How do you automate trip planning, and how does AI help?

What is automating trip planning?

Automating trip planning means that software takes over part of the work of planning trips. Orders arrive in your planning automatically. The system makes a proposal: which order goes in which trip, with which vehicle and in which order. The planner checks the proposal and decides.

So it is about the groundwork: collecting orders, sorting them, applying rules and making a first allocation. That work comes back every day and is often done the same way. Workflow automation is a good fit for it.

This article is for transport companies, wholesalers and online shops with their own vehicles or their own delivery driver. Is your question about planning service engineers or about rosters? Then read automating planning with AI.

What is the difference between route planning and trip planning?

Route planning is about the order of the addresses within one trip. Trip planning goes a step further: which order goes in which trip, with which vehicle and which driver, on which day. The choice of whether an order goes with your own transport at all is part of it too.

• Route planning: you have a list of addresses for Tuesday. In which order do you drive them?
• Trip planning: you have all the orders for this week. Which go with the parcel service, which with your own transport, and how do you spread them across the vehicles and the days?

Route planners exist for the order of addresses. The difficult work often comes earlier: getting the orders together and dividing them well.

What can you automate in trip planning?

Almost every step that follows fixed rules. These are the steps that come up most often:

• Collecting orders. From your online shop, your ERP, your email or a customer portal, without retyping.
• Sorting. By delivery date, region and type of load.
• Choosing how an order goes. With the parcel service, with your own transport or for collection.
• Assigning to a trip. A proposal for which order belongs to which trip and vehicle, and in which order.
• Informing the driver. The trip is in the app or on the trip list.
• Informing the customer. A message with the day or the time slot of delivery.
• Signing off and invoicing. A completed trip goes to your invoicing as a draft.

You don't have to do everything at once. Does someone enter orders into the planning by hand every morning? Then also read You retype the same data.

How do orders get into your trip planning automatically?

Through an integration between the system where the order comes in and your planning. How that works depends on where the order comes from:

• Online shop. Many online shop platforms send a signal when a new order comes in. Shopify, for example, does this with a webhook. Your software picks that up and gets the order ready for planning.
• ERP or order system. Wholesalers and manufacturers often have their orders in an ERP. An integration fetches the orders with a delivery date through that system’s API. Large customers sometimes send orders via EDI, a fixed digital message format between companies.
• Email and attachments. Customers email orders in their own format: a PDF, a spreadsheet or just an email. This is where AI helps. It reads the email and the attachment, takes out the address, date, quantities and weight, and prepares a draft order. You can read more about this in processing email automatically with AI.
• Parcel service. If an order doesn’t go with your own transport, your software can create the shipment and the label with the parcel service. DHL, for example, has an API for this. You need a business account for it.

Is something missing from an order, or is the system unsure? Then the order goes to a member of staff. You connect separate systems with an API integration or an integration platform. You can read more about orders from your online shop in processing and scheduling online shop orders automatically.

Which rules does automated trip planning need to know?

All the rules your planner now applies in their head. Software can only allocate well if those rules are written down:

• Load space and weight. How much fits in each vehicle, and what is the maximum it may carry?
• Type of vehicle. Does an order need a tail lift, a refrigerated vehicle or a lorry? And which driving licence goes with that?
• Time windows. Customers’ opening hours, agreed time slots and delivery windows in city centres.
• Own transport or parcel service. Which size, weight or postcode area goes with the parcel service?
• Fixed days and stops. Do you drive to fixed regions on fixed days? How long does loading and unloading take?
• Driving and rest times. How long may a driver drive before they have to take a break?

Is the planning now mainly in the head of one colleague? Then writing down those rules is the first step. Read more about that in when the planning is in one person’s head.

How does trip planning take driving and rest times into account?

By putting the legal limits into the planning as fixed rules. European rules on driving and rest times apply to lorry drivers. In the Netherlands they are also set out in the Arbeidstijdenbesluit vervoer (the Dutch Working Hours (Transport) Decree). According to the Dutch government (Rijksoverheid), they include:

• a maximum of 9 hours of driving per day, and a maximum of 10 hours no more than twice a week;
• a maximum of 56 hours of driving per week, and a maximum of 90 hours per 2 weeks;
• after 4.5 hours of driving, a break of 45 minutes, which you may split into a part of at least 15 minutes followed by a part of at least 30 minutes;
• a daily rest of at least 11 consecutive hours, which may be shorter under certain conditions.

Since 1 July 2026, the rules on driving and rest times and the smart tachograph also apply to vans with a maximum permissible mass of more than 2.5 tonnes up to and including 3.5 tonnes. This only applies if you use them to transport goods across the border, or drive trips within another EU country (cabotage). If such a van only drives within the Netherlands, these new rules do not apply. That is what the European Labour Authority reports.

The tachograph records the driving and rest times. The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport, ILT) and the police carry out checks. A planning that knows these limits can give a warning when a trip is already too long on paper. The company and the driver remain responsible themselves.

This is an explanation in plain language, not legal advice. There are exceptions, and different rules apply to taxis and trips outside Europe. Check the Dutch government (Rijksoverheid) and the ILT for your situation.

What does AI do when allocating trips?

