Artificial Intelligence and Transport: what are the possible uses?

We hear more and more often about Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and how it is used in different areas to simplify tasks that usually require human intervention.

Let's start by understanding what is meant by "Artificial Intelligence"

Treccani Encyclopedia reports the following definition of "Artificial Intelligence": a discipline that studies whether and how the most complex mental processes can be reproduced through the use of a computer (...).

What are the main uses in the road transport sector?

The fact that we can process a large amount of heterogeneous information and organize it in such a way that it can be used to put reasoning into practice and make informed decisions, recognize patterns and make predictions is improving several aspects in the transport sector:

• Safety: thanks, for example, to the sensors mounted on vehicles, it is possible to prevent accidents by processing driving data and evaluating the driver's state of attention, it is also possible to improve the efficiency of vehicles, promptly identify and report any faults, plan timely maintenance of the same based on real usage data;
• Performance: traffic monitoring and indication of the best route with consequent time savings and reduction of polluting emissions, monitoring for the optimization of consumption thanks to the creation of predictive models that adapt from time to time depending on the flows;
• Infrastructure: thanks to the sensors installed in the network infrastructures it is possible to identify improvements to be made to the roads, to optimize the viability, reduce the possibility of accidents occurring, monitor bridges, road surfaces, tunnels to report any problems before they become critical.

How is A.I. being tested in transport?

An interesting experiment of how to apply A.I. in transport is represented by the pilot project "Truck Platooning".

The term “Platooning Truck” indicates a convoy of trucks traveling in a column at a close distance with a single driver present in the first truck that defines, for all the other trucks in tow, the route to be taken and the speed to be maintained using the latest technologies in the field of automation and communication.

All the vehicles of this convoy are in fact connected to each other through a sophisticated wireless system. And a single driver can "drive" multiple semi-automatic trucks. Advantages: increased safety thanks to the automatic braking of all vehicles in case of need and respect for the environment thanks to the reduction of fuel consumption due to the exploitation of the wake effect.

Platooning, therefore, represents a real revolution for the road haulage sector that could spread in the coming years, opening a new frontier for the movement of heavy goods by road to make deliveries faster and more efficiently, reducing accidents, traffic jams and improving traffic.

In order to get to such a revolution, however, there is a long way to go and many premises are needed, two main ones: widespread data connectivity to support wirless connectivity and the spread of self-driving vehicles. In Italy we are still far behind. We'll see!