Improving driver verification and handoff process at Roadie Cross-docks

Cross-dock Overview

Roadie Cross-docks are warehouses where incoming packages are sorted into batches and get handed off to delivery drivers for last-mile delivery within the same day.

Problem

Roadie drivers pick up batched deliveries from cross-docks. Cross-dock employees find it difficult to verify drivers reliably and assist them during pickup. How can we improve the experience to make the handoff process smooth and efficient?

Currently, cross-dock employees manually verify the drivers by asking drivers for their Driving License and Auto Insurance. If driver passes verification, a cross-dock employee will share the assigned batch information with the driver and allow them to proceed with pickup.

Current Design

User needs and pain points

I conducted interviews with 3 cross-dock employees from different sites, a facility manager and an operations manager to understand the existing processes, app limitations and pain-points experienced by the users.

Insights

Translating Insights to Design Ideas

I translated insights gained through user research into design implications and came up with design ideas.

Supporting User Flows

Identifying key design requirements, I designed user flows for the new process that incorporates in-app drivers license verification. I designed two alternatives. While the second method was preferred, scanning license to look up driver was unreliable. This is discussed further in detail (see Turning Points) but at this stage in the design process, I stuck with the first alternative to search driver and then verify the license. I added a search bar to make it easier to find a driver’s profile.

Sketches & Wireframes

After finalizing the flow and design requirements, I created sketches to visualize the interaction experience and then converted them to low-fidelity wireframes to collect feedback from users and engineering stakeholders.

Turning Point

I reached to the Drive Product team to understand how license verification works. Through deeper evaluation, we found that parsing scanned license data is unreliable as license format differs across U.S. states. From a user’s perspective, this introduces the risk of false positives not only blocking driver verification but also undermining trust in the process.

At the same time, the Drive Product supported a Secure QR code feature that could be used to verify drivers. As a result, we moved away from scanning driver licenses as the primary verification method and I redesigned the user flow to use Secure QR Code scanning instead.

Redesigned User Flow

Solution

An improved handoff experience that helps cross-dock employees verify driver identity and vehicle details, confirm bin assignments, and handle exceptions such as driver removal.

Usability Tests

I conducted usability tests with cross-dock employees and on usability platforms using interactive prototypes to validate the revised handoff flow. Feedback primarily focused on UI refinements such as button position and surfacing vehicle details like license plate information.

Importantly, the feedback on the core flow was positive and users were able to complete all tasks successfully.

Refining the Verification Flow

Although users did not raise concerns during testing, I later found an ambiguity in the verification step that required user to select between two options: Accept or Remove. If an employee initially marked a driver as “Accept” but later noticed a discrepancy, it was unclear how the earlier confirmation should be interpreted. While the step was originally intended to support verification, it risked confusing users in the real world. I removed the explicit “Accept” action and incorporated user feedback on UI elements before shipping the final product.

Design Outcomes

Since its launch, the redesigned handoff experience has proven to be of significant advantage.

Takeaway

The takeaway for me from this project has been realizing the power of framing the right problem. Though business expectations were defined, framing the problem to understand user needs and pain points around existing operational procedures allowed us to build the solution from the ground up that works for users. The redesigned experience has become the foundation of the handoff process that can be built upon to add new requirements and solve new challenges in the future.