AI mainly does the groundwork: reading orders, understanding them and making a proposal. The calculations and the fixed choices are better left to ordinary software. This is how you can divide the work:

Why this division? A language model is good with language, but it is not a calculator and not a route planner. It can make mistakes in a way that sounds convincing. That is called a hallucination. Fixed rules do the same thing every time. And where it affects people, you decide: AI does the groundwork, the planner checks and adjusts. This is also called human in the loop. That is easier if the system shows why it proposes something, for example: “own transport, because too long for a parcel”.

Example from practice: De Rijplaten Specialist and De Slowfeeder Specialist

For De Rijplaten Specialist and De Slowfeeder Specialist, two online shops from Ede, I built an automated transport planning system. An order comes in in Shopify. AI chooses between DHL and own transport. If the order goes with own transport, the system schedules it straight into the delivery driver’s trip.

For the same companies I also built an automated quote generator. AI recognises a request in the email, puts the details into the system and proposes a price. After a click on approve, the quote goes to the customer. You can read how something like this works in making quotes with AI. Also take a look at the case with the videos.

The choice between DHL and own transport is about a parcel, not about a person. Where a choice affects people, such as which driver works which shift, the planner decides.

What could this look like in your company?

Below are three made-up examples. They are not clients of mine, and they deliberately contain no figures.

You can read more per sector on AI for transport, AI for wholesale and AI for online shops.

Trip planning software or a custom integration: what suits you?

That depends on how many trips you plan, how specific your rules are and which systems you already have:

A standard package is often a fine choice. Do ask these questions, though:

• Does it integrate with your online shop, your ERP or your accounting software?
• Can you set your own rules, such as the choice between parcel service and own transport?
• Who owns the data, and can you take it with you if you stop?

Do you want to keep your current package, but need the orders to arrive in it automatically? Then an integration is often enough. You can read more about custom work on custom software.

What should you watch out for with drivers and privacy?

Trip planning quickly involves personal data. Names and addresses of customers, but also data about your drivers: who drives where, and at what time. Then the GDPR applies.

• Drivers’ location. Do you track your vehicles with GPS or another track-and-trace system? According to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens), this is only allowed in a company car if it is necessary and if you comply with the GDPR.
• A DPIA first. If you systematically track your drivers with GPS, a DPIA is mandatory beforehand. GPS in employees’ cars (and lorries) is listed as an example on the AP’s list of processing operations for which this applies.
• Works council. If you have a works council, it must first consent to a system with which you can monitor the presence, behaviour or performance of employees. That is set out in article 27 of the Wet op de ondernemingsraden (the Dutch Works Councils Act).
• Tell them beforehand. Drivers should know in advance which data you record and what for.
• Suppliers. Does your planning or your AI service run with another party? Then you conclude a data processing agreement with that party.
• Only what is needed. For a trip you need an address, a time slot and a phone number, not the customer’s entire history.

How do you start automating trip planning?

Small, with one step and a planner who checks along. This is how you can approach it:

1. Write down your rules. When does something go with the parcel service? What fits in which vehicle?
2. Collect examples. A few weeks’ worth of orders, including the difficult ones: urgent orders, unusual addresses and comments.
3. Choose one step. For example, orders that arrive in the planning automatically.
4. Let the system propose first. The planner approves or adjusts each proposal. That way you see where the rules are not yet right.
5. Agree what happens when something goes wrong. Who gets a notification if an order doesn’t fit or an integration fails?
6. Then expand. Once the first step works well, you look at the next one.

When is automating trip planning not worthwhile?

When there is little to plan, or when every trip is different. A few situations:

• You drive a few fixed trips a week. Then a good planning board is often enough.
• Your rules change every week. Pin them down first. Software can only work with rules that are correct.
• Your orders are already digital and your package does what you need. Then you don’t need to have anything built.

What does it cost to automate your trip planning?

That depends on your systems and the number of steps. With me, it starts with a business analysis: how do orders come in, how do you plan and which systems do you use? After that you get a proposal with a fixed price. That way you know where you stand in advance. Also read how your price is put together. Want to know what makes up the cost of an integration? Then read what an API integration costs.

I don’t receive commission from suppliers. That is why I first look at what your current software can already do. Read more about integrations and automation, or book a call.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Dutch government (Rijksoverheid): What are the legal rules for driving and rest times in road transport? (in Dutch) (driving times, breaks and daily rest), Dutch government (Rijksoverheid): Rules for driving and rest times in road transport (in Dutch) (European rules and the Arbeidstijdenbesluit vervoer), Ondernemersplein (Dutch government business portal): Driving and rest times for drivers (in Dutch) (tachograph, checks by the ILT and police), ILT: Driving and rest times (in Dutch), European Labour Authority: New phase for light commercial vehicles (in English; vans from 1 July 2026), Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens): Monitoring employees (in Dutch) (GPS and track-and-trace in a company car), Government Gazette (Staatscourant) 2019, 64418: list of processing operations for which a DPIA is mandatory (in Dutch) (GPS in employees’ cars and lorries), Wet op de ondernemingsraden (Works Councils Act), article 27 (in Dutch) (right of consent), Shopify: About webhooks (notification of a new order) and DHL eCommerce API: Create labels (shipments and labels, business account required). Consulted on 22 October 2026.