AI platform cuts delivery routing time from 20 minutes to two and a half

Key points

• OneRail launched OmniStar, an AI-powered delivery routing platform built with Nvidia software, in 2025.
• The platform cuts the time needed to choose a delivery route from 20 minutes to roughly two and a half minutes, according to OneRail.
• OneRail's network covers more than 12 million drivers and over a thousand logistics partners, and that data trains the AI.
• One early customer, a large tire distributor, is on track to save $40 million over three years by using the platform.
• OneRail projects OmniStar will handle more than $6 billion in gross merchandise volume (the total value of goods shipped through it) in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Amazon and Walmart route packages cheaply and quickly because they have enormous proprietary systems and years of shipping data. Everyone else has been relying on spreadsheets and guesswork.

OneRail, a US logistics technology company, says its new platform changes that.

What does OmniStar actually do?

OmniStar scores every available delivery option for a given order automatically and picks the best one on cost and speed. It does this in about two and a half minutes, where the same task done by hand used to take around 20 minutes.

The platform runs on Nvidia's AI hardware and software. David Daeschler, OneRail's head of AI, told CNBC the company began working with Nvidia three years ago to bring AI into the logistics process.

"If you don't have the ability to make lightning-fast decisions, you're giving up margin," OneRail CEO Bill Catania told CNBC. "Last-mile fulfillment is expensive."

Last-mile fulfillment is the final leg of delivery, the journey from a warehouse or sorting hub to a customer's door. It's typically the costliest part of shipping.

Does it actually save money?

For one early customer, it appears so. A large tire distributor that piloted OmniStar is projected to save $40 million over three years by using its existing resources more efficiently. That is a company claim, not a peer-reviewed result, and the customer was not named.

OneRail also says the platform will exceed $6 billion in gross merchandise volume in the fourth quarter of 2025, reflecting how much product flows through the system, not the company's own revenue.

Azita Martin, Nvidia's vice president and general manager for retail and consumer packaged goods, described the output as "a real-time decision layer that can route an order to the right carrier and delivery mode at the right cost, rather than relying on static rules or manual planning."

What does this mean for shoppers?

Directly, not much yet. OmniStar is a back-end tool for retailers and logistics managers. But if smaller retailers can genuinely cut delivery costs, the downstream effect could be faster shipping options from businesses that previously couldn't afford tight logistics operations.

OneRail also has a partnership with FedEx, announced earlier this year, to offer same-day delivery across its customer base. Catania says OmniStar and the FedEx tie-up together give smaller businesses a realistic path to competing with the big-box giants on speed. We reported on PlusAI's push into autonomous freight on 3 September, a reminder of how quickly the logistics technology landscape is shifting for smaller operators.

The claims here are still largely from OneRail itself. Independent audits of the platform's performance don't appear to be public yet. Watch for third-party case studies before treating the savings figures as settled.