Logistics company OneRail is launching a platform using Nvidia's artificial intelligence software to help retailers make faster decisions on the most efficient delivery options at scale, CNBC has learned.
The new platform, called OmniStar, allows retailers to use AI to evaluate all of their delivery options and identify the best one for each individual order, using OneRail's proprietary data.
The last-mile delivery company told CNBC the new platform will allow smaller companies to deliver at scale and improve margins to compete with the retail giants of the world, including Amazon and Walmart.
As e-commerce grows, retailers have had to keep up with surging demand and invest in nimble supply chains to optimize their efficiency. But those manual processes are often fragmented across the retailer and the logistics businesses.
"If you don't have the ability to make lightning-fast decisions, you're giving up margin," OneRail CEO Bill Catania told CNBC. "Last-mile fulfillment is expensive."
Where choosing the best routing for a package may have previously taken 20 minutes, OneRail said its platform can do it in 2½ minutes leveraging AI. That time saved means retailers can operate larger, faster and more precise supply chains, Catania said.
"That's where the artificial intelligence comes in. It's making those kinds of decisions extremely rapidly, and so to do that, that's where the Nvidia hardware and the software comes in and really makes this thing work at scale," said David Daeschler, the head of AI at OneRail.
Daeschler said the company began partnering with Nvidia three years ago to explore ways to incorporate AI into the logistics process.
"The result is a real-time decision layer that can route an order to the right carrier and delivery mode at the right cost, rather than relying on static rules or manual planning," said Azita Martin, Nvidia's vice president and general manager of retail and consumer packaged goods.
Catania said OneRail's proprietary data, which includes a network of more than 12 million drivers and over 1,000 logistics partners, is being used to train the AI on the most efficient routes and delivery options.
"It's for the benefit of them and us: We operate more efficiently. They save money and provide a better customer experience," Daeschler said.
The company told CNBC its platform has already been deployed with some customers, including a large tire distributor that saw OmniStar save the company a run rate of $40 million over three years because it's able to use its resources more efficiently.
It's also estimating the platform will surpass $6 billion in gross merchandise volume in the fourth quarter.
Nvidia's Martin said the platform will allow retailers to make much faster decisions.
"For retailers, the bigger value is the ability to evaluate more scenarios, respond more quickly as conditions change and improve delivery economics without sacrificing service," Martin said.
