Smart Transportation

Would smart transportation be a reality soon? With the Internet of Vehicles (IoT) gaining significant traction, smart transportation is soon going to be a reality. The evolution of Internet of Vehicles has led to a natural evolution in the development of smart transportation, an inevitable convergence of the mobile internet and Internet of Things – the “Internet of Vehicles”.  Let’s see how IoV (smart transportation) has been shaping up from 3 different perspectives.

Market Perspective:

As with any commodity, the first and foremost criteria is to make sure there’s a demand for smart transportation. The recent developments such as the growing collaborations between the private and public providers, have given positive hope.  The transportation industry would be undergoing a paradigm shift. The business model would move away from personally owned vehicles to more of a Mobility as a Service model. This is possible because of the unified gateway that manages all the journeys. The users will be able to access all the information on a single interface. This opens up a huge market for SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies.

Unified Gateway – With the developments in 5G, proper real-time communication is not very far away. The real-time communication is key for success when it comes to smart transportation or Mobility-as-a-Service. For instance, in the event of an accident, if the vehicles send vital information immediately, it would be the difference between life and death. Similarly, the usage hours of vehicles can be significantly improved. The standard usage time of vehicles is 2-3 hours. The vehicles in the parking lots can generate extra income for the vehicle owners.

Technology Perspective:

The electrification, digitalization, and automation are the 3 primary developments in the realization of IoV. Though we see an increased number of electric vehicles on the road, electric vehicles with embedded digital controllers are relatively fewer. From the automation viewpoint, there are many running pilot projects for autonomous or unmanned vehicles. This shows a big leap from the R&D, thanks to technological advancements. However, the transition from the pilot phase to the market would be difficult, as the transportation industry is highly regulated. Today the vehicles are not just vehicles. From the smart transportation standpoint, they are a complex web of electronic control units or independent computers. In a luxury car, the ECUs process over 20 million lines of code.

Industry Perspective:

The industry will have to experience revolutionary changes in production, technology, and products, as the cars will no longer be just a mode of transportation but a mobile office that helps drivers to connect to the world outside. Many manufacturers have indicated that the production of gasoline or diesel vehicles will end after 2025. In conclusion, at least eight countries have set sales targets for electric cars and several countries that want to ditch gas and diesel cars in favor of cleaner vehicles. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has hinted that it’s only a matter of time before the country that invented the modern car sets an expiration date of its own. Smart Transportation is soon going to be a reality.