Dispatch CEO & Co-Founder and VP of Product & UXD outline how AI is reshaping enterprise delivery, and what businesses should prepare for in 2026.
BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA / ACCESS Newswire / December 9, 2025 / As enterprise delivery demands more speed, precision, and transparency than ever before, Dispatch is marking the next era of last-mile logistics with a clear message: AI is no longer experimental; it's operational. In a new thought leadership perspective, Dispatch CEO & Co-Founder Andrew Leone and VP of Product & UXD Joyce Schofield share where AI is delivering real value today and where the industry is headed in 2026.
From predictive ETAs to automated routing, AI is already transforming last-mile execution. But Leone and Schofield say the bigger shift is still unfolding: the rise of intelligent orchestration, where deliveries manage themselves, adapt in real-time, and continuously improve.
"AI is changing the last mile from a reactive cost center into a proactive, strategic engine," said Leone. "What used to take teams hours of manual coordination will increasingly happen automatically, optimizing routes, balancing service levels and cost, and resolving issues before customers ever feel them."
Where We Are Now: AI That's Already Working
Dispatch's AI-powered platform, DispatchOne, is built for the reality enterprises face every day: fragmented fleets, inconsistent service, and limited visibility. Today, AI at Dispatch is focused on turning delivery complexity into controlled, scalable, data-driven outcomes. Current AI-driven capabilities include:
Predictive ETAs and dynamic SLAs: AI models continually refine arrival windows based on traffic, driver behavior, and real-world conditions.
Exception identification and resolution: The platform detects potential delivery failures early and recommends (or automates) mitigation.
Intelligent routing and service tradeoffs: AI enables teams to choose the fastest, most reliable, or most cost-efficient option based on business rules.
Delivery health visibility: Teams gain actionable insight without noise, so the right people act at the right moment.
"We've moved beyond AI as a dashboard feature," said Schofield. "It's no longer just powering charts and alerts, it's embedded directly in the workflow. Behind the scenes, it's doing the heavy lifting in a very intentional way: predicting, adapting, and guiding every decision so teams unlock real impact and value without adding complexity."
What's Coming in 2026: The Rise of Autonomous Delivery Ops
Looking ahead, Dispatch leaders forecast a major industry milestone: agentic logistics operations. In 2026, AI will shift from supporting decision-making to actively owning it across planning, execution, and continuous improvement.
Leone and Schofield expect three major changes to define the next year:
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AI-Orchestrated Networks Become Standard
Enterprises will demand a single layer of intelligence to manage owned fleets, third-party carriers, and national driver networks together, optimizing across the entire ecosystem rather than in silos.
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Exception Prevention Replaces Exception Management
AI will increasingly prevent disruptions by detecting risk early and re-routing or re-assigning automatically. Failures will become rarer, and when they happen, they'll be less visible to customers.
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Delivery Becomes a Strategic Differentiator
As AI reduces last-mile friction, businesses will compete on speed, reliability, and experience, not just cost. Delivery performance will become directly tied to brand loyalty and revenue retention.
"2026 is the year last-mile operations start to run more like intelligent systems than manual processes," Leone said. "The companies that win won't be the ones with the biggest fleets, they'll be the ones with the smartest orchestration."
What It Means for Businesses
The Dispatch leadership perspective is clear: AI will change not only how deliveries happen, but what delivery means to the business.
Enterprises can expect:
Lower delivery costs through continuous optimization and automation
Higher customer satisfaction with more reliable, predictable deliveries
The ability to scale volume without proportional headcount growth
Consistent service levels and branded delivery experiences across all regions and networks
New performance benchmarks powered by real-time AI insight and closed-loop learning
A last mile that shifts from cost center to profit engine, driving stronger margins, loyalty, and growth
"AI will raise the floor for last-mile performance," Schofield added. "But it also raises the ceiling, unlocking higher service levels, smarter cost control, and new ways to differentiate. Businesses will finally have the tools to design delivery experiences that feel effortless, while highly orchestrated and complex processes happen behind the scenes.
The Bottom Line
AI at the last mile is no longer a promise for the future. It's already proving ROI by unifying delivery execution, surfacing smarter decisions, and preventing breakdowns before they occur. In 2026, Dispatch expects the last mile to become the smartest, most automated part of the supply chain. fully orchestrated by AI.
"DispatchOne was built for this pivot," Leone said. "We're not just using AI to improve deliveries. We're using AI to redefine last-mile logistics as a competitive advantage."
About Dispatch: Dispatch redefines the future of last-mile logistics. Its flagship platform, DispatchOne, is the AI-powered operating system that unifies owned fleets, carrier providers, and systems into one intelligent ecosystem. With the people-power of verified and vetted professional driver network, Dispatch turns delivery into a strategic advantage for businesses.
SOURCE: Dispatch
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