Transportation, the industry of moving products and people from A to B. If only it was that simple. Globalization, technology, and a heap of other things has made transportation dependent on more than great logistics.
Whether it’s traffic management, ride-hailing, fleet management, location intelligence has made a big difference with real-time data collection, and integration with other technologies.
This blog is going to discuss the future of transportation and how location intelligence has and will continue to change the game.
The Current State of Transportation
This kind of subheader deserves a full report, maybe even a book. A lot of things to talk about when it comes to the current state of transportation, but let’s try to boil it down to a few points.
Transport options, availability and technology has blossomed since the dawn of the industrial revolution (boy, this sounds like the start of a highschool history essay). Despite this, we’ve come to the point where there is a need for innovation and improvement to the overall transportation system/sector, or however we want to coin it here.
In this essay- sorry force of habit.
There are a few challenges and limitations faced by transportation in terms of providing efficient, safe, and sustainable mobility solutions. This includes traffic congestion, air pollution, outdated infrastructure, high costs, and safety concerns.
Location intelligence is one of the emerging technologies that has the potential to transform the transportation industry. It can provide real-time data, predictive analytics, and optimization tools to enhance mobility, reduce costs, and improve customer experience.
How Location Intelligence is Changing the Game
I got ahead of myself here and forgot to give a definition of location intelligence. Pretty important thing to do if it’s the central keyword of your blog. Real sharp work by me.
Location intelligence is the ability to gather, analyze, and act on geospatial data to make better informed decisions for your business. It involves combining traditional data sources with spatial data (e.g., location, distance, proximity, etc.) to gain insights into patterns, trends, and relationships that would otherwise be difficult to see.
Let me elaborate through examples.
Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft are using location intelligence to optimize their pick-up and drop-off locations. This reduces the wait times, and improves the overall experience for riders. Ride-sharing services can also use location to match riders with drivers in real-time based on proximity and traffic conditions. Again, this lends to reduced wait times, and improved overall experience for the riders. At the same time, you’re optimizing the efficient use of the drivers available.
Using location can have a significant impact on the speed and efficiency of delivery, and in turn, on customer satisfaction. Logistics companies can optimize their routes, reduce delivery times, and minimize costs by providing real-time traffic data and predictive analytics. Real-time traffic data will make the drivers jobs easier in deciding what routes to take in order to make their deliveries on time. Moreover, logistic companies can track their workforce to evaluate their employees and keep track of their performances.
It’s an emerging sector within the transportation industry, but robotaxi operations are starting to peak in a few cities around the world. Between August and December 2022, Motional brought out robotaxi’s to test both during day and night in Las Vegas. Their goal is to have a fully operative driverless service by the end of 2023. Location intelligence is a critical component of autonomous vehicles and their success. They need to use location technology to determine their precise location, map their surroundings, and avoid obstacles, pedestrians, and other vehicles. It’ll enable them to navigate and make decisions based on real-time data from their surroundings.
Public transit agencies use location intelligence to improve their services by providing real-time information on bus and train schedules, delays, and route changes to passengers. This helps passengers plan their journeys more efficiently and reduces congestion on the roads by encouraging more people to use public transit.
Location intelligence is also used in fleet management to monitor the location and status of vehicles, track fuel consumption, and optimize routes. This helps companies reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve the overall performance of their fleet.
The Latest Trends in Location Intelligence
I’ve used the word a lot so far, but one of the latest trends in location intelligence is the increasing emphasis on real-time location data collection.
This is because real-time location data allows transportation companies to make more informed decisions and respond to changes in traffic conditions, customer demand, and other factors quickly. Quick adaptability to these unpredictable changes have an impact on performance, whether it is for ride-hailing, fleet management or delivery.
Companies that have found success in their respective sectors have been the ones that have focused on the use of real-time data. That said, real-time location data can only be achieved through another trend in location intelligence:
IoT (Internet of Things) devices. To the (padawan) learner, IoT refers to the network of physical objects that have software, sensors and other tech to connect and exchange data with other systems and devices through the internet. We’re talking about things like sensors and cameras. Transportation companies can now gather real-time data like location and weather from multiple sources and analyze it using advanced algorithms to provide actionable insights.
Without using IoT, quality real-time data collection would be near impossible. And within that, another technology is emerging that will lend to location intelligence and transportation companies. It’s AI - shocking right? AI and machine learning algorithms will be able to analyze large datasets to provide insights on traffic patterns, vehicle performance, and other factors that can help optimize transportation systems.
Why Location Intelligence is important for Transportation
I think there are three main cornerstone reasons why location intelligence is important for transportation. That is: management, analytics and customer experience. At least, I think that’s what you should narrow it down to.
Management
Location intelligence plays a major part in the successful management of large fleets, such as trains, cars, bikes, and cargo ships. With it you unlock the ability to track vehicles and their status, optimize routes, contribute to traffic management and congestion reduction, and provide real-time data and information. By tracking and managing the location of their assets, transportation companies can identify inefficiencies and make data-driven decisions to improve operations.
Analytics
Having location data is great, but what you use it for is most important. Data collection and analytics provides insights about your transportation company that can help improve it in many areas. For ride-hailing and delivery employees it gives them the best routes, opens the door for understanding performance, and lets them keep track of external factors to improve safety and security.
Overall, location data helps companies make informed decisions about where to allocate resources, improve service, and reduce costs. By using location data, they can also predict future demand and optimize their operations accordingly.
Customer Experience
Overall, the biggest gain from leveraging location intelligence in transportation is customer satisfaction. It can improve the customer experience by providing real-time information on the location and status of vehicles, orders, and traffic.
The more information the customer has, the better informed they are. They can plan their journeys effectively, reduce the likelihood of missing their delivery, and get to the places they want to go in a timely manner.
Even if the latter is not possible for other reasons, at least they’ll get to where they want to go eventually. Better late than never.
Same goes for deliveries. Eventually, they should get to your door.
Conclusion
Location intelligence is an emerging technology that has the potential to transform the transportation industry. It provides real-time data, predictive analytics, and optimization tools to enhance mobility, reduce costs, and improve customer experience. Its impact can be seen in several transportation sectors, including ride-hailing, logistics, fleet management, public transit, and autonomous vehicles. Real-time data collection and IoT devices are crucial components in location intelligence, and the emergence of AI and machine learning algorithms will further enhance the industry.
At Roam.ai, we offer products that use location technology to help transportation companies optimize their operations and improve customer experience. To learn more about, visit our solutions pages.