A dining room table that started out as lumber might have ridden on six trucks from the forest to someone’s home. Trucks move about 70 percent of freight by weight in the United States, but the industry is inefficient, with more than a quarter of trucks on the road riding empty. Until recently, the internet forces that have disrupted taxi rides and food delivery weren’t quite ready to take on this challenge.

A fast-growing class of app-based businesses aims to change that. One of the biggest, Convoy, has pushed to eliminate the paperwork and streamline the calls, emails and faxes that have been the unavoidable bane of truckers everywhere.

With a one-stop app, the company hopes to make more money for truckers, reduce costs for shippers and take a cut for itself.
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