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

  • February 29, 2016
    Apple co-founder to headline Future Transport Summit 2016
    The New South Wales (NSW) Government’s two-day Future Transport summit, to be held in Sydney on 18-19 April, will be headlined by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance has announced. The technology summit aims to help uncover the next big ideas set to transform the transport system; Constance said the future is clearly being driven by technology and the government is not prepared to sit around waiting to see what that means for transport customers.
    Read More
  • June 17, 2019
    Battery bottleneck: EV roll-out at risk
    In order for the take-up of electric vehicles – a key part of the future mobility mix - to grow, we need batteries. And that might prove tricky, reports Graham Anderson Industry and commodities experts fear that the growth in electric vehicles (EVs) could be much slower than predicted due to bottlenecks in global battery market supply chains. “People seem to think that the switch from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles just means you plug your car in rather than fill it with petrol,” a
    Read More
  • September 21, 2012
    ITS International: Meet us in Vienna
    ITS International, the number one business-to-business title for anyone involved in advanced technology for the traffic management and urban mobility markets, is in Vienna to report from the ITS World Congress, 2012, http://2012.itsworldcongress.com/content , which takes place from the 22-26 October. Once again, ITS International will lead coverage of the event through its www.DailyNews-Online.com/ITSWorldCongress-2012 site. We are planning to bring you all the latest preview and live event news from the I
    Read More
  • December 19, 2016
    ITS associations highlight road safety, video analysis, new regulations
    ITS Australia has welcomed the country's National Transport Commission's roadmap of regulatory reform for automated vehicles, Ertico-ITS Europe has been appointed as the work-package leader for dissemination, exploitation and standardisation for the EU’s Cloud LSVA, French opportunities in the Italian ITS market formed the theme of ITS France’s first international breakfast meeting, TTS Italia vice president Diego Galletta highlighted the role of new technology solutions, Chris Philip, ITS Canada’s new boar
    Read More

Highlighted Content