A New Truckers App From TT: What Would You Like To See?

Excellent idea, Brett!

I have two ideas:

1. Made the app open source so others can look at the code and contribute.

2. Offer a donation option to help support the app and development. You could go with a support model or subscription model too. I would still offer the donation option though for those who want to contribute.

Ok guys, this is huge. This app is coming along spectacularly well! Far faster than I had expected.

Right now, here is what this thing can do. You have a blank screen with a picture of Jimmy and one box to type into. That's it. You can do the following:

1. Casual conversation:

Human: "Hey, Jimmy. How are you?"

Jimmy: "Fine. I hope you are as well. What can I help you with?"

2. Trucking questions: If you have questions about trucking, I've loaded a ton of information from our website, including our forum, blog, wiki, and career guide. I have a lot more coming soon, including the FMCSA website, the entire CDL manual, and any other information you could ever want to know. Need to know regulations like steer axle weight limits for Illinois, kingpin to axle distance in California, or chain laws in Oregon? Just ask. Not sure about the logbook rules? They're in there. Almost anything related to trucking.

3. Places search: Want to find restaurants around Cleveland, truck stops near Atlanta, or hotels in Bald Knob, Arkansas? Just ask:

"Hey Jimmy, find hotels near Bald Knob, Arkansas"

Simple as that. A live map loads onto the page with markers for each location and a list below the map with details about each location.

4. Directions and routing: Just tell Jimmy what route you want:

"Hey Jimmy, take me to Chicago"

A live map loads on the page showing the route from your current location to Chicago, and a button under the map that says "Start Navigation". Do you want real-time GPS navigation? Just click the button, and the map transforms into real-time GPS navigation with updates to the route every 5 seconds and automatic re-routing if you get off route.

5. General Questions: If you have an ordinary question that Jimmy knows already, like who was the first President of the U.S., Jimmy will answer it like any normal AI would.

6. Google Search: If you have a question or request that's not related to trucking and he doesn't know the answer, like what are the top 5 movies that are out this weekend, Jimmy will do a Google search, review the results, and give you the answer.

On the way:

7. Weather. Ask for the weather forecast anywhere and Jimmy will give it to you.

8. Favorite website: If you have a website you like to read or maybe news headlines you like to monitor, you'll be able to tell Jimmy what those websites are and he'll retrieve the results for you. Want to read the headlines on CNBC?

"Hey Jimmy, read me the headlines from cnbc.com"

Jimmy will give you the headlines and almost certainly will almost certainly be able to retrieve articles for you.

8. "Along my route" - this will be huge. When Jimmy knows where you're going, you'll be able to search for locations (truck stops, repair shops, restaurants, etc), weather, traffic, and more along your route.

"Hey Jimmy, show me Italian restaurants along my route."

Up comes a map with markers and a list of details underneath the map.

"Hey Jimmy, what's the weather along my route?"

Up comes the weather forecast for various places along your route. I'm not sure if I'll show this on a map, or on a list. We'll see what options I have. I haven't tied into a weather service yet, so I don't know what my options are.

Anytime you retrieve locations, you'll be able to start real-time navigation to the place. So you might say:

"Hey Jimmy, show me Italian restaurants near Toledo"

The map with markers and a list underneath will show up. You'll be able to click a button that says "Directions" to any of the places, or just tell Jimmy:

"Hey Jimmy, route me to number 3 on the list"

Jimmy will look up #3 on the list and start real-time navigation there.

My head is spinning right now because this is coming along faster than I expected, and the ideas are just rolling in. I have so many more features in my mind, but I'm not gonna dump all of them on you at once. Trust me, you won't believe what this thing can do for you!

I expect to have a product for you guys to test by this weekend. I need to implement a few more features and tidy up what I have, and then I'll set it loose.

Please give me your feedback. What other options would you like? What questions do you have? I'm always looking for input!

I'll keep you guys updated. I'm hoping to have something to show you on Friday or Saturday.

This is gonna be nuts!

1. Made the app open source so others can look at the code and contribute.

2. Offer a donation option to help support the app and development. You could go with a support model or subscription model too. I would still offer the donation option though for those who want to contribute.

Sorry, Maestro. I forgot to respond to this.

I've never considered open-sourcing any software. That's an interesting idea. Right now it's just a web app that runs right here on the website using javascript on the front end with the backend being Python, FastAPI, Uvicorn, and Apache utilizing OpenAI as the LLM and the Pinecone vector database to run searches against our materials.

This app will ultimately be a monthly subscription service, though I haven't really pondered the details yet.

I'm heading to my new company in MN this weekend, so the route with hotels listed will be very handy! I will gladly pay a subscription fee for this app.

