All
Suppliers
Products
CAD Models
Diverse Suppliers
Insights
By Category, Company or Brand
All Regions
Alabama
Alaska
Alberta
Arizona
Arkansas
British Columbia
California - Northern
California - Southern
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Manitoba
Maryland
Massachusetts - Eastern
Massachusetts - Western
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Brunswick
New Hampshire
New Jersey - Northern
New Jersey - Southern
New Mexico
New York - Metro
New York - Upstate
Newfoundland & Labrador
North Carolina
North Dakota
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ohio - Northern
Ohio - Southern
Oklahoma
Ontario
Oregon
Pennsylvania - Eastern
Pennsylvania - Western
Prince Edward Island
Puerto Rico
Quebec
Rhode Island
Saskatchewan
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas - North
Texas - South
Utah
Vermont
Virgin Islands
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Yukon

Top Trends Impacting Logistics

Jeff Reinke
1/27/2019 | 5 min read
Subscribe
Top Trends Impacting Logistics

Business Insider recently unveiled a report detailing The Top 5 Disruptive Trends Shaping Transportation and Logistics. They included:

  1. Amazon’s Whole Foods Acquisition
  2. Platooning Technology in Long-Haul Trucking
  3. Self-Driving Car Legislation
  4. Machine Learning for Route Optimization
  5. In-Car Voice Assistance

While e-commerce (#1) and smart vehicle (#5) technology do carry disruptive potential, those potentially having the most impact on the industrial sector would seem to involve automating yet another element of the supply chain (#2), promoting autonomous vehicle technology (#3), and advancing the ability to recognize and adjust distribution patterns (#4).

According to BI, platooning software technology that allows driverless trucks to follow each other in a convoy could make its way into commercial long-haul vehicles within the next two years. While driverless tech usually centers around safety and reducing operator costs, the biggest benefit for this technology could be fuel savings. By giving these trucks the ability to follow each other very closely, they face less wind resistance and therefore consume less fuel.

This reduction if fuel usage could encourage even more over-the-road deliveries as e-commerce continues to expand. It will be interesting to see if these gains in fuel efficiency will impact electric vehicle and drone adoption levels.

In working to regulate autonomous vehicle technology, the U.S. legislature is essentially providing a framework for a new industry and infrastructure. This means they must temper safety with consumer excitement and balance the pace of technology with more basic needs like road signage. Although work will continue on driverless tech, national regulations, as opposed to the 20 states that have passed some form of autonomous car laws, are not expected before 2020.

Finally, implementing technology that allows delivery vehicles to process information about its environment in optimizing its route could be another way in which logistics companies can reduce costs and pick up additional business. Route optimization software allows long-haul trucking companies to handle more last-mile deliveries by analyzing schedules, distances, weather, traffic and construction delays in streamlining routes. This could also allow companies to sync delivery and pick-up times in realizing additional efficiencies.

 

Click here to view a full copy of the report.

Next Up in Supply Chain
Bridge Collapse Reverberates Throughout Supply Chain
Show More in Supply Chain