Portland, Maine-based WEX is a provider of payment processing and information management services to the commercial and government vehicle fleet industry.
The OTR summit kicked off with remarks from Carlos Carriedo, WEX’s COO of Americas payments and mobility, underscoring the company’s vision for the future.
“The road ahead for trucking is being shaped by digital transformation, from how fleets fuel to how they pay and protect against fraud,” Carriedo said on Wednesday. “WEX is here to help our customers navigate that change and thrive in the years to come.”
Product Roadmap: From friction to digital-first fueling
During the session “Fueling the Future: The WEX OTR Product Roadmap,” WEX executives Ryan Taylor and Cade Mund outlined a shift away from traditional, error-prone fueling processes to an app-driven, digital wallet model.
The company highlighted its 10-4 mobile app, designed to give small fleets and independent operators access to discounts and faster payments, reporting a 50% month-over-month growth in September usage.
“Every transaction and every route matters,” Taylor said. “Margins are tighter than ever, and digital-first fueling combined with AI-driven efficiency is where the industry must go next.”
A Wednesday panel discussion, “New Roads, New Rules: Innovation Changing the OTR Game,” moderated by WEX Chief Digital Officer Karen Stroup, brought together technology leaders from Platform Science, Trucker Path, Storyboard, and Envoy AI.
The panelists pointed to AI-driven voice assistants, predictive parking analytics, and interoperability of connected-vehicle platforms as breakthrough areas already transforming daily operations.
Robert Nathan, founder and CEO of Envoy AI, said AI could soon eliminate the industry’s overreliance on fragmented point solutions.
“AI will start to gravitate towards larger, data-centric platforms … trucking companies and brokers can’t manage dozens of point apps anymore,” Nathan said.
Chris Oliver, chief marketing officer of Trucker Path, pointed to predictive analytics for parking availability as a concrete AI use case improving driver productivity and safety.
The panel also discussed how voice-based interfaces could reduce distractions in the cab while enabling real-time workflow automation.
“What I am enthusiastic about when it comes to voice is — No. 1, how can we start to use voice to connect into all these systems where a driver could ask questions, do the things that they need to,” JP Gooderham, CEO of Storyboard, a platform that enables operations teams to stay connected with drivers and other employees.
“No. 2 is the nature of driving … We know that every time a driver looks away from the road, there’s a higher increase in the likelihood of an incident. We already know that phones and calls and things like that (16:41) are so central to the industry. So as an interface, I think we’re going to see some tremendous voice products.”