5 Things to Look out for in the Transportation Industry
The transportation industry is uniting mobility systems and technologies into more seamless, environmentally friendly, and accessible advancements. Innovations in transportation can help improve our lives locally and globally. Here are 5 trends that are shaping the future of transport.
MaaS: Mobility as a Service
MaaS is the integration of multiple forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand. This integration is one aspect of the future in the transport industry. MaaS operators will offer customers many forms of mobility options via a single payment channel. This can take the form of flexible fleets of automobiles allowing for seamless travel that consolidate first-mile and last-mile connectivity. Corporates need to embrace MaaS in their operations utilizing software that funnels the transportation journey of people and things.
Last-Mile Delivery
Covid 19 caused record high earnings for eCommerce far and wide. While the pandemic isn’t over, the shift in returning to what life was like before may not happen. It is expected that the last-mile deliveries and curb-side pickups will maintain, if not, increase further. The ease of access and the accessibility of receiving personal packages at home is the new everyday.
Similarly, businesses far and wide need to rethink how they crate their products for large-scale commerce before the last-mile. Choosing a crating service that is eco-friendly and one that opts in for logistical operations is fundamental to staying competitive in the transportation industry.
Automation and Driverless Vehicles
The delivery game is changing towards a constant need for automation. It’s not just about automated robotics in the place of workers, but the mode in which packages are transported. During the pandemic, there was a massive shift in workers leaving their roles (for various reasons) and technologies taking these places on the lines. Automation in the transport industry doesn’t just include robotics taking place in lieu of humans, it considers other aspects of transportation in general. Take, for example, drones. In the US, UPS and CVS delivered two prescriptions via a drone with high hopes for drone deliveries to expand in the future. Driverless cars, drones, and machines are no longer a science fiction fantasy, but a real-life promise.
Technological Intervention with Machine Learning
The demand for saving costs in an industry that has high congestion rates will continue to turn to technology to streamline delivery conditions. Technology can help multiple sectors of transportation work more efficiently with real-time interventions.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence will continue to influence the supply chain logistics of delivery services on and offshore. The transportation industry will continue to harness the power of analytics and data to improve methods of transportation and shipping logistics across the global grid. Leveraging technology to manage, predict and improve the transit network is vital, from reimagining road networks to high capacity and high-speed transit systems.
Sustainability: Electricity driving the force
Transportation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The pressing concerns that the transport industry is confronted with in its transition to sustainably conscious greener vehicles. Between automobiles, ships, planes and trains, the transportation industry alone takes a large piece of global greenhouse gas emissions. The shift into electric vehicles and alternative fuel solutions is the wave of the future.
The sustainability train is laying its tracks on all fronts of the transportation industry. This also includes last-mile delivery services: electric scooters and messenger bicyclists are becoming increasingly popular in richly dense urban areas and city cores.
While it is difficult to predict trends on the rise in uncertain times, one thing remains certain: the push for sustainability is at the forefront of transportation. Environmental awareness is growing all over the world where both consumers and corporations continue to be progressive and aware of the shared responsibilities in reducing an overall carbon footprint. This isn’t a new trend, but the foundation for several trends that are likely to influence the future of the transportation industry.
