What logistics data do AI companies want?

Records that show how freight work gets done: quote and booking emails, job and status records from a transport or warehouse management system, exceptions and how they were resolved, claims files, invoices and credit notes, and written procedures. Buyers value records that link across systems over several years. Driver telematics and customer identities stay out of any licence.

Can we license driver telematics data?

We treat it as out of scope. The ICO says telematics data recording drivers' activities is personal information, and routes and timestamps tied to one vehicle and shift can point to one driver even without a name. It was collected for compliance or insurance, so reusing it for AI training would also face the UK GDPR's purpose compatibility test.

Do customer contracts stop us licensing emails?

Not automatically, but they can limit what you include. Check the confidentiality and data use clauses in your main customers' contracts and tender terms. Customers' own documents, names and rates usually need to come out, and some arrangements may need the customer's agreement. Your solicitor should review the position before you sign any licence.

Is our transport management system data valuable?

It can be, especially when it covers many years and links to the emails, exceptions and invoices around each job. Structured TMS records show what happened; the conversations around them show why. Polyshares says depth of history and visible reasoning move its price far more than raw volume, so a TMS export on its own is usually worth less.

How many years of records do we need?

There is no fixed minimum, but buyers look for several years. micro1 says companies with several years of records across several business systems are generally a stronger fit, and Mode favours firms with several years of records they own. Continuous history in the same systems helps, because it shows how work and decisions changed over time.

Licensing Logistics and Freight Data to AI

Key points

Mercor, Scale AI and micro1 each list logistics or freight among the sectors they want^1,2,3.
The most useful records are the linked ones: a quote email that became a job, an exception and a credit note.
Driver telematics, tachograph data and dashcam footage stay out: they identify named drivers⁸.
Customer contracts, rates and customers' own documents need checking and usually removing¹¹.
We prefer personal data removed before records leave your systems. If a buyer removes it after transfer, we tell you in writing first and your solicitor confirms the transfer route.
The ONS counts 4,555 UK transport and storage enterprises with 20 to 249 employees⁶.

Why do AI buyers want logistics records?

Logistics is coordination under time pressure: quoting, booking, rerouting, chasing and settling claims across many parties. AI developers want agents that can do that work, and the reasoning sits in your mailboxes and job systems, not on the public web. Several buyers name logistics or freight as a sector they want.

Mercor lists "Logistics & Supply Chain" among its target industries¹. Scale AI's industries of interest include "Freight Brokerage & 3PL"². micro1 lists operations and logistics workflows, including fulfilment and inventory management, among the data it licenses³, and Polyshares names logistics among the sectors that qualify⁴.

What makes freight records useful is the exceptions. A booking that went to plan teaches an agent little; a missed collection, a customs hold or a damaged pallet shows how an experienced planner weighed cost, customer and deadline. One buyer told MIT Technology Review it looks for archives that range "from disagreements to tricky judgment calls"¹⁴.

On price, only company claims exist. Pewter Data, a US firm, says its unnamed licensing partner reported paying USD 650,000 to a freight broker of 100 people⁵. That figure is unverified, and we have not found a published UK logistics licence. See what your records could be worth for how we approach value.

Which records do UK logistics firms hold?

Most firms hold the same core set: a transport or warehouse management system, shared operations mailboxes, quoting and pricing records, proofs of delivery, claims files, invoices and written procedures. Buyers are most interested where these connect, for example a quote email that becomes a job, then an exception, then a credit note.

System	Typical records	Licensing view
Transport management system (TMS)	Bookings, job tickets, load and route plans, carrier allocations, status updates, exceptions	Strong candidate once driver and customer contact details are removed
Warehouse management system (WMS)	Goods-in, putaway, picks, stock adjustments, cycle counts, damage reports	Strong candidate; operator IDs removed
Shared mailboxes (ops, quotes, claims)	Quote requests, booking confirmations, delay notices, rebooking, claims correspondence	Often the most valuable and the most sensitive; needs careful de-identification
Quoting tools and CRM	Rate requests, tender responses, account histories	Check customer confidentiality first; rates usually removed
Customs and international documents	Customs declarations, classification queries, holds, CMR consignment notes, commercial invoices	Needs care: many documents belong to customers and name their staff
Proof of delivery apps	Signatures, delivery photos, timestamps, locations	Signatures, photos and locations identify people; usually reduced to a delivery status
Claims files	Damage photos, reports, insurer and customer correspondence	Candidate with care
Accounts or ERP	Invoices, credit notes, disputes	Candidate; bank details removed
Procedures and training	SOPs, driver handbooks, health and safety and quality manuals	Strong candidate; usually your own work
Telematics, tachographs, dashcams	Driver activity, locations, footage	Out of scope (see the next section)

International road documents show why care is needed. Under the CMR Convention, which UK law gives effect to, every international road consignment note must carry the names and addresses of the sender, the carrier and the consignee¹⁰. Multiply that across ten years of jobs and you hold a detailed map of who ships what, to whom.

