AI & DOT Compliance: Why Manual Processes Hold You Back

There’s a ton of buzz around how to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the transportation industry and in compliance specifically.

Some Safety Directors and Compliance Specialists recognize that manual processes are holding them back and are eager to put AI to use but are unsure how. 

At Avatar, we’re fully on board with AI and automation — have you met the AvatarAssistant? — but it’s important to note that using AI for compliance in the transportation industry is still very much a “trust but verify” situation.

Let’s review the manual tasks that may be holding back your compliance department, and how you can start to leverage AI tools to get ahead of your competition, limit risk associated with making mistakes and handle compliance tasks faster, so you can focus on your people. 

Manual task: Understanding compliance regulations

Comprehending federal regulations isn’t easy. That’s why it’s tempting to run basic DOT compliance questions through AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.  

In theory, you ask the AI model a question and it spits back an answer, sounding (relatively) like a human. It’s super convenient, but users must beware. 

While it’s true that these tools are improving all the time, they are still known to hallucinate and deliver incorrect information.

In a motor carrier setting, where you’re required to comply with DOT regulations, there is no margin for error. You simply have to be 100 percent compliant. Being out of compliance because ChatGPT gave you bad info isn’t an excuse that’s going to cut it with auditors. 

Feel free to experiment by asking questions like “What do I need to do to make my drivers compliant?” But know that the answer is not a substitute for the FMCSA Green Book, and be prepared to dig much deeper. For instance, ask the AI tool you’re using to point you to specific FMCSA regulations when it answers. 

AI can save you time getting to the regulation so you can read and interpret it on your own, but you can’t just take AI’s word for it. But ultimately you as the human compliance professional need to be the one who makes the judgment call about the rule.

Manual task: Data entry

The Compliance Specialist role today still comes with a lot of nitty gritty work.

You have to ensure driver candidates complete full DOT applications when they apply to work for you. You must constantly remind drivers to submit documentation, like driver’s licenses and medical cards, and pull and enter data from those documents into your system of record. You have to run Motor Vehicle Records annually. It’s a lot of tedious work that’s prone to human error — exactly the kind of work AI can take off your plate. 

In an ideal situation, AI takes on the mundane job of extracting and entering data from documentation and queues it up for human review. The result is drastically less time spent on compliance-related tasks as well as a higher level of accuracy. The AI won’t get distracted and forget to follow a step in the process, and it’s not going to fat finger a data point. It’s faster and more precise. All the human does is verify the data is correct. 

The AvatarAssistant, incorporated throughout DriverHub, tackles these scenarios with a few key AI features:

• Driver Notifications & License Scanner, which automatically requests and reads licenses from drivers, sets new expiration dates and adds them to DQ files.
• Med Card Scanner, which automates data extraction, schedules driver reminders and cross-references medical examiner details with the government registration database. 

Manual task: Following a compliance workflow

Although most Safety Directors and Compliance Managers know that it’s a best practice to operate with proven processes, team members don’t always follow the SOP. Can you go on vacation or get the flu for a week while the machine runs without you?

If one person has all the institutional knowledge in their head or — worst case scenario — you’re still using hard copies and file folders, paperwork may be misplaced, grinding everything to a halt. 

When you use a centralized DOT compliance platform with built-in AI-driven workflows, it ensures your procedures are standardized and scalable. All data is entered the same way. The regulations are applied consistently. If someone leaves the company, it’s much easier to train a new hire and get them up to speed quickly. New team members simply learn how to use your system and process — they don’t have to master every FMCSA regulation themselves. 

Within DriverHub, the AvatarAssistant offers a set of workflows to help you automate mundane compliance tasks, which ultimately ensure accuracy and allow your team to get more done in less time. 

It’s clear that AI capabilities will only speed up from here on out, so it’s a good idea for Safety Directors and Compliance Specialists to embrace the tools available as soon as possible. In any case, the future of AI and DOT compliance isn’t complete automation. It’s leveraging an integrated set of tools that applies AI and automation at the right time in the right places with a human in the loop to achieve 100 percent compliance.