Laura

Another feature I'll implement is to help with scheduling your run. This falls under the category of things I'll do that you didn't know you needed.

For instance, you're leaving Des Moines, heading for Philly on a two-day run. I will look at distances to various cities along the way, weather forecasts, truck stop locations, and more along the way to determine what the optimum schedule might look like so you don't hit any cities at rush hour, you don't drive head-on into terrible weather, and you don't have to look for parking at night.

Of course, I will take your preferences into consideration, like your preference to run days or nights, the type of truck stops you like to stop at, and more. I could even implement a system that takes your available logbook hours into consideration.

So you might get a message like,

It's best to leave ASAP so you can get past Chicago before rush hour, then sleep near Angola, Indiana. Do not leave Angola, Indiana, before 06:00 the next morning, or you will run into morning rush hour in Cleveland and drive into hard rain near Warren, PA. Delay your start time to avoid heavy traffic and weather. You will arrive in Philadelphia in the early evening, ahead of schedule, for the next day's appointment.

It's coming along! I'm implementing weather as we speak!

Quick question on this:

"Hey Jimmy, find hotels near Bald Knob, Arkansas"

Simple as that. A live map loads onto the page with markers for each location and a list below the map with details about each location.

Will the user have to specify hotels "with truck parking", or will Jimmy automatically search for that keyword?

Will the user have to specify hotels "with truck parking", or will Jimmy automatically search for that keyword?

I can build it either way. I can have Jimmy make assumptions about the requests or have him take everything literally. He knows all requests are coming from truck drivers or people who want to become truck drivers, so I've told him to understand what the person is asking for based on that context. So if someone says, "How do I inspect my brakes?" he knows you're referring to brakes on a tractor-trailer.

I haven't looked into hotels with truck parking specifically, yet, but it might be a great example of information that I need to gather myself and make available to Jimmy. Right now, I'm making a request to Google Places to find places, but even if you ask for hotels with truck parking, that information may or may not be available to Google. I don't know at this point.

If I gather that information myself, I can tell Jimmy to use my information for those types of requests instead of Google's information.

So I'll collect information myself on many things, like hotels with truck parking or undocumented parking areas, so we have highly accurate information geared toward truck drivers specifically, which isn't readily available anywhere else.

Perhaps you could include a search filter, where a user's preference for hotels with truck parking would automatically be known via the filter settings.

Quick announcement: I will have a version ready to test on Monday. I thought about releasing something today or tomorrow, but I won't quite have it where I want it for an initial test, and I don't want to aggravate you guys or waste your time with too many errors or incomplete functionality.

So, on Monday, fingers crossed, I'll have a link available for you guys to test out. We're only in the extremely early stages of this app, but it's already very useful and interesting. I think within about two months, it will become irreplaceable in any trucker's arsenal of tools.

As I've mentioned, I have ideas for this thing that are so far out there you can hardly imagine them because nothing like it exists. It really wasn't possible on this scale until now.

Innovation is an interesting thing. Two quotes you hear often are:

“If I would have asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

- Henry Ford

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

- Steve Jobs

That's how I'm approaching this app. I need input from you guys about what would help you out on the road, but the problem is you can't imagine what's possible now with AI, so you don't know what it can do. In fact, my biggest challenge is trying to imagine uses for AI because I've never had superintelligence available to me, either!

So, on Monday, I'm hoping to have something ready to test, and I hope you guys will at least give it a few minutes of consideration. It's gonna be clunky and quirky at first, but I think you'll see the potential instantly, and it will improve rapidly.

As always, give me all question, comments, and suggestions!

Perhaps you could include a search filter, where a user's preference for hotels with truck parking would automatically be known via the filter settings.

Ok, now you're talkin!

I'm trying not to overwhelm people with the ideas I have, but a permanent memory is one thing this app will have. I can store information and use that information in future interactions. So Jimmy will "get to know you," over time, if you can imagine that.

I can imagine a system where you can say, "Jimmy, remember that I always need truck parking whenever I ask for a hotel." That's it. You'll never have to remind him again. Anytime you mention a hotel, he'll pull up what he knows about your hotel preferences, and use that to help fulfill your requests.

If you say, "Jimmy, remind me to eat at Bob's Burgers in Toledo, OH, next time I pass through," and then two weeks later your route goes through Toledo, Jimmy will remind you about eating at Bob's Burgers without being prompted. He'll just see your route, pull up anything you've ever told him related to that route, and help you out.

"Jimmy, add onions and salt to my grocery list." Next time you go shopping, "Jimmy, give me the grocery list," and up comes anything you've added to that list.

And yes, I can choose to keep the information private or make it publicly available, so privacy will not be a concern.