Autonomously driving lorries with sensors on board, containers with sensors and cranes equipped with artificial intelligence can all communicate with each other. It sounds like science fiction, but it is no longer so. It is the beginning of dramatic changes in the transport sector.
Professions such as a lorry driver, a taxi driver and a package deliveryman may not have a long life span anymore. Increasing automation in the transport sector and the services and industries linked to this will completely transform the transport sector in the years to come, making everything much more transparent.
The developments in 3D printing also play a role in this. Products that can easily be printed on site no longer have to be transported. In the near future transport will be totally dependent on data. A good example from the USA is Amazon. This company already uses drones for deliveries at the moment.
Present-day lorries are crammed with electronics and sensors. These take over much of the work of the driver. Communication between the supplier and the addressee is now automated. This allows both parties in the transaction to adapt their planning to the expected moment of delivery.
All the electronics in the lorry make the driver’s work simpler and in the end redundant. The thought of autonomously driving lorries that communicate with containers and cranes and also with robots, putting the goods in the right place with the buyer, is more than just a thought today. It could be reality tomorrow.
Industry 4.0 has provided the push towards these developments, and there is no way back. The transport sector of the future will be quite different from today’s, and we, the workers in the electronic interconnect industry, will be in the forefront making all the changes happen.
