Recent Trends in Road Freight Transportation Market
Road freight transportation market is a key component that plays a major role in the growth of the global economy. The road freight industry not only sustains various outputs and jobs within the sector but further facilitates other industries such as retail and manufacturing. Transportation helps to distribute and generate supplies & products globally and nationally, which creates supplementary revenue through exports.
With the freight industry expected to reach US$4.6 trillion in the near future, the organizations involved must utilize the latest technologies and strive to enhance the quality of their services.
With this n mind, here are the recent key trends that are shaping the road freight transportation market.
- Platooning Technology
The utilization of autonomous transport technology due to safety and regulatory restrictions may still be far-fetched in the road freight industry. However, the implementation of platooning technology is well-accepted as it is a great way to decrease the number of vehicles on the road to streamline navigation for other vehicles.
Platooning is a transportation arrangement wherein two or more vehicles are attached collectively in a group with the help of connectivity technologies, artificial intelligence, intelligent driving mechanics, and support operations such as adaptive cruise control. The platooning technology is being employed by companies as it offers benefits such as improved fuel efficiency and less traffic congestion. Moreover, due to constraints such as stringent emission norms and growing road accidents, the use of platooning technology has become a key trend that has been adopted by the road freight transportation market. Moreover, platooning is also be a compelling solution for the lack of drivers in the industry.
- Improvement In Transportation
The concept of autonomous trucks and buses, along with electric vehicles and self-driving cars is yet to be introduced in the commercial market. However, compelling reasons such as accidents on long-haul tours and a deficit of drivers has expedited the production of self-driving commercial transportations.
Companies such as Uber and Volvo are working towards producing self-driving vehicles, which will encourage other companies in the road freight transportation industry to upskill their vehicles. The transformation in technology is significantly improving the industry, and the Singapore government has even announced the launch of driverless buses from 2022. This is influential progress, which will pave the way for other nations to participate in the ongoing trend of driverless commercial transportations. The autonomous technology has the potential to enhance the road freight industry toward driver-less cars which are comparatively safer than human-driven vehicles.
- Digitalization
The road freight transportation market is transforming, wherein various companies are choosing big-data analytics and data-visualization techniques to regulate the processes to lessen the delivery period. The digital reconstruction in the industry is pushing companies to implement advanced modifications to their manufacturing strategies.
With the help of data-driven analytics, companies can further leverage the technology for enhanced decision planning and improving business performance. The industry will also be equipped with state-of-the-art technologies such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Rapidly developing and converging technologies are leading the road freight transportation market toward a future where vehicles will be powered by automation and electricity. Moreover, the above-mentioned trends will assist the transportation industry to grow from human-driven and gas-powered vehicles.