What about driver and telematics data?

Treat it as out of scope. The ICO says telematics data that records drivers' activities is personal information, and tachograph records exist to check named drivers' hours⁸. Routes and timestamps tied to one vehicle and one shift point to one person, so they are very hard to anonymise.

Location data is named in the legal definition of personal data¹⁵. Tachograph records carry legal duties of their own: goods vehicle operators must download driver cards at least every 28 days and vehicle units at least every 90 days, and be able to produce records for 12 months⁹. The ICO says employers relying on tachographs can use legal obligation as their lawful basis, and must tell workers about vehicle monitoring⁸. That basis covers compliance, not licensing.

Reuse for AI training is a new purpose. Article 8A of the UK GDPR, in force since 5 February 2026, asks whether a new purpose is compatible with the original, weighing the link between them, the context, the relationship with the people concerned and the possible consequences for them¹². Raw telematics is unlikely to pass that test. Dashcam footage and in-cab audio are excluded entirely.

What can sometimes work is job-level operational fact already in your TMS, such as planned against actual delivery windows, with the driver removed and times generalised, after a motivated intruder test. Our de-identification standard sets out how that test works.

Do customer contracts and confidential rates limit what you can license?

Often, yes. Customer contracts, tender terms and NDAs may restrict how you use information customers give you, and many documents in your systems were written by customers, not by you. Check the confidentiality terms of your largest accounts before licensing, and expect to remove customer names and rates.

A UK article by the founder of SourceX, a buyer, lists the usual complications: customer contracts that restrict how their information may be used, third-party material inside your systems, records inherited through acquisitions, and personal data¹¹. Polyshares' licence excludes what a company holds on behalf of its own clients⁴.

A practical order of work:

List your 20 largest customers and check their contracts and tender terms for confidentiality and data use clauses.
Check the terms you trade on, whether your own or an industry standard set.
Separate your own documents (procedures, internal emails, job notes) from customers' documents (commercial invoices, packing lists, specifications).
Remove customer names, rates, account numbers and any lane or postcode detail that would identify a customer.
Where a key customer's material matters, consider asking for its agreement.
Have your solicitor review the position before you sign. Our guide to UK law on licensing company records covers the wider rules.

How many UK logistics firms could qualify?

The ONS counts 4,555 UK transport and storage enterprises with 20 to 249 employees in its 2026 business count⁶. Leaving out passenger transport and other non-freight activities, about 3,040 sit in the main freight, warehousing, forwarding and courier classes. Fewer clear the 30 or 40 staff floors some buyers set.

SIC 2007 class	20 to 49 staff	50 to 99	100 to 249	Total
49.41 Freight transport by road	1,050	375	155	1,580
52.10 Warehousing and storage	320	155	85	560
52.29 Other transportation support, including freight forwarding and customs agents	300	130	85	515
53.20 Other postal and courier activities	145	50	30	225
49.42 Removal services	80	25	10	115
52.24 Cargo handling	25	10	10	45
Six classes combined (our sum)	1,920	745	375	3,040

Source: ONS Table 4, counts rounded by ONS to the nearest 5⁶; freight forwarding and customs clearance agents are coded to class 52.29 in the ONS SIC index⁷. The ONS does not split the 20 to 49 band, so the number above micro1's 30-staff floor or Scale AI's preferred 40 is smaller^2,3. In these six classes, 1,120 enterprises have 50 to 249 staff (our sum).

Example: a records map for a 60-person freight forwarder

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a client or a real company. It shows how we would map a typical 60-person UK forwarder's records and how each set would be treated before any licence. It says nothing about price: that depends on each buyer's own review.

System	Years held	Illustrative volume	Treatment
Operations and quotes mailboxes	8	About 600,000 emails	Candidate after de-identification; customer names and rates removed
Freight management system job files	10	About 90,000 shipments	Candidate; linked to the emails for each job
Customs declarations	6	About 40,000 entries	Needs care; customers' invoices and contacts removed
Teams chat	4	About 250,000 messages	Team channels only; direct messages excluded
Quality manual and SOPs	Current, with 5 years of revisions	About 300 documents	Strong candidate
Accounts system	7	Invoices, credit notes, disputes	Candidate; bank details removed
HR and payroll	All	All	Excluded
Trackers on a small owned fleet	3	Location history	Excluded

What this map would offer a buyer is a decade of linked jobs and conversations, rich in exceptions such as customs holds, missed vessel cut-offs and damaged cargo. What it would not show is any named person, customer or rate. Compare buyers' size floors and terms on who buys company data for AI, see how logistics compares with other sectors on the sectors page, and read the wider guide to what data AI companies buy.

See what your records could be worth. Free, confidential, and no data changes hands. Sellers pay nothing: see how we are paid.

Licensing logistics data and freight records to AI buyers