Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the transportation and logistics industry – for the better.
Transportation businesses face myriad unique challenges, from managing and maintaining vast fleets of vehicles to navigating byzantine supply chains to ensure safe, timely deliveries that keep store shelves stocked, pantries full and the economy moving forward.
Amid an increasingly complex and uncertain regulatory and business landscape, AI is enroute to becoming an invaluable tool for businesses aiming to find efficiencies, make gains and position themselves for sustainable success today and in the future.
It’s important to note that the role of AI is not to replace human decision-making, but instead to augment it. AI empowers fleet managers to make smarter decisions by providing them with actionable insights derived from data. From demand forecasting to optimizing routes and predicting maintenance needs, AI algorithms analyze historical and real-time data to predict future trends and identify areas for improvement.
AI helps businesses navigate complexities by providing a holistic view of their operations and enabling data-driven decision-making. For instance, AI can simulate different scenarios to predict the impact of any number of factors on the supply chain or their operations, such as changes in fuel prices or disruptions in the supply chain. This allows companies to develop contingency plans and reduce risk effectively.
Moreover, AI helps carriers manage unanticipated conflicts that arise from operational decisions. Improved routing, for instance, increases overall efficiency. But for reefer carriers, that gain in efficiency can result in increased thermal abuse as trailer doors are opened more frequently. Predictive data from AI, along with tools like two-way reefer controls, allows fleet managers to make needed adjustments before a temperature excursion occurs.
Harnessing the processing power of artificial intelligence to inform and augment human decision-making helps businesses successfully navigate the challenges of increasing complexity, stakeholder demands, evolving regulation and more.
The following are several ways that AI is helping transportation businesses run safer, more efficient and, as a result, more profitable operations.
Route Optimization: Conventional route planning often falls short because of their inability to account for real-time variables, such as traffic conditions, rapid weather shifts, unexpected road closures and any number of other obstacles that chance and circumstance can muster.
AI can crunch vast amounts of data to predict and adapt to these variables, ensuring that routes are constantly optimized for efficiency and safety. The result is a reduction in fuel consumption (and costs), more accurate delivery times and less wear and tear on vehicles, ultimately lowering maintenance costs.
Predictive Maintenance: Regular vehicle maintenance is crucial to running a safe, effective and cost-effective fleet; that’s no secret. Artificial intelligence can take a maintenance program from proactive to predictive.
AI systems analyze data from sensors embedded in vehicles and predict potential failures before they happen. By identifying patterns and anomalies in the data, AI systems can forecast when a component is likely to fail, allowing for timely maintenance that prevents unexpected breakdowns. This predictive approach enhances vehicle and asset reliability and extends their lifespan, cutting repair and replacement costs and ensuring that operations run smoothly.
Safety Improvements: Successful fleets are safe fleets. And AI is playing a key role in improving safety. Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) powered by AI provide real-time alerts and interventions to prevent accidents. These systems can detect potential hazards, monitor driver behavior and even take control of the vehicle if necessary to avoid collisions. Additionally, AI-powered video telematics systems can analyze driver performance to improve coaching programs and reduce driving behaviors likely to result in safety incidents and undue vehicle wear and tear.
Cold Chain Assurance: AI is also playing an increasingly pivotal role in ensuring product quality and compliance in cold chain logistics. The ability to transform vast amounts of data being generated by vehicles and assets into accurate and actionable insights represents a leap forward in the transport of perishables. Real-time temperature monitoring, the elimination of manual temperature checks, anomaly detection and predictive maintenance are revolutionizing cold chain logistics, continuously improving product integrity and regulatory compliance.
Efficiency Across the Supply Chain: In addition to transforming individual aspects of transportation, AI is also enhancing the efficiency of the entire supply chain. By integrating AI into logistics management, companies can optimize warehouse operations, streamline inventory management and improve last-mile delivery. AI-powered robotics and automation systems in warehouses can handle tasks such as sorting, packing and inventory tracking with impressive speed and accuracy.
What Does the Future Hold for AI and Transportation?
Today, artificial intelligence is helping carriers make sense of vast amounts of data, empowering them to make better operational decisions. And that will continue to be a primary role for the technology.
In the future, though, AI could take over some of that decision-making (under human oversight and within well-defined safety and security boundaries) to automate routine tasks like scheduling maintenance, routing vehicles and pre-cooling reefer trailers. And there is the potential for AI to help ease larger challenges that the transportation industry faces, such as workforce shortages, rising fuel and equipment costs, supply chain issues and more.
