With the rise of e-commerce, businesses have started to sell their goods across the country, and even across the world, so it is essential to have a solid and reliable transportation solution that is up to the task.
Whether by air, sea, or road, providing customers with quick delivery times is a must, especially with e-commerce being as popular as it is. The backbone of all logistics is a transportation solution that is efficient and consistent.
Like all industries, transportation has been drastically shaped and evolved by the ever-growing rise of technology. Each year new technology is implemented more and more to create more reliable and speedy transportation solutions.
Throughout this article, we will go through some of the more prominent transportation trends that are shaping the industry.
In the e-commerce world, fast shipping times can significantly increase your chance of repeat buyers, so a search for faster delivery methods is always at the forefront of transportation innovation.
Some of the most recent developments in faster transportation solutions are bulletrains and transport capsules. Both bulletrains and transport capsules travel an astronomical increase in delivery times thanks to their incredible speed. The use of these high-speed solutions like hyperloops will allow high-priority or perishable goods like food, medical supplies, and more to reach their destination promptly.
Autonomous technologies have made their way into many parts of the transportation industry, reducing human error and increasing consistency.
One of the most significant autonomous trends to hit the transportation industry is self-driving trucks. While autonomous trucks are far from ready for use, progress is still being made. One of the biggest hurdles the technology must overcome is operating on city streets with heavy traffic.
Though autonomous trucks aren't quite ready for the road, transportation businesses have begun to prepare for the upcoming changes the integration of these trucks will require. Some of the ways this is being done is by equipping trucks with self-navigating management systems that use artificial intelligence to learn from real drivers.
Though the idea of autonomous trucks seems farfetched, Tesla has already created a semi-truck with autopilot features to facilitate the transportation process. Walmart, Loblaws, and many other companies have already ordered these Tesla trucks for their commercial transportation.
As mentioned previously, some transportation businesses are equipping their trucks with artificial intelligent computers to learn how their trucks are used during delivery. This is done so artificial intelligent equipped vehicles can learn to evaluate road conditions and act appropriately.
Also, through vehicle-to-vehicle communication between trucks, learned information can be shared to make all other trucks within their ecosystem more intelligent. Thanks to vehicle-to-vehicle communication and 5G technology, the adoption of autonomous trucks will not only be easily integrated when the technology is ready but can also make these vehicles potentially better drivers than human operators.
Numerous efforts have been made to minimize the number of stopping and checking points commercial vehicles must make. The results of these efforts are micromobility, innovations in last-mile connections, mobility hubs for multimodal transportation, and building platforms for ticketless travel.
Micromobility refers to the use of smaller modes of transportation such as bikes and scooters for the final stretch of the delivery process, usually less than 8 kilometres. Though it is a relatively new development, micromobility looks to be the answer to the first to last-mile problem while also narrowing the gap between the community’s transit services and the services its residents need.
Just about every industry has adopted blockchain technology in some sense, with transportation being no different. Blockchain has become one of the most transformative technologies to emerge within the transportation space in recent years.
One of the more prominent uses for blockchain in the transportation industry is the infallible compiling and retaining of accurate performance history records. Also, through blockchain technology, users can find out all of the details of a used vehicle before deciding to purchase. Due to the transparent and fixed nature of blockchain technologies, all transactions are viewable and will be retained, ensuring that the information about the truck is trustworthy.
The transportation industry is constantly changing and progressing each year, with no signs of stopping. There are always new developments being made, with technology typically being at the center of most of these new implementations. With this steady growth, it is clear that the optimizations and improvements of transportation will continue to change and evolve for the foreseeable future.
At FlexSpace Logistics, we offer comprehensive transportation solutions across Canada, so regardless of the location of your business, we will have the resources to accommodate. We will handle your shipping and logistic needs with care so you can get back to the more pertinent aspects of your business.
If you’d like to get started, get a quote today, or contact one of our FlexSpace Logistics advisors to find the right solution for your business at 1-844-985-3539.
