Cutting-edge sensor tech targets cargo theft as losses hit $725M

A new generation of ambient Internet of Things (IoT) technology is emerging as a tool to combat increasingly sophisticated cargo theft, as supply chain losses from theft surged to nearly $725 million in 2025. Wiliot, a supply chain visibility technology firm, says its ambient IoT platform gives individual products a digital identity and can detect theft, diversion or handling issues in real time as shipments move through the supply chain. “The Internet of Things and what we call now Ambient IoT, the ability of devices to have sensing components to it, is an all-time high, and it’s now a new frontier,” Amir Khoshniyati, vice president at Wiliot, told FreightWaves in an interview. “Now it’s truly an environment where the Ambient IoT devices are at an all-time high, and now the dependency is to get real-time visibility on all the assets and the items out there, and then go one level further.