At the 2024 UP.Summit, J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. and UP.Labs unveiled the creation of the Logistics Venture Lab (LVL), a groundbreaking initiative aimed at launching startups to tackle challenges in the logistics industry. The collaboration marks a significant milestone, as J.B. Hunt, a leader in supply chain solutions, partners with UP.Labs to harness emerging technologies like AI and big data. The lab aims to launch six startups over the next three years, focusing on key areas such as intermodal, truckload, and brokerage services.
J.B. Hunt’s President and CEO, Shelley Simpson, expressed excitement for the project, emphasizing the company’s commitment to innovation. “From the inception of modern intermodal transit to digital freight matching platforms, J.B. Hunt has always been people-focused, technology-empowered, and capacity-driven,” Simpson noted. The initiative will fuel advancements in efficiency and problem-solving across the logistics sector, continuing J.B. Hunt’s legacy of transformation.
In addition to LVL, Alaska Airlines and UP.Labs announced their first joint venture, Odysee, an AI-powered flight scheduling platform designed to optimize asset configurations for airlines. Odysee uses big data to run hundreds of simulations in seconds, providing crucial insights into schedule changes. This allows airline schedulers to evaluate trade-offs and make data-informed decisions that impact profitability, reliability, and revenue.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci hailed Odysee as a game-changer, saying, “As CEO and a former COO, I know that configuring an airline to use each airplane optimally is a key lever for operational reliability and maximizing revenue.” The airline’s partnership with UP.Labs aligns with its commitment to innovation and sustainability, with more startups planned over the next few years under Alaska Star Ventures.
