This article walks you through checking whether a driver has accepted the tracking request you sent them, and what to do if they haven't. Use this when you've sent a tracking request and want to confirm tracking is active before the load goes live.
When to use this article: Anytime after you've sent a tracking request to a driver and want to verify it.
See Sending a tracking request to a driver for how requests get sent.
1. Open the shipment in polt.ai
Open the shipment you want to verify tracking on.
2. Go to the Stops section
Click Stops in the left-side menu of the shipment.
3. Click the polt.ai driver app logo
On the right side of the Stops section, you'll see the polt.ai driver app logo. Click it to open the matching shipment in polt.ai driver app in a new tab.
4. Check the driver's tracking status
On the polt.ai driver app shipment page, the driver's tracking status tells you where things stand. The most common statuses you'll see when checking on a recently-sent request:
Status | What it means | What to do |
Pending | The tracking request was sent, but the driver hasn't downloaded polt.ai driver app or accepted the load yet | Call the driver and walk them through acceptance. See Helping a driver accept a tracking request. |
Accepted | The driver accepted the request and tracking is active | No action needed unless data isn't actually flowing — see step 5 below. |
Declined | The driver explicitly declined the tracking request | Call the driver to find out why. Once resolved, re-send the tracking request — see Sending a tracking request to a driver. |
Lost Signal | Tracking was active but the system has lost connection to the driver's phone | The driver may be in a dead zone — wait and see if it recovers. If it doesn't, call to confirm the driver still has the app open and has signal. |
Paused | The driver paused tracking on their end | Call the driver and ask them to resume tracking. |
Stopped | The driver stopped tracking entirely on their end | Call the driver to find out why and have them re-accept the load to resume. |
Unknown | polt.ai driver app can't determine the current state | Call the driver to verify what's happening on their end. |
Pending, Declined, Paused, and Stopped all mean the same thing operationally: The driver isn't tracking.
When you see any of these, your shipment status won't update automatically and you'll need to either resolve the issue with the driver or fall back to manual status updates.
For the full list of all possible polt.ai driver app tracking statuses and their meanings, see Understanding polt.ai driver app tracking statuses.
5. Verify tracking data is flowing
If the status shows active tracking, confirm the data is actually coming through:
Checkpoints — recent pings should appear with timestamps
Map — the driver's pin should be visible at their current location
Events log — should show a "Tracking accepted" entry plus any geofence events that have fired
If any of those are missing despite an active status, see Setting up driver tracking for troubleshooting.
If the driver was assigned hours ago, hasn't accepted, and doesn't pick up the phone — you have a few options:
Re-send the tracking request by re-saving the shipment in polt.ai. The SMS will fire again. See Sending a tracking request to a driver.
Verify the driver's phone number is correct in the carrier record. Wrong number = no SMS.
Switch to manual status updates. If you can't get the driver tracking, you'll need to update shipment statuses by phone calls and check calls. See Updating shipment status and Manually adding arrival and departure times in polt.ai driver app.