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Gandolapp, facing the Opentop challenge for the automatic planning of inland container transport

06/07/2023. Gandolapp is currently facing one of the challenges of Opentop’s I Startup Acceleration Program. In this case, the challenge was proposed by the Opentop initiative itself, which seeks solutions for the automatic planning of inland container transport. In addition, the startup is supported by COSCO as an advisor.

We chatted with Carlos Rosales, CTO & co-founder of the company, José Manuel Juan, CEO & co-founder of Gandolapp and with Carolina Calle, Gandolapp Full-stack Developer, about their proposal for this challenge and about their experience as part of the Opentop ecosystem.

How would you define your company?

At Gandolapp we are committed to innovation, not only from a technological point of view. We have the illusion and motivation to change the way land transport is operated in Europe. We want to provide better conditions in the cabin for carriers and we want the agents in the chain to see the traceability of goods from a different point of view. Therefore, as part of our ideation process, one day we thought of creating the concept of functional traceability: cross-referencing the geopositioning of trucks with a driver’s declaration of intent to give a meaningful estimated time of arrival.

Opentop pursues the automatic planning of the activities of the parties involved in the maritime-terrestrial intermodality, is it a necessity that is already needed in other ports?

No doubt about it. The market trends are going that way, that’s why we see the big shipping groups entering more and more into the whole value chain through mergers and acquisitions. We have encountered this need with carriers, shippers, freight forwarders and ports in other locations and for Gandolapp it represents an opportunity to extend the automation model to other locations. The aim is to optimize costs and times and to be as sustainable as possible.

– What is the differential value that Gandolapp offers when it comes to solving this challenge??

Gandolapp relies on multilingual voice technology, with multiple advantages. First, the driver does not use his/her hands, making the process safer. Second, communication silos, both linguistic and contractual, between agents are eliminated. Third, through an automatic checklist (based on the location, acceleration and type of operation of each driver), we obtain a statement of intent from the driver. By crossing all this with our AI model, we obtain a very accurate arrival forecast and avoid having to make multiple calls to drivers. Finally, we would like to emphasize that we also give a series of recommendations and on-road knowledge pills to drivers to make their job more pleasant.

How do you rate your time with Opentop so far? What services and experiences have you gained the most from it?

It has given us the possibility to connect with multiple users of the Port of Valencia and to be present in many important events, in Valencia and other parts of Spain, as part of the Opentop network. We startups are new companies and having the support of innovation centers like Opentop allows us to have more strength to present our products, negotiate with suppliers, attract talent and have a greater impact on dissemination.

What would you say to a startup that is thinking about joining the Opentop ecosystem?

We would tell them to do everything possible to enter the program if they want to have an impact on the logistics-port sector in Valencia.

Discover Gandolapp and its virtual co-pilot solution for carriers that through multilingual voice technology supports a number of tasks and provides this information to the entire supply chain with José Manuel Juan, CEO of Gandolapp.

If you want to discover more about Opentop Valenciaport innovation HUB  and its initiatives, take a look at our website!