New Technologies Rapidly Advancing Commercial Transportation

Evolutionary technical developments and business models are moving rapidly into commercial transportation and telematics. ABI Research’s recent industry survey ranked Freight as a Service (FaaS), also known as “Uberization of Freight” as the primary disruptive trend for commercial transportation.

“This can have an immediate impact on underloaded freight assets like the estimated the 20% cargo capacity utilization deficit in the United States alone.  FaaS can help fleets absorb unexpected demand, as well as level out seasonal fluctuations.” says Susan Beardslee, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “Companies like TruckerPath, Convoy and Uber Freight are emerging with a great deal of buzz and significant venture capital attention and investment”. 

Advances in telematics and numerous ADAS features are driving growth in vehicle health management systems, including prognostics and repair management.  The industry is moving to proactive solutions targeting preventable occurrences, including work from leading industry suppliers Bendix and Eaton.

Blockchain architecture is moving into transport solutions to address cybersecurity for supply chain tracking.  Beardslee states “These emerging solutions can be adapted for payments, smart contracts, improved capacity utilization, history, fraud prevention, and quality control through industry leaders like IBM and start-ups like IMMLA.”

Finally, digital marketplaces like those from Geotab, Navistar, and Scania One/Ericsson are leveraging usage data to create further customer engagement and retention by integrating telematics and CRM.

These findings are from ABI Research’s The Commercial Evolution: Services, Software, Co-opetition, and Digitization report. This report is part of the company’s Intelligent Transportation and eFreight which includes research reports, market data, insights and competitive assessments.