Skip to main content

ITS UK: freight experts call for technology to support deliveries

Members of ITS (UK)’s Freight Interest Group have raised concerns that relying on autonomous vehicles and platooning to provide future solutions may be diverting attention away from current technology which could help in the short-to-medium-term, at the Industry 4.0 Summit in Manchester. The group suggested that logistics efficiency could be improved by better communication with light goods vehicle drivers. Additionally, signal timing technology could decrease the number of stops that Heavy Goods Vehicles
March 5, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Members of ITS (UK)’s Freight Interest Group have raised concerns that relying on autonomous vehicles and platooning to provide future solutions may be diverting attention away from current technology which could help in the short-to-medium-term, at the Industry 4.0 Summit in Manchester.

The group suggested that logistics efficiency could be improved by better communication with light goods vehicle drivers. Additionally, signal timing technology could decrease the number of stops that Heavy Goods Vehicles make in towns and city centres to help reduce congestion and emissions, and that this technology has been successful with lorries transporting wings for Airbus planes moving to Bristol.

At the event, the forum heard how the production of some goods are finished and packaged locally in an added value logistics warehouse or fulfilment centre and then taken the last few miles for delivery. The new ways of working highlight the need for the logistics industry to utilise alternatives to deiseal lorries to comply with green city aspirations.

Geoff Clarke, hon secretary of the Freight Interest Group of %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external AECOM Aecom Website Link false http://www.aecom.com/ false false%>, said: “It was heartening to hear many interesting ideas for using technology to assist logistics in the future. Many of those solutions exist today in the passenger transport industry and could easily be used by and for freight companies as well. At the event where the way factories will operate in the future was showcased, it is clear that the freight industry will have to embrace more technology in order to keep up.”

Jennie Martin, ITS (UK) secretary general, added: “The Industry 4.0 Summit showed a lot about how the Internet of Things and blockchain will revolutionise manufacturing, and with logistics as a key part of the supply chain, there are many opportunities for the technology to play its part in the delivery of those goods as well. ITS (UK)'s range of expertise can help facilitate an understanding of these emerging solutions.

Related Content

  • September 29, 2017
    Kapsch integrates Smart Cities’ mobility
    Kapsch TrafficCom will use the 2017 ITS World Congress Montréal to showcase its integrated mobility solutions for the smart cities and connected communities of the future. Visitors to the company’s booth will experience how Kapsch uses intelligent traffic technologies to improve the way people live, work, move, commute, and interact with each other.
  • July 9, 2014
    Gemalto, Powa and Verifone confirmed for CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2014
    The 29th CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS event theme is ‘Users on the move’, said exhibition director Isabelle Alfano. Speaking at the press launch of CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2014 in Paris, Alfano announced that more than 20,000 visitors and nearly 450 exhibitors are expected from 140 countries. The three-day event from 4 to 6 November is the most important in the industry, bringing together the biggest range of solutions worldwide in terms of payment, identification and mobility. DataCard, American Express, Gema
  • July 9, 2014
    Gemalto, Powa and Verifone confirmed for CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2014
    The 29th CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS event theme is ‘Users on the move’, said exhibition director Isabelle Alfano. Speaking at the press launch of CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2014 in Paris, Alfano announced that more than 20,000 visitors and nearly 450 exhibitors are expected from 140 countries. The three-day event from 4 to 6 November is the most important in the industry, bringing together the biggest range of solutions worldwide in terms of payment, identification and mobility. DataCard, American Express, Gema
  • April 30, 2015
    Associations News around Europe
    ERTICO ITS-Europe’s director of partnership services Rasmus Lindholm has met directors of Hungary’s National Mobile Payment scheme to explore opportunities for future cooperation. The event took place against the backdrop of the two organisations’ shared aim of putting ITS at the heart of the country’s Intermodal Transport Roadmap.