Alongside astounding growth, the transport and logistics sector has encountered challenges in recent years. These include fuel and labour costs, insufficient supply chain management and visibility – as shown by a 30% rate of empty goods vehicles – along with a shortage of skilled workers. These pressures have far-reaching effects on warehouses, fulfilment centres, road, rail, sea, and air services. As a result, the industry needs technology-based solutions that facilitate efficiency, safety, and support crucial efforts towards a greener future.

The sector is one of the most promising industries for future technologies such as private 5G and IoT, as well as adjacent technologies such as edge computing and new Wi-Fi6E/7 versions. Our multiple connectivity options enable technologies for digital transformation use cases and industry 4.0 success, for example, our over-the-top solutions like Digital Vision, Digital Twins, Vehicle Telematics, and 3D environments for training and safety.

With always-on connectivity, our IoT solutions for the transport industry provide businesses with enhanced insights into their operations that allow them to make smart, growth-based decisions.

Navigating the rise of consumer experience
Taking a closer look, online retail sales growth continues to put pressure on the industry. Catalysed by Covid-19, an impressive 4.2 billon parcels were shipped in 2020/2021 fiscal year – a 48% increase compared to the previous period, which is equivalent to 74 parcels received per person in the UK.

Regardless of logistics challenges such as driver shortages, road closures, border crossing complexities or sustainability credentials, the value of customer experience has grown significantly, as has the way people interact with businesses - customers are increasingly doing so through their smartphones, laptops and other devices.

We have witnessed emerging patterns of increasing customer demand for ever-shorter delivery times, as 86% of consumers consider ‘fast’ delivery as 1-2 days. In turn, competition between vendor offerings is rife, with 66% of consumers reporting choosing one e-commerce vendor over another based on their delivery offerings. This calls for real-time, end-to-end visibility across delivery operations and accurate forecasting.

Equally, for rail and bus transportation, focus has shifted from just transferring customers from A to B. Instead, it now lies on enhancing the overall passenger journey. Alongside urban population growth with 68% of the world’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, this will have a large impact on passenger volumes, journey times, and lead to infrastructure pressures for train and bus operators.

In 2020 alone, an astounding 900 million passenger rail journeys were made in the UK. Similarly, forecasts are set for London bus travel to reach 91% of pre-pandemic travel by March 2026, with tube travel estimated to reach 86%. Within this, every mode of transport is in competition with one another across trains, buses, cars, and planes, which may lead to difficulties in attracting and maintaining passengers.

On par with this, staff retention and safeguarding must also be prioritised. 76% of public-facing staff report being subjected to workplace violence from passengers, calling for enhanced wellbeing measures for both workers and passengers.

The potential of 5G and IoT solutions
To overcome these challenges, the transformative potential of 5G and IoT technologies must not be overlooked. BT is exploring the integration of these cutting-edge innovations to solve wide-ranging infrastructure challenges and unlock new digital transformation opportunities.

Automation: Automated and teleoperated vehicles are becoming increasingly popular in warehouses and logistics and can be used in a variety of ways. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are used to move goods around warehouses to free up workers to focus on other tasks. They can also be used to automate yard operations and move trailers around freight yards without the need for human drivers.

Automation also plays a pivotal role in freight forwarder applications and computer vision. It can be used to enhance operations, solve problems, and accelerate decision making. For example, using our Digital Vision solution, logistics companies can identify vehicles and use this information to track the movement of freight, detect damage to vehicles and trailers and recognise or confirm the height, weight, dimensions of key assets. For rail, Digital Vision can be used to spot and monitor overcrowding, passenger density in train stations, support vulnerable and disabled people to help them move around more easily, and detect unusual behaviour to provide an extra layer of safety for passengers and staff.

Vehicle telematics and asset tracking: Using telematics, logistics companies can track the status of key assets as they move through the supply chain, showing location as well as condition monitoring operations to prevent loss. Our fully secure fleet tracking and telematics solution provides complete visibility of fleet operations. Partnering with the leading telematics provider and combining GPS tracking and the UK’s best network, it offers the tools needed to reduce costs, improve driver safety, customer service quality, streamline vehicle maintenance and reduce environmental impacts.

We offer a free EV suitability assessment that helps customers determine which of their vehicles are good candidates for electrification. We can also help customers to identify and install the right charging infrastructure for their fleets.

This combined with Active Intelligence, can improve granular insights into road conditions, traffic congestion and accidents to prevent supply chain disruption.

Data and Analytics (Active intelligence): Active Intelligence enables organizations to drive growth and revenue by enhancing decision making, using advanced location, movement, and behavioural insights. It involves advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies to continuously monitor and analyse data streams in real-time, detecting patterns, anomalies, and opportunities.

With access to one of the largest datasets in the UK from EE – the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G and 5G network – capturing over 25 billion daily data events, and 24 million mobile customers – its use cases are endless. Active Intelligence is uniquely placed to safely share and analyse billions of responsibly sourced, anonymised, and aggregated data points from mobile phone activity across our spectrum.

For example, a large railway company uses anonymised location data to understand passenger demand, journey times and crowding to improve road and rail services. There is also exciting potential to combine data with BT Smart Messaging to enhance communications. In the event of a delay or cancellation, the railway company is able to keep its customers informed by using the combined data of Active Intelligence and smart messaging.

Charting new horizons
By combining various connectivity options and our purpose-built or partnered solutions, we are fostering a smart transport ecosystem prepared to address both present and future challenges while staying attuned to evolving business requirements. This comprehensive approach includes establishing widespread connectivity across all sites, implementing rigorous data protection measures, enhancing supply chain security, and modernizing legacy systems to facilitate scalability.

Embedded within these forward-looking endeavours is our dedication to sustainability. Recognising the importance of sustainability targets in the logistics landscape, we are taking significant strides with our solutions. Our solution for vehicle telematics offers more than just an EV suitability assessment; it represents a commitment to driving the transition towards electric vehicles and championing the green agenda.

Our journey towards climate action spans over 25 years, underscoring our dedication to mitigating environmental impact. Looking ahead, we have pledged to achieve net-zero emissions and embrace circular business practices by 2030, with a further commitment to extend this goal to our supply chain and customers by 2040.

The future of transport and logistics
The future of the transport and logistics sector is exciting. Technologies such as private 5G and IoT are revolutionising the sector, making it more efficient, safer, and sustainable. Businesses that are early adopters of these technologies will be well-positioned to succeed in the years to come.

Here at BT, we are focused on building an ecosystem of various connectivity options as well as purpose-built and partnered solutions, to develop emerging technologies that will secure a profitable future. Just like a symphony is made up of different instruments that all play together, our comprehensive and collaborative ecosystem is made up of the best of the best products and services that work together to create powerful solutions that can meet the needs of even the most complex challenges.

We provide a one-stop-shop approach to transport and logistics, combining our core infrastructure, connectivity and security services with the latest developments and innovations. We are working to provide a seamless experience for passengers: the act of getting from A to B is less important now than how passengers get there. Building a passenger experience for the future will be imperative and the integration of 5G and Industry 4.0 applications will be key to enabling it.

To learn more about how IoT and 5G technology can help drive innovation for the transport industry, talk to us here.