What is route planning software?
Route planning software turns a list of open transport orders into efficient multi-stop routes for one or more vehicles. It answers the dispatcher’s hardest question: given today’s orders, drivers and trucks — what is the best way to drive this day?
Where a TMS manages the whole transport lifecycle, route planning is one specific module inside it: the one that builds and re-builds the day’s routes.
What it does
- Reads open work – stops, shipments, time windows, weight, volume.
- Reads available resources – vehicles, drivers, equipment, starting locations.
- Considers constraints – driver hours, ADR rules, vehicle type, customer rules.
- Builds routes – assigning stops to vehicles in an optimal sequence.
- Re-plans on changes – new orders, cancellations, delays, traffic.
Manual vs assisted vs automatic
| Style | What the planner does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | Drags stops onto vehicles on a board | Small fleet, recurring routes, planner knows the customers |
| Assisted | Software suggests, planner approves | Most operators most days |
| Automatic | Software builds full day, planner reviews exceptions | Large fleets, parcel/distribution, recurring patterns |
Routix today is manual + assisted: a dispatch board with conflict detection. Full auto-optimisation is on the roadmap.
Route planning vs TMS
| Route planning | TMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One step: build the route | Full lifecycle: order → invoice |
| Owns customer/order? | No | Yes |
| Owns invoicing? | No | Yes |
| Standalone product? | Sometimes | Almost always |
Standalone route-planning tools work, but the planner has to copy data in and results out — that’s where errors and double work creep in. A TMS with a built-in planner avoids that.
Common KPIs
- Empty kilometres (see empty miles)
- Stops per route
- On-time delivery
- Plan-vs-actual deviation
- CO₂ per stop
Related concepts
See this in Routix
If you want to see route planning in context, start on www.routix.com and then explore Dispatch and Shipments. That is where Routix turns open work, vehicle constraints and route changes into a practical planning board.
