Among route optimization APIs for long-haul transport, Kardinal leads this sector ranking by a wide margin. Dangerous goods (ADR) routing is now covered by 7 of the 11 solutions tested, but Kardinal remains the only one able to place a regulatory break mid-journey, a key constraint for long-haul drivers.
Long-haul transport stacks up constraints found in no other sector: regulatory route restrictions, legally capped driving hours, vehicle dimensions that rule out entire parts of the road network, overnight stays to plan across several days. An optimizer designed for light vehicles produces routes here that break the law, use prohibited roads, or ignore mandatory rest periods.
This article compares eleven route optimization APIs (Kardinal, Solvice, LogisticsOS, Google, HERE, NextBillion AI, GraphHopper, Timefold, Verso, Routific, Mapbox) on their ability to handle long-haul transport constraints: industrial freight, general cargo, dangerous goods.
Key takeaways
What makes long-haul transport genuinely complex
Dimension and weight restrictions
A heavy goods vehicle cannot move freely across the whole road network. Thousands of points are subject to restrictions: bridges with height or tonnage limits, tunnels closed to dangerous goods, low-emission zones, local roads barred to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. An optimizer that routes a 44-tonne truck like a van produces routes that are physically impossible to drive.
A truck profile, meaning the optimizer's ability to compute routes that account for weight, height and width, is therefore a prerequisite for this sector.
Driving hours, breaks and overnight runs
European regulation strictly frames HGV driving hours: a maximum of 9 hours' driving per day, a mandatory 45-minute break every 4.5 hours, at least 11 hours of daily rest. And since drivers do not return to their depot every evening, those rests chain across several days: overnight stays and weekly rests have to be scheduled, successive driving days managed, and end-of-week returns to the depot optimized. An optimizer that ignores these constraints produces legally invalid schedules.
On top of that, some solutions only allow a break once the vehicle has stopped at a service point, whereas day-to-day operations sometimes require placing it mid-journey, wherever it best fits the route.
Dangerous goods and ADR regulation
The European agreement on the international carriage of dangerous goods by road (ADR) imposes specific routes for vehicles carrying classified hazardous products: fuels, chemicals, explosives, pressurized gases. These routes avoid sensitive tunnels, dense residential areas and certain urban corridors. An optimizer that computes a standard route for a fuel tanker exposes the operator to penalties.
Dock management and on-site simultaneity
In industrial freight, deliveries take place at docks whose time slots are strictly set by consignees, and some warehouses cap the number of trucks allowed on site at the same time. A truck that arrives outside its slot, or in excess on an already busy site, can be turned away.
Consolidated freight and backhauls
A truck returning empty from its last delivery is pure cost. Consolidating several orders onto a direct point-to-point run, or assigning loads to the return leg, are major economic levers for long-haul carriers.
The critical constraints for a long-haul transport API
Three levels of requirement structure the market: the classic baseline everyone covers, the intermediate constraints that are indispensable in practice, and the advanced constraints that genuinely make the difference on the road.
Distance and vehicle count
The fundamental objectives of any optimization.
Covered by: All players except Mapbox.
Time windows
Covered everywhere, with varying levels of granularity.
Covered by: All players.
Warehouse-to-customer pickup and delivery
The core movement of the business.
Covered by: All players.
Truck speed profile
HGV-specific routes and travel times (weight, height, width).
Covered by: Kardinal, NextBillion AI, GraphHopper and HERE. Partial elsewhere.
Dangerous goods (ADR) routing
Compliant routes for classified hazardous products.
Covered by: Kardinal, Timefold, NextBillion AI, Solvice, GraphHopper, HERE and LogisticsOS.
Multiple trips per day from a hub
Chaining several loads out of one terminal: regional shuttles, drayage.
Covered by: All players except Routific and Timefold.
Long rests across several days
Inserting mandatory daily and weekly rests, overnight runs included.
Covered by: Kardinal, Solvice, GraphHopper, Google and LogisticsOS. Partial at NextBillion AI.
Break allowed mid-journey
Placing a regulatory break inside a driving segment rather than only at a stop.
Covered by: Kardinal only, across the 11 solutions tested.
Consolidation loop generation
Grouping several orders onto a direct point-to-point run.
Covered by: Kardinal only.
Pre-loaded first trip
Planning a first departure already loaded with a predetermined set of orders.
Covered by: Kardinal only.
On-site simultaneity limit
Capping the number of vehicles present on a site at the same time (safety, limited docks).
Covered by: Kardinal only.
Carrier-specific time windows
Distinct pickup windows per subcontractor on the same orders.
Covered by: Kardinal only.
Lexicographic optimization
Ranking objectives without weighting: compliance first, empty miles next. Without it, every criterion needs its own weight, and the configuration quickly turns into a sprawling setup to fine-tune.
Covered by: Kardinal and HERE only.
Two-resource synchronization (cross-docking)
Time-coupling the drop of a load and its pickup by another resource.
Covered by: Solvice only, ahead of Kardinal.
Long-haul transport API comparison
Kardinal
95% coverage · 1st/11Kardinal provides the broadest coverage of the structural constraints of heavy goods transport. It is the only solution to combine consolidation loop generation, pre-loaded first trips, on-site simultaneity limits, carrier-specific time windows and breaks allowed mid-journey, five constraints no other player in the panel covers.
