From DOS to AI: 37 Years of Reinventing Towing Software

Back at the dispatch desk

After a failed venture, I went back to work behind the dispatch desk, answering calls and sending out trucks every day.

That daily dispatch work is what inspired the next FoxTow.

How FoxTow got here

1. 1989 · The DOS era

   I began selling CATS, a DOS-based towing program developed by another programmer.

2. 1998 · FoxTow for Windows

   I programmed and launched FoxTow in Visual FoxPro, bringing a Windows graphical interface to towing operations. At its peak it served about 200 towing companies, mostly in California. I did the programming, sales, demos, installs and support personally. About ten companies still use the original software today.

3. Setback and return

   I spent about a decade on another venture, Object Wheel, which failed. I called my friend Darryl, owner of Certified Towing, asked for a job, and was hired as a dispatcher, not a manager. I still answer calls and dispatch trucks today, which gives me a close view of the work modern software should simplify.

   Darryl owns Certified Towing and is a FoxTow investor.

4. 2023 · Rebuilding FoxTow

   In 2023 I began rebuilding FoxTow with a development team I manage, shaped by my daily dispatch experience.

AI-assisted dispatch today

Here is how AI takes the typing out of a call:

• AI interprets shorthand dispatch instructions and fills in the structured fields.

• It interprets location descriptions and suggests location pins and equipment.

• It picks a driver by company rotation and sends the job to the driver’s mobile app.

• Drivers accept or reject. Rejected calls go back to the available queue for the dispatcher to reassign.

Voice

We are developing AI voice features to answer routine status inquiries, like insurance status requests, and eventually handle certain incoming dispatch requests, like police dispatch intake.

Voice is still under development and is not live yet.

Human judgment

This isn’t just a product launch. It’s about how towing technology has changed over nearly four decades, what I learned from setbacks, and why working behind the dispatch desk shapes the software.

The goal is to automate repetitive tasks while keeping dispatchers in control of the exceptions.

— Founder, FoxTow