Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Shape the Transportation Industry

Artificial Intelligence Will Shape the Transportation Industry

Transportation is an industry dealing with the movement of people and goods from one place to another. This industry encompasses airlines, ships, trucking, railroads, and highways.

The modern transportation industry is evolving to a point where vehicles will be able to move and navigate without help from a driver. One new technology that has contributed to these advancements is artificial intelligence, or AI. Artificial intelligence in the transportation industry helps reduce traffic congestion and accidents, increase passenger safety, lower carbon emissions, and finally, reduce the overall operating costs. 

Smartphone Apps 

Real-time traffic updates are already available through AI-powered apps like Waze and Google Maps. Moreover, by using location data, these apps can even predict and analyze traffic conditions in any locality to keep your travel plans on track. 

Trucking, public transportation, airline, buses, railroads, shipping, and warehouses all involve paperwork. Mobile apps for the transportation and warehouse industries have been designed to streamline every type of paperwork you can imagine. This helps to ease the problem of redundant data entry, illegible or lost forms, and help to gather very accurate data. 

Smooth-running and efficient transportation and warehouse facilities are an important part of business, allowing for goods to be delivered on time. That ultimately saves money and improves customer experience. 

Safety

Whether transporting people or goods, safety is obviously the most important factor for anyone working in the travel and transportation industries. People and goods must arrive at their destination safely and intact. AI technology has made great strides when it comes to increasing the levels of safety.

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Using AI models can help create designs to minimize the hazards of driving in congested urban areas. For example, artificial intelligence is very good at predicting the paths cyclists and pedestrians will tend to use. This information can be used to help to decrease accidents and injuries involving pedestrians and cyclists. AI modeling also accomplishes this is by predicting and monitoring traffic patterns. Traffic congestion is the primary cause of accidents, delays, and wasting fuel. However, AI prediction methods allow planners to forecast traffic conditions. By using everyday traffic data, as well as information about construction sites, concerts and sporting events can automatically time traffic lights or calculate alternate routes 

Autonomous Vehicles

While this technology is still in its infancy, self-driving cars and trucks have received a lot of interest in the last few years. For example, Elon Musk has teamed up with Uber to produce self-driving trucks and “robotaxis” to increase productivity as well as reduce the number of highway accidents. However, at this point, self-driving vehicles are still controversial and their safety record is not better than human drivers. In California, self-driving cars were involved in close to 50 crashes in 2018 alone. Ironically, the problem with AI-driven vehicles appears to be that AI follows the rules of the road too closely; human drivers expect other drivers to do things like slow down and roll through a stop sign if there isn’t any traffic, rather than coming to a full, hard stop. 

Decision Making

AI methodology can be used by over-the-road freight companies to accurately predict their volume, simplifying a company’s planning. Moreover, many transportation decision-making tools can be designed and operated by AI. AI can balance load assignments from thousand of potential route combinations, matching drivers with the right loads to both satisfy driver preferences and maximize productivity. In this way, AI leads to more home time and better earning potential for human drivers. 

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Artificial intelligence can also automate updates for the estimated time of arrival, improving customer experience, and creating a smoother delivery. Driver-assist technology can enhance drivers’ driving skills and reaction time, resulting in fewer accidents and safer roads. Self-driving 18-wheelers and delivery trucks are still a futurist dream, but in the meantime, AI is helping to streamline and improve the process of over-the-road trucking. 

Air Quality 

Climate change is an issue many people are concerned about, and reducing emissions in the travel and transportation industries is a highly desired long-term goal for sustainability. Artificial intelligence can play a big role by plotting out routes that minimize fuel waste.

AI can also help engineers design more environmentally-friendly vehicles, powered by energy-efficient engines. Finally, artificial intelligence can assist scientists in discovering new fuels, or refine existing fuels to be less harmful to the environment.

To say the least, artificial intelligence is profoundly shaping all aspects of transportation, and keeping up with all of the latest developments is challenging. The best books on artificial intelligence in 2020 can help you better understand the trends and to use AI to your advantage