We are seeing a movement towards driverless driving.
In July 2018, Daimler AG announced it is betting on artificial intelligence and the Swedish transport company, Einride, unveiled T-Log, a small autonomous logging truck. Moreover, some universities have announced that trials of autonomous cross-border vehicles would soon be operating between Germany, France, and Luxembourg.
Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Daimler Group's board of directors, said at a tech conference in July in Hong Kong that, "Artificial intelligence is the key that will guide all aspects of these activities, starting with autonomous driving."
The fact that he gave his speech in Asia was not a coincidence. The German group is aware that they will need strong partnerships to develop the technology, and the future Asian market could be huge for autonomous vehicles.
At the beginning of July, Daimler indicated that it had obtained the authorization to test level 4 autonomous vehicles on the roads of Beijing (no intervention of the driver on certain portions). It provides the perfect opportunity to test these vehicles in a city with complex urban traffic and highlight the technology to the Chinese market.
In order to obtain this license and to adapt its autonomous vehicles to the market, Daimler has strengthened its relationship with Baidu, the Chinese Google. Technologies from the Apollo platform, dedicated to Baidu autonomous vehicles, have been added to the Daimler vehicles tested in Beijing.
This shows how big companies in the logistics industry are looking forward in the near future of cutting costs and being more ecofriendly for the planet. This will have a huge impact on the logistics industry and can only be positive in the long-term.
Source :
https://delivering-tomorrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/dhl_self_driving_vehicles.pdf
https://logisticsmagazine.com.au/bosch-and-daimler-trial-automated-driving/
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