Trucking and logistics stocks slide after new AI freight tool

Trucking and logistics stocks sold off hard after Algorhythm Holdings (RIME) unveiled its AI freight platform SemiCab.

They claimed customers can move 300% to 400% more shipments without adding staff.

The market did not hesitate.

C.H. Robinson fell 14.5%. RXO dropped 20.5%. J.B. Hunt lost about 5%. XPO slid nearly 6%. Expeditors International sank 13.2%. Meanwhile, Algorhythm jumped 29.9%, vaulting out of penny stock territory on a single narrative shift.

SemiCab says it cuts empty freight miles by more than 70% across customer networks. Industry data suggests trucks run empty nearly one out of every three miles, contributing to over $1 trillion in lost freight spending annually. The pitch is simple. Coordinate freight as a network, not as isolated shipments, and you unlock stranded capacity.

Algorhythm just sold a karaoke hardware business for $4.5 million and pivoted into AI freight orchestration. That alone tells you how fast capital is chasing automation stories.

The disruption behind the news: If SemiCab works, the brokerage model gets squeezed from both sides.

Start with the math.

If a carrier running 100 trucks typically has 30% empty miles, and software cuts that by 70%, you are effectively reclaiming 21 percentage points of wasted capacity.

That means the same fleet suddenly behaves like it is 20% larger without buying a single new truck.

In an industry where net margins often sit between 3% and 7%, a 5 to 10 point swing in utilization is existential.

That is the so what. This is about turning dead miles into billable miles at software cost curves.

Traditional brokers make money by matching loads to trucks and arbitraging information gaps. Automation agents that schedule shipments, process paperwork, and dynamically match loads collapse those gaps. If smaller operators can plug into a platform and access network level optimization without building their own tech stack, switching costs drop. The moat shrinks.

The market is pricing in a future where logistics becomes more like cloud computing. Shared infrastructure. Algorithmic allocation. Fewer humans in the loop. If a carrier can increase throughput 300% with the same headcount, that does not just pressure brokers. It pressures labor, pricing power, and asset values across the chain.

There is also a second order effect. If capacity becomes more efficiently utilized, freight rates face structural pressure. When supply effectively increases by double digits without new trucks hitting the road, pricing leverage shifts away from intermediaries.

What to watch next

First, customer proof.

Within 6 to 12 months, look for audited data showing network level empty mile reductions across thousands of trucks, not pilot programs with friendly partners.

Second, integration speed.

If SemiCab can plug into existing transportation management systems in weeks instead of quarters, adoption could accelerate fast. Deployment friction is everything.

Third, regulatory crosscurrents.

New restrictions on commercial licenses for foreign drivers tighten labor supply at the same time AI promises labor efficiency. If driver supply contracts while utilization rises, the economics get volatile.

Over the next 24 months, watch stock multiples.

If the market starts valuing logistics companies like low growth utilities instead of tech enabled platforms, capital will flee the middlemen.

This is what software does. It finds waste and turns it into profit for whoever owns the algorithm. Everyone else gets repriced. Industry leaders cannot avoid this new AI Freight tool. Industry insiders being resistant to change is one of the 5 signs an industry is ripe for disruption.