The coordination OS for the physical economy.
The physical economy still operates without a common language. Enterprise systems, factories, trucks, and robots generate enormous amounts of data, but most remains fragmented across legacy software and incompatible formats. Without a shared understanding of what is happening, even the most advanced AI cannot reliably coordinate how goods are made, moved, and delivered.
Oway is building that common language. Our protocol, IOI, connects enterprise systems and physical hardware, cleaning messy legacy data and live telemetry into a standardized schema that AI can understand and act on. Through a shared API, businesses can query their operations, identify inefficiencies, and automate actions across systems without replacing their existing software.
Our first model, Juno, applies this intelligence to unused truck capacity. It tracks empty space on trucks and sells it at a 50% discount to businesses shipping in the same direction. By moving freight directly on trucks already making the trip, Oway reduces shipping costs, damage, and transit times while generating additional revenue for carriers.
Every connected system and shipment expands our understanding of capacity, pricing, routes, facilities, and industrial operations. As this network grows, Oway is building toward a future where enterprise software, automated factories, self-driving vehicles, and robots can communicate and coordinate through one shared layer, making the physical economy programmable.
Active Founders
Company Launches
Oway: The First AI Infrastructure Layer for America’s Empty Truck Space
See original launch postTL;DR - Oway is an AI-driven marketplace that makes freight shipping extremely cost-efficient for businesses by automatically “ridesharing” shipments using unused truck space going along the same route.
We’re pioneering a new protocol to rideshare pallets across both short and long distances, cutting out warehousing transfers along the way. This method of shipping is already popular (and done manually) in China but is missing in Western markets. To fix this, Oway uses AI to make adoption and usage seamless in the US.
For example: You can now overnight ship up to 2000+ lbs of goods on a pallet across hundreds of miles for as low as $60 (instead of $220 market rate).
Problem
- Every year, almost half of all truck space goes unused in the $1 trillion US trucking industry.
- Businesses are forced to compete against global competitors using an inefficient freight market for pallet shipping - resulting in an overall less competitive domestic market. This cascades into a high-friction environment for businesses to scale when their products are artificially expensive due to inefficiencies in the freight industry. To help with reindustrialization, problems such as these are essential to solve.
Solution 🚚
- We created an AI-driven rideshare protocol that allows you to ship up to 12 pallets for up to 50% cheaper than anything in the US.
- When you place an order, Oway’s AI automatically matches and adds quick detours to carriers who are going to the same final destination as you. This method also skips warehouse transfers (which reduces damage). Paperwork and communication is fully automated, and we also use AI + LLMs to help with it.
- Oway is designed to be simple (you can place an order in 15 seconds) and scale with your business. It can also be integrated via API.
- It’s great for carriers. By doing 3 extra Oway deliveries per week, drivers can earn an additional $30K in extra income per year (avg. US trucker makes $65K in take-home income). We also believe that one day carriers will be able to rely on Oway for their entire workload, earning more than they could ever via contracted work.
- It’s also great for the environment. 🍃
Founded:2023
Batch:Summer 2024
Team Size:16
Status:Active
Location:San Francisco
Primary Partner:Jared Friedman
