Over 30 million Chinese truck drivers handle 75 percent of the goods transported nationwide. In the past, these drivers could spend three to five days looking for goods to load onto their trucks. And, compared with their American counterparts, they were three times more likely to return with no cargo at all. But now their concerns have been answered by an Uber-like Chinese service provider called Truck alliance or Huo Chebang.

Being a truck driver in a vast country like China is demanding. In order to get proper shipping information, truck drivers like Guo Xianju, used to spend days waiting in logistics parks, communicating with shippers.

But that's now a thing of the past. Today, all Chinese truckers need to do is turn on their smartphones.

"I used to search for cargo all the time and usually couldn't find any good one. Now, business opportunities just pop out of my phone. I check the app once a day, and then call the suitable commodity owner via the app," said truck driver Guo Xianju.

Guo just arrived in Guizhou from Sichuan, all in southwest China, and his next stop is the neighboring Yunnan Province.  

Within three years, the Truck Alliance has become the biggest online road logistics platform in China, gaining huge investments from Internet giants like Tencent and Alibaba. 4.5 million drivers and 880 thousand commodity owners use the app. Truck Alliance uses big data technology to help match trucks around the country with commodity owners in need of transport services.

Each day, the app releases 5 million pieces of shipping information, and books 140,000 transactions.

By reducing the number of empty return trips, it helped users save 6.15 billion yuan and cut carbon emissions by 33 million tons in 2016.

However, Truck Alliance's success was not built overnight. The company experienced a difficult start which lasted until 2014, when China's big data industry began to spring up in the southwestern Guizhou Province

"Everyday, we spent a large amount of time trying to figure out the real needs and difficulties for truck drivers and shippers. Then we took advantage of the Internet and big data to integrate information from both sides, as well as set up a credible network step by step," said Zhao Qiang, Vice President of Truck Alliance.

But how to build credibility with truck drivers and commodity owners across the country? Guizhou's government offers a helping hand.

"Guizhou gave Truck Alliance something unique, that is access to governmental data in the transportation sector. Access to transparent data on truck drivers and shippers, helped Truck Alliance gain such a large user base in such a short time." Jing Yaping, deputy chief of Guizhou's big data management bureau said.

The benefits of big data and cloud computing can now be enjoyed by ordinary drivers like Guo Xianju. This is just the beginning, as big data begins to flex its might in the province of Guizhou.