« We had the data. What we wanted was a way to act on it the moment a job opened near one of those drivers. »
Hundreds of drivers are on the road for Werner Enterprises today because an AI agent called them when a route finally opened close to home. These drivers had applied months or even years earlier and been fully vetted at the time. That meant Werner could fill those seats faster than finding and vetting new applicants would allow.
About Werner
Werner Enterprises, Inc. (“Werner”) delivers truckload transportation and logistics services to customers across the United States, Mexico and Canada. With Werner® 2025 revenues of nearly $3.0 billion, a modern truck and trailer fleet, more than 14,500 associates and its Werner EDGE® technology, Werner is an essential solutions provider for customers who value the integrity of their supply chain and require safe and exceptional on-time service. In January 2026, Werner acquired FirstEnterprises, Inc. ("FirstFleet"), which generated more than $600 million in unaudited 2025 revenues. Werner provides Dedicated and One-Way Truckload services as well as Logistics services that include truckload brokerage, freight management, intermodal and final mile. Werner embraces inclusion as a core value and manages key risks and opportunities through a balanced sustainability strategy.
The Challenge: Reaching Drivers Already in the System
Over years of hiring, Werner accumulated thousands of qualified driver applications: candidates who were fully vetted but were not hired simply because a route wasn’t open in their market at the time they applied.
Those candidates tend to stay in the same markets, while route demand shifts weekly across the country. A driver who wasn’t a fit when they applied can be the right fit months later, when a route opens close to home. Finding them was simple enough, but re-engaging them at scale would mean working that back catalogue against every new opening: reviewing past files, placing thousands of calls across changing markets, pitching the local role, and re-verifying CDL qualifications.
The Innovation: Deep Engineering Collaboration
Rather than deploying an off-the-shelf solution, Werner collaborated with HappyRobot to co-engineer a tailored AI agent. Werner’s technology and talent acquisition teams worked side-by-side with HappyRobot engineers inside the platform, customizing the AI’s conversational workflows to match Werner’s operational standards.
The AI agent acts as an automated force multiplier for Werner’s recruiting team. The moment a local opening appears, it initiates contact with nearby past applicants, explains the specific route, assesses current availability, and confirms CDL experience. If a driver doesn’t pick up, the agent follows up by text to let them know there is work near them and ask when they are free to talk, then calls back at that time. Interested candidates are immediately routed to a Werner recruiter as warm, pre-qualified leads.
Since launching, the agent has reached thousands of past applicants, and hundreds of them are now driving for Werner, all from applications the company already had on file.
Building Further Together
"Some of the best deployments are the ones where the customer's own team is in the platform building alongside our engineers," said Pablo Palafox, Co-founder and CEO of HappyRobot. "Werner's is one of those, and driver recruiting is the proof. There's a lot more we want to build with them."
The partnership paired automated outreach with Werner’s recruiting team, and it has changed what the company can do with the drivers already in its system. As new applications arrive and openings shift each week, the AI agent keeps working the pool, and recruiters spend their time with drivers who are already interested and qualified.