Abstract
The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in freight transport as key enabler is well recognised. However the uptake of recent ICT advances for multimodal freight transport provisions in the UK and Europe has been slow. The aim of our paper is to explore the potential reasons for such a slow adoption and assess how recent technological advances such as cloud computing and Internet of Things might have changed the landscape and thus help to overcome these barriers. Via an extensive review of 33 EU framework programme projects, we are able to consolidate and present current major efforts in ICT developments in the freight multimodal transport setting at European level. We further discuss barriers inhibiting quick take-up of ICT applications in multimodal transport. Resolutions were then explored by reviewing four key ICT development trends recently emerging and evaluating their potential impact in reducing such barriers for deployment. Our contribution is two-fold: it advances current knowledge by presenting an up-to-date overview of existing and emerging ICT applications in the field of multimodal transport and barriers to e-enabled multimodal transport. It also captures some of the best practices in industry and aims to provoke a debate among practitioners and academics via the analysis of how innovative use of recent technological developments could potentially lower the barriers to multimodal ICT adoption and lead to a more integrated freight transport network. Therefore it lays the foundation for further research.
Highlights
Growing environmental problems, increasing fuel price and congestion on many road networks require new solutions to freight transport operations
With regards to the future technological trends that we have identified for an analysis of how those advances impact on barriers to information and communication technologies (ICTs) adoption, they have been deducted mainly from our close observation of ICT developments in industries, as academic literature tends to lag behind those innovations
We further discuss barriers inhibiting the quick take-up of ICT applications in multimodal transport
Summary
Growing environmental problems, increasing fuel price and congestion on many road networks require new solutions to freight transport operations. Recent developments in the field of ICT such as cloud computing, social networking and wireless communication have further revolutionised the ways information is shared and supply chains are structured. Recognising the transformational impact of digital technologies on aspects of community life, future society, and the economy, the Technology Strategy Board launched, in May 2011, an initiative aimed at accelerating the formation of the “Internet of Things” ecosystem of applications and services. As part of this initiative, the impact of Internet of Things for Transport has been examined via expert workshops which one of the authors was invited to attend (May 2011). Priorities identified include development of new user-centric methodologies, managing big data, visualisation and augmented reality, service‐oriented architectures across future networks
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