What will mobility look like in the next 10 years?
Fully electrified fleets, autonomous driving, mobility-as-a-service, connected vehicles…these are just some of the buzzwords that are getting people excited about the future of mobility. With plenty of trends to speculate and insights to unpack, this April Webfleet hosted its annual global online event, Webfleet Mobility Conference 2022, gathering various fleet and mobility experts to paint the picture of mobility in the next decade.
Delve into some of the key insights from the conference below, and see how they can help you design the fleet of tomorrow.
The power of data
Data is the beginning for a new type of mobility solution and plays a huge role in road safety.
Roads continuously degrade overtime due to severe weather conditions, tears from normal traffic and unexpected loads, ultimately increasing the likelihood of accidents. Traditionally, road condition monitoring is conducted by specifically designed instrumented vehicles. However, this method requires time and money and is only able to cover a limited proportion of the road network.
To tackle this, global mobility solutions leader Bridgestone Mobility Solutions is working on a Road Safety Index, using AI and machine learning algorithms to precisely detect and predict road surface conditions in real time, such as slipperiness, potholes, roughness. In the future, with the help of city authorities, drivers of the connected vehicles approaching danger zones can be notified and diverted to safer roads. City authorities can also leverage this data to timely monitor road conditions and manage road repairs.
The power of data doesn’t end there. In fact, data is very much at the soul of fleet management. Telematics technology nowadays can capture floating vehicle data on a driver’s driving behaviour, such as harsh-braking, speeding, and oversteering. This data can be deployed to highlight accident-prone crossroads and areas causing frequent congestion, assisting in the prediction of road safety and necessary traffic measurements.
In the age of electrification, data-driven decision-making is critical to the growth of the EV market. Floating car data can be used to map out specific EV needs, networks and hotspots. Combined with data on the availability of the energy network, businesses can calculate locations suitable for charging stations and advise on the number of charging stations required in an area. The benefits are twofold – a city can not only solve the issue around the provision of charging infrastructure, but also work with energy companies to avoid the risk of encountering energy network capacity issues.
Moving towards an integrated, full mobility tyre solution
Proper tyre maintenance is key to successful vehicle management. More and more businesses are adopting what’s called a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), which can monitor the tyre’s pressures and temperatures, and help fleet managers to make informed decisions around tyre requirements and maintenance.
Data taken from the TPMS can be combined with telematics and fleet management data to achieve a full mobility solution. This is exactly what Bridgestone and Webfleet are doing. Using data generated by Webfleet’ telematics software, Bridgestone is able to make more informed decisions around tyre requirements and maintenance. For instance, if a truck is recorded by the telematics to be travelling 80 per cent of the time on the open highway and 20 per cent in urban environments, this information is useful to Bridgestone in tailoring their tyre selection for that truck. It gives Bridgestone a better picture of what the tyre supplied is expected to do.
Webfleet’ vehicle tracking technology also enables Bridgestone to get real-time alerts on moving vehicles and monitor driving behaviour, meaning Bridgestone can harness predictive analytics to schedule vehicle maintenance before a major tyre problem occurs. This significantly improves driver safety, brings down fuel usage and optimises overall operational costs.
Volta Trucks unveils the truck of the future
One of the biggest challenges facing the trucking industry is the decarbonisation of trucks. In a conversation with Webfleet, Carla Detrieux, director of business development at Swedish electric trucks manufacturer Volta Trucks, reveals the company’s vision to be the leader in zero-emission transport. This includes putting sustainability, safety and the driver’s experience at the centre.
“You see electric solutions coming to the market for vans and smaller vehicles, but for mid to heavy duty trucks, nothing was really happening,” Detrieux says.
Taking this as a starting point, Detrieux introduces the Volta Zero, a completely redesigned truck and the world’s first full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle designed for urban freight distribution.
Unlike traditional vehicles, Volta Zero positions the driver’s seat in the centre of the cabin. This way, drivers don’t have to step into traffic when they’re exiting the vehicle, but instead can go right onto the pedestrian’s pavement. It also provides excellent vision, altogether improving the driver’s performance and knowledge of road events.
“You are 1.8 metres from the ground, and you are able to make eye contact with vulnerable road users,” says Detrieux.“You also get 8 cameras, radars and sensors to give you a 360 degree vision around the truck.”
From autonomous platooning to alternative fuels and everything in between, technology is changing the trucking sector. The electrification of transportation remains key to a net zero future. The Volta Zero signals something great and ‘great’ may be on the way for the global mobility landscape.