Its only two gaps on this sector, both covered solely by Solvice: two-resource synchronization for cross-docking, one specific use case, and hourly cost that depends on the time of day, a very niche need.
Solvice
69% coverage · 2nd/11Solvice takes second place. It covers the only two constraints in this sector that Kardinal lacks: two-resource synchronization for cross-docking, and hourly cost by time of day (night premiums, peak hours), a very niche need that only comes up in rare rate structures. It also covers multi-day long rests and ADR routing.
Its limit: no lexicographic optimization. With a model that rich, balancing several objectives means setting a weight on each criterion, and the configuration quickly becomes a heavy machine to fine-tune.
LogisticsOS
66% coverage · 3rd/11LogisticsOS stands out for its cost modeling: it is one of only two solutions, alongside Kardinal, to fully cover overtime thresholds and the optimization of the combined bill between own fleet and spot chartering. It also covers ADR routing and long rests.
Google covers the basics of professional transport reasonably well: predictive traffic, time windows, multi-day long rests. But the absence of a full truck profile remains a limitation for this sector: dimension and tonnage restrictions are only imperfectly computed, and ADR routing is not covered.
HERE
61% coverage · 5th/11HERE is the only solution besides Kardinal to offer lexicographic optimization, and it fully covers the truck profile as well as ADR routing. It lags on multi-day long rests and advanced cost constraints.
NextBillion AI
59% coverage · 6th/11NextBillion AI covers the truck profile, ADR routing and predictive traffic. Multi-day long rests are only partially covered, and advanced cost and on-site simultaneity constraints are absent.
GraphHopper, Timefold, Verso, Routific and Mapbox
44% → 26%- GraphHopper (44%) covers the truck profile, ADR routing and long rests, but misses the advanced cost and simultaneity constraints. It remains suited to small volumes.
- Timefold (40%) covers ADR routing but lags on the sector's fundamentals.
- Verso (36%), Routific (28%) and Mapbox (26%) are not designed for professional heavy goods transport: partial or absent truck profile, no ADR routing, no long-rest handling.
Summary table
| Solution | Coverage | Truck profile | ADR routing | Break mid-journey | Lexicographic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kardinal | 95% | Full | Full | Full | Full |
| Solvice | 69% | Partial | Full | No | No |
| LogisticsOS | 66% | Partial | Full | No | No |
| 63% | Partial | No | No | No | |
| HERE | 61% | Full | Full | No | Full |
| NextBillion AI | 59% | Full | Full | No | No |
| GraphHopper | 44% | Full | Full | No | No |
| Timefold | 40% | Partial | Full | No | No |
| Verso | 36% | Partial | No | No | No |
| Routific | 28% | Partial | No | No | No |
| Mapbox | 26% | Partial | No | No | No |
Our verdict
Fleet size is not what should drive the choice. What matters is how much of your operation goes beyond the classic constraints. Start from the five leading solutions for long-haul, then narrow the list according to your needs.
Test Kardinal optimization on your own data, with no commitment.
FAQ
Which route optimization API should you choose for long-haul transport?
Kardinal is the most complete solution for long-haul transport, with 95% sector coverage, and the most competitive on price among the top 5. Solvice (69%) and LogisticsOS (66%) follow, ahead of Google (63%) and HERE (61%). If you carry dangerous goods, the shortlist narrows to Kardinal, Solvice, LogisticsOS and HERE; with overnight runs on top, to Kardinal, Solvice and LogisticsOS.
What is a truck profile in a route optimization API?
A truck profile is an optimizer's ability to compute HGV-specific routes and travel times, accounting for weight, height and width. Without it, the optimizer routes a 44-tonne truck like a car, using prohibited roads and underestimating travel times. Kardinal, NextBillion AI, GraphHopper and HERE cover it in full.
Do route optimization APIs comply with ADR regulation for dangerous goods?
Seven of the eleven solutions tested now handle ADR-compliant HGV routing: Kardinal, Timefold, NextBillion AI, Solvice, GraphHopper, HERE and LogisticsOS. Google, Routific, Mapbox and Verso compute standard routes that may breach these regulatory restrictions.
How do you schedule regulatory breaks on a long-haul journey?
Regulation requires mandatory breaks during driving. Most solutions only place those breaks at a stop, at a service point. Kardinal is the only solution in the panel able to insert a break inside a driving segment between two stops, wherever it best fits the route.
What is cross-docking and which API supports it?
Cross-docking means having one resource drop a load at a warehouse, then having another resource pick it up in the same flow to carry it further. The two movements must be synchronized in time. Solvice is the only solution in the panel to offer this synchronization, ahead of Kardinal.
Can several orders be grouped onto a single direct run in long-haul transport?
This practice, known as consolidation loop generation, lets several orders travel together on a point-to-point run rather than being shipped separately. Kardinal is the only solution in the panel to model it natively.
Further reading
Parcel delivery
Stop density, tight time windows and daily disruptions: the constraints that separate the APIs on the last mile.
Read the full analysis →
Waste transport
Tipping site capacity and simultaneity: the sector worst served by the market.
Read the full analysis →
Heavy and bulky transport
Matched crews and equipment, bulky returns and regional depot networks: the constraints of heavy freight.
Read the full analysis →