Category: Digital Logistics

Today, all vehicle manufacturers offer cellular connectivity in their vehicles, either as standard equipment or as an option.

Safety applications for vehicles, such as emergency call (eCall), are increasing as is the ability to connect to Internet information and entertainment.

Communication between vehicles, to and from roadside infrastructure is also on the rise. But what will be the future evolution of transport as 5G is rolled out?

Participants at the ITU/UNECE Future Networked Car Symposium which took place on 6 March 2020 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, debated this and a range of other issues during four discussion sessions held throughout the day.

Let’s not wait for the technology

Niels Peter Skov Andersen, Chair of the ETSI Technical Committee for Intelligent Transport Systems​, urged participants not to wait for tomorrow, but to use what is available now, to save lives. “Let’s deploy what technology we have today, and upgrade it later when the new technology comes along,” said Andersen.

“Some services can accommodate 2G, some services require 3G, some 4G and some might require 5G. If we wait, we will be waiting 10-15 years, and we won’t be able to use the technology that we have available,” he said.

Collaboration is key

The importance of collaboration and sharing information was widely echoed by several participants in the discussion.
According to Eduardo Valencia of AMETIC and​​​ Director of the #VEHICLES7YFN think tank, the implementation of a future mobility model for Europe that meets sustainability requirements would only be possible if all actors operating in urban or inter-urban ecosystems were to collaborate.

For Remi Bastien of French carmaker, Renault​, the key to the success of 5G would be more and more cooperation between different sectors.

Credits: ITU News Magazine

It is widely believed the major economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is that the era of globalization has run its course. That is a myth.

If anything, the seizing up of international markets earlier this year when China, commonly referred to as “the world’s factory,” shut down in order to insulate the country’s population from further exposure to the coronavirus, is actually spurring businesses around the world to further diversify international supply chains to re-double their efforts to mitigate risks while continuing to exploit growth opportunities across global markets.

The fulcrum for such strategies to succeed is an ever more extensive geographically integrated and cost-effective global logistics sector. As a result, firms in the logistics industry are under tremendous pressure to rapidly expand capacity, diversify routes, enhance network agility and resilience and reduce costs.

It is no secret the achievement of such results will turn on how quickly and comprehensively logistics firms’ operations embrace digitalization.

If the economic incentives stemming from greater globalization were not enough for the logistics sector to transition to a digitalized form, Covid-19’s threats to public health and the resulting imperative to engage in social distancing, are making such a transformation virtually inevitable.

Indeed, except perhaps for the “first-” and “last-mile” of distribution networks, where human interaction is all but inevitable, end-to-end digitalization of the international logistics sector, including of backend processes, will be crucial to maximize value added to logistics firms’ customers.

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Credits: Forbes