Three updates to SONAR’s load prioritization and coverage strategy tool give carrier sales teams deeper lane intelligence, more actionable guidance, and a live connection between internal freight systems and the market
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — April 8, 2026— SONAR today announced a significant expansion of Coverage Guide, SONAR’s load prioritization and coverage strategy tool, with three updates that deepen lane intelligence, extend API capabilities, and introduce a new integration layer that connects carrier sales teams’ internal freight systems directly to SONAR in real time.
The updates — an Enhanced Difficulty Score, a Coverage Guide API expansion, and the launch of Coverage Guide Connect — collectively advance Coverage Guide from a market reference tool into a continuous, automated part of carrier sales workflows.
“Coverage Guide was built to help teams prioritize faster and negotiate with confidence,” said Julie Van de Kamp, Chief Marketing and Operations Officer, SONAR. “These updates take that further — the scoring is more complete, the API delivers richer data for teams building internal tools, and Connect eliminates the manual workflows that slow teams down. Your freight and the market, together, in one place.”
Enhanced Difficulty Score: A More Complete View of Lane Complexity
The updated Difficulty Score now incorporates destination market dynamics alongside origin conditions, giving teams a more accurate read on true lane complexity across the full length of haul.
Previously, difficulty scoring reflected conditions at the origin. The enhanced model accounts for what’s happening at the destination as well — capacity tightness, rejection rates, and market conditions on the receiving end of a lane that materially affect coverage difficulty and rate positioning.
Updated guidance within Coverage Guide reflects both origin and destination conditions, giving carrier sales teams clearer direction on which loads to act on first and stronger positioning when negotiating rates.
Coverage Guide API Update: Richer Data for Internal Tools and Automation
The Coverage Guide API has been expanded with three new fields available under the Truckload V2 Coverage Guide endpoint:
- RPM WoW % Change — week-over-week rate per mile movement, enabling teams to track rate trend direction at the lane level
- Origin Rejection % — outbound tender rejection rate at the origin market (previously titled Outbound Rejection %)
- Destination Rejection % — rejection rate data for the destination market, now available for the first time
The addition of destination rejection data mirrors the scoring enhancement, providing API consumers — whether building internal pricing tools, automation workflows, or decision support systems — with the same complete, bidirectional lane view now available in the Coverage Guide UI.
Coverage Guide Connect: Live Load Integration from Internal Systems into SONAR
Coverage Guide Connect is a new API-driven capability that allows carrier teams to send loads directly from their TMS or internal systems into SONAR, where they are automatically displayed in the Coverage Guide UI and enriched with real-time market intelligence, difficulty scoring, and coverage guidance.
For carrier sales teams managing live freight, Coverage Guide Connect eliminates the gap between internal load boards and external market data. Rather than toggling between systems or manually uploading load data, teams can stream their live freight into SONAR continuously — and immediately see each load paired with the market context needed to prioritize, price, and cover it effectively.
Coverage Guide Connect supports:
- Automated load ingestion — loads sent directly from TMS or internal systems via API, with no manual upload required
- Real-time visibility in SONAR — live freight appears automatically in the Coverage Guide UI as it is ingested
- Continuous updates — loads can be pushed and refreshed as frequently as needed to keep the board current
- Market-enriched insights — each ingested load is automatically paired with difficulty scores, rate benchmarks, and coverage guidance from SONAR
The result is a unified view of a carrier’s own freight and the broader market in a single interface — enabling faster prioritization, smarter pricing decisions, and tighter alignment between internal operations and live market conditions.
“Coverage Guide Connect transforms Coverage Guide from a tool you check into a system that works alongside you,” said [SPOKESPERSON]. “When your load board is continuously enriched by real-time market data and guidance, your team can move faster and operate with greater confidence in every coverage decision.”
Availability
All three updates are available now. The Enhanced Difficulty Score and updated Coverage Guide API fields are live for current SONAR subscribers. Coverage Guide Connect is available to teams with API access now. If you’d like to learn more, visit: https://pardot.gosonar.com/sonar-coverage-guide-fw
The post SONAR Expands Coverage Guide with Enhanced Scoring, Richer API Data, and Direct Load Integration via Coverage Guide Connect appeared first on FreightWaves.
