

This will automatically resume the location sharing and avoid blank spots on your route or to avoid penalties from brokers if you forget to resume it yourself.

In order to share your location for these orders, the Ship.Cars app will need to have your device’s Location Services set to Always. The app will guide you through the process for enabling it but if you have declined such permission in the past you may need to do it manually.

How to make sure it is properly set on your device:

For Android:

On your phone's home screen, find the app icon.

Touch and hold the app icon.
Tap App info.
Tap Permissions > Location.
Choose the option “All the time”.
Swipe down from the top of your screen
Make sure the Location icon is turned on.

This will only allow the app to start sharing the load’s location (if required) once you picked-up and it will automatically stop once the delivery inspection is completed and signed off. See below for more information.

For iOS:

Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services.

Make sure that Location Services is on.
Scroll down to find the app.
Tap the app and select the option: “Always”.

Just like for Android, this will only allow the app to start sharing the load’s location once picked-up, and it will automatically stop once the delivery inspection is completed and signed off. Continue reading for more information.