In a bid to transform the logistics sector in India, Rivigo, a technology-enabled logistics company, has launched Relay-as-a-Service (RaaS). With this, the company aims to bring benefits of its disruptive relay trucking model to  fleet owners and truck pilots in India.

This first-of-its-kind service is based on Rivigo’s patented technological capability through which it has been operating relay for the past five years. RaaS will be offered to fleet owners using its technology, pilots and countrywide network of relay pit-stops.

Relay trucking is an operating model where drivers change over after every few hundred kilometres of driving through a network of relay pit-stops and then get rostered back to their home base to return to their families every single day. According to Rivigo, relay trucking is humane, more efficient, and provides better service and offers significant advantages over traditional trucking like air equivalent transit time, higher asset utilization, four times safer than industry and more importantly pilots return home every day.

Commenting on the launch Gazal Kalra, co-founder, Rivigo, said, “With RaaS, we aim to offer the benefits of relay trucking to millions of fleet owners in India and bring in efficiencies in the logistics industry while directly addressing one the biggest challenges of chronic truck driver shortage. In addition to the relay network, technology and pilots, we will be making our fuel, maintenance, cashless payment solutions also available to fleet owners in the country through RaaS. Rivigo’s mission is to make logistics in India humane, more efficient and offer better service. Offering Relay-as-a-Service to fleet owners in the country is a significant step in that direction.”

Ramratan Singhi, owner of Sure Cargo Logistics which has a fleet of 70 BharatBenz trucks, and a RaaS subscriber, said, “After almost six years of being in this business, I believe relay is the only solution to the truck driver issue. The RaaS model helps make trucking efficient. We achieved 25-30 percent extra running per month per truck through RaaS, compared to using our resources. Hub-hub TAT was excellent, and the use of tech in all aspects of operations (fuel, maintenance) is helping us see the areas of concern in our trucks. It frees our management time and resources on getting more business while our trucks are operated by Rivigo relay pilots. ”

In July 2019, Rivigo was Indian Rivigo announced that it had been granted patent rights by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its unique driver relay model that uses algorithms to determine availability of drivers for trucks, enabling drivers to return home each day.

The patented system uses intelligent driver allocation system through algorithms developed by Rivigo to pick the right driver for a duty, based on multiple parameters including equitable distribution of driving hours, rest hours and transit hours. The algorithm also considers driver performance on parameters such as driving behaviour while deciding the final match between truck and ‘pilot’, as every driver is addressed in Rivigo.

Gazal Kalra, co-founder, Rivigo: "Our global first relay model being recognised by the United States Patent and Trademark Office is an endorsement of our pilot-first model predicated on innovation at a technological and human level."

“This is yet another milestone for us at Rivigo. Our global first relay model being recognised by the United States Patent and Trademark Office is an endorsement of our pilot-first model predicated on innovation at a technological and human level,” said Gazal Kalra, co-founder, Rivigo. 

READ MORE Rivigo gets US patent for its unique driver relay system