Daniel Powell often sees carriers make similar mistakes. It isn’t bad dispatching or a driver calling out sick, he said. Instead, it happens earlier in the sales call or email where a service rep says yes to a load that looks profitable on paper but quietly bleeds the network dry.
“That first decision within a carrier means everything,” Powell, CEO of Optimal Dynamics, said at the Truckload Carriers Association Truckload 2026 annual convention in Orlando. “When they make that decision – yes or no to a customer – that is what defines how the actual operation is going to execute.”
The company launched Scale, the industry’s first Decision-Native Agentic System (DNAS), which aims to automate the customer service rep role by proactively detecting network imbalances days in advance, identifying the right freight to improve profitability, utilization and service, and deploying AI agents to automatically solve issues.
“Scale is going to help redefine the CSR (customer service rep) role within a carrier base,” Powell said.
Optimal Dynamics offers two core pillar products, Powell explained. Its Plan product helps truckload carriers solve strategic questions: what happens if 50 trucks are added, which contract accounts fit the company network and so on. Its Execute product automates the dispatch process: who takes which load, how to route drivers home and how to serve accounts efficiently.
But even customers using both products run into the same upstream issue.
“Revenue pressures drove reactive acceptance,” Powell said. “Imbalances didn’t begin at dispatching. They actually began further upstream.”
Karen Smerchek, TCA Chairman and president of Wisconsin-based Veriha Trucking, said they saw this issue firsthand: the hardest part of running a carrier isn’t finding freight but knowing which freight improves your network.
What does Scale do differently?
Powell explained Scale’s advantage with a common scenario that every carrier dispatcher knows.
A carrier receives an email in a load tender: New York to Chicago, $1,200 all-in, $750 cost. A standard AI agent analyzes the number – 240 cents a mile, above the market rate of 232, above historical average of 238 – and accepts it because it looks like a profitable lien.
What that AI agent doesn’t take into account is that the driver on that run needs to get home from the New York-Chicago load, forcing a 500-mile empty run.
Powell said Scale would evaluate the email tender and deploy two agents: a negotiation agent to counter the shipper at a higher rate and a procurement agent to scour load boards, open market postings and customer emails to find a backhaul load that solves the problem.
“A traditional agent could run your business into the ground, driving minimum revenue versus a decision-native agent that can negotiate on your behalf, understand what roads you need, understand what things you need, and actually execute," he said. "You have a wildly different outcome in terms of the profitability.”
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Not just another agent
Traditional agents lack context, Powell said. Optimal Dynamics’ DNAS, aims to answer that context gap, he explained.
“It leverages a proprietary decision optimization engine built on 40 years of R&D, paired with robust agents,” he said. “The system not only understands customer needs but also automatically caters to them on behalf of the carrier, booking freight where the customer needs it most, adjusting appointments, responding to emails, and managing contract commitments.”
Michael McGovern, chief operating officer one of Optimal Dynamics' early customers Leonard’s Express, said Scale’s agents aggregate freight from many places, act autonomously, and secure loads aligning with its network strategy without intervention on every decision.
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For carriers hesitant about turning an AI agent loose to accept loads and negotiate rates, Powell addressed the liability question.
“Liability remains with the carrier,” he said, “but Scale is designed to eliminate the human error that leads to those liabilities. Because of the DNAS approach, the system operates on robust guardrails for what freight is needed and the pricing strategy it uses.”
The system reoptimizes continuously, ingesting external market data, contract commitments, and network needs up to a week out. When a weather event occurs or the spot market shifts overnight, Powell said Scale sees the shift and adapts for the most optimal outcome.
Scale is currently in an exclusive rollout with existing Optimal Dynamics customers. General market availability opens early next quarter.
