The Day the Truck Said 'No' — And How I Found the Right Route
When trying to integrate GPS tracking for a logistics platform, the system initially failed to recognize truck locations accurately. Through collaboration with AI, the right solution emerged — one that improved fleet management and user experience.
On a quiet Tuesday, I was working on Arise & Shine Transporters, a logistics platform designed to manage sand and aggregate deliveries across East Africa. One of the key features I was trying to implement was live GPS tracking for the fleet. At first, the system was not recognizing the truck locations correctly, even though the APIs were correctly configured. It was a frustrating moment — the truck was on the road, but the dashboard said it was nowhere near the route it was supposed to be on.", "The AI Suggested a New Approach", "Claude was the first to notice the inconsistency. It pointed out that the GPS coordinates were being stored as 0,0 when the truck was not yet registered in the system. That was a critical flaw — if the system couldn’t recognize the truck before it started its journey, it couldn’t track it at all. This was a problem I hadn’t considered, and it was clear that the AI had picked up on something I had missed.", "Testing the Fix", "The next step was to test a fix: automatically registering trucks once their GPS trackers were fitted. I made the change in the code, and immediately saw the results. The dashboard no longer showed empty positions. Instead, it accurately displayed the truck’s location as it moved along the route. It was a small change, but it made a huge difference in the overall user experience.", "The Impact of the Fix", "After implementing the fix, the system started working as intended. The fleet managers could now see the exact location of each truck in real-time. This was not just a win for the technical side of the product — it was a win for the people using it. The drivers no longer had to manually input their locations, and the managers no longer had to guess where a truck was. It was a moment of clarity, and it reminded me why I started building this product in the first place — to make logistics easier for the people who rely on it every day.", "The Human Side of Building with AI", "It was a reminder that AI is not just about code and algorithms. It’s about understanding the people behind the system and the real-world problems they face. In this case, the AI helped me see a flaw I had overlooked, and it gave me the tools to fix it. That’s the power of building with AI — it doesn’t replace the human element, it enhances it.", "Looking Ahead", "Now, the system is more reliable than ever. The GPS tracking is working smoothly, and the fleet managers are seeing real-time updates. It’s a small but meaningful victory — and one that shows how AI can help solve real-world problems in Kenya and beyond.", "The experience reminded me that building AI-powered products is not just about technology — it’s about understanding the people who use them, and the challenges they face every day. And sometimes, it’s about listening to the AI when it says 'no' — because that’s when the real work begins.
