29.07.26| Haulage

OneAdvanced, one of the UK’s largest providers of sector-focused SaaS, today publishes a new survey of road transport operators, conducted in conjunction with members of the Road Haulage Association (RHA).

The research paints a picture of a sector that has reached the limits of its current systems. Its standout finding – that 91% of hauliers operate below seamless integration, with no improvement at scale – shows an “integration ceiling” that point solutions cannot break through. At the same time, operators are clear about what they want from technology: less daily friction, watertight compliance, protected cash flow and AI that is useful rather than futuristic.

The findings reinforce the proposition behind IQ – the intelligent system of work – which OneAdvanced launched earlier this year and brought to the wholesale & logistics, transport and retail sectors at Multimodal 2026. IQ unifies workflows, data, and people on one sovereign platform and embeds governed AI directly into the flow of work, so operators can move faster, decide with confidence, and adopt AI without risk or disruption.

Seven headline findings:

1. The integration ceiling (91%): 91% of hauliers operate below seamless integration – and it does not improve with scale. Enterprise fleets are no more integrated than medium ones, leaving the sector stuck at “Functional” as its best achievable state.
2. Paper still dominates the back office (43%): Manual data entry is the highest-impact daily friction across all fleet sizes, intensifying with scale. Volume amplifies process gaps.
3. BI quality scales with fleet size (44%): 44% of micro fleets rely purely on intuition for strategic decisions, falling to near zero for fleets over 50 vehicles. The “data gap” is a small-fleet crisis, not a sector-wide problem.
4. DVSA compliance and cash flow are non-negotiable (76%): Compliance and financial volatility are rated above the combined risk of cyber, ESG, and subcontractor risk. New technology investments must solve for compliance and cashflow – not digital transformation.
5. AI demand is pragmatic, not hype (59%): The top two AI use cases – smart document processing (59%) and predictive maintenance (54%) – exactly mirror the top two operational pain points. Respondents want AI that removes daily drudgery, not futuristic platforms.
6. A TMS and WMS refresh cycle is incoming (36%): 36% say their transport management system (TMS) needs significant modernisation – tied with warehouse management systems (WMS). Combined with poor integration scores, this signals a window for next-generation systems.
7. Customer demands are bifurcating (51%): 49% report unchanged customer demands, but 51% now face growing pressure for visibility portals, carbon reporting or digital PODs – splitting the sector between digitally-led customers and traditional ones.

Read together, the findings map directly to the three principles behind IQ: Connected (breaking the integration ceiling by unifying systems and data), Intelligent (embedding AI that removes manual, paper-based drudgery in the flow of work) and Trusted (leading with the compliance, data sovereignty and resilience operators rate as non-negotiable).

Richard Smith, RHA Managing Director, said: “Our members consistently tell us that the biggest barriers to productivity aren’t a lack of ambition or willingness to embrace new technology – they’re the time and effort required to manage multiple disconnected systems whilst maintaining compliance and keeping vehicles on the road. These findings reinforce what we’re hearing across the sector. Operators are looking for practical solutions that reduce administrative burden, simplify compliance and improve efficiency, allowing them to focus on running successful businesses. Technology should remove friction from day-to-day operations, and that’s where it has the greatest value.”

Anwen Robinson, SVP for Wholesale & Logistics, Transport and Retail at OneAdvanced, said: “This research confirms what our customers tell us every day. Road transport has hit an integration ceiling, and bolting on more point solutions will not break through it. Operators are not asking for futuristic platforms – they want technology that removes daily friction, keeps them compliant and protects cash flow. That is exactly what IQ is built to do.”

Andrew Henderson, Chief Technology Officer at OneAdvanced, said: “The most striking finding is how pragmatic demand for AI has become. The use cases operators want – smart document processing and predictive maintenance – map directly to their biggest daily pain points. This is not about adding another tool; it is about embedding governed intelligence in the flow of work.”

The full survey report is available here:
UK Haulage: Technology & Resilience Benchmark Report