A banner illustration titled, 'Most Trending AI Applications in the Transportation Industry.' The illustration of transport vehicles and an AI-based automated robot.

The Most Trending Applications of AI in Transportation Industry

By Milan Jain Category Artificial Intelligence Reading time 15-18 mins Published on Dec 9, 2022

Know How Innovation of AI in Transportation Is Easing Our Life?

Neither the design nor the price, AI solutions with high-end performance are the success differentiators between the brands. Competitors in the automobile market are always in a very tough situation when it comes to customer satisfaction and product quality. Here, the application of AI in the transportation industry can be an all-in-one solution.

The automobile industry market has shown a lot of adoption of Artificial intelligence. Tractica stated that the automotive need for hardware and software will jump to 26B$ by 2025.

The realization of driverless cars and autonomous vehicles is almost done. We are almost at level 3 autonomy. AI in the transportation industry has given driverless cars, parking assistance, and vehicle tracking. It has even given a new way to edge computing, IoT devices, voice recognition, and many more. Supply chain, marketing, car maintenance, warehouse, and logistics of automobile spare parts are also involved.

As per the current automotive industry demand, the user experience must be fast and flawless. This would make anyone stop thinking about a car to be just as a transportation and more like a computer on wheels. Traditional automakers have to adapt to AI or have to move out.

A quote graphics reads, 'Not only are AI technologies critical for enabling our autonomous vehicles, but they are playing an increasing roles in transforming our customer employee experiences.'

The Advancements of Artificial Intelligence in Different Means of Transportation

AI in Road Transportation

Road transport is a diverse sector, and AI has been successfully implemented in this sector.

This has led to a different level of cooperation between road drivers and travelers. Every manufacturer or technology firm with a research and development group is working on AI technology.

They are developing automated vehicles for personal and commercial transportation. These vehicles have a lot of sensors like GPS, radar, cameras, and actuators (a device that transforms an input into motion). Some of the technology has taken over only a few features like sensor-based parking. Generally, it isn't easy to test automated vehicles in urban areas. Different factors include infrastructure, road systems, intersections, and road signs. So even these types of cars need a lot of improvement.

AI algorithms are mostly used in sharing economy platforms offering road transport services. UBER uses AI in every aspect of its solutions, from matching drivers to route optimization. AI technology is also implied in road traffic management, which helps analyze traffic patterns. This provides the fastest route for the driver. When it comes to AI innovation in the transportation industry, the application of AI in the automobile sector remains the fastest one in the race.

An AI-powered robotic hand holds an airplane miniature at the tip of its index finger. This indicates the applications of AI in the aviation industry.

Applications of AI in Aviation

AI in the aviation industry was integrated into its early stages of development. The aviation industry has seen how AI and ML technology can improve business. AI technology in air traffic operations is at an elementary stage. Automation by AI, ML and data analytics models are improving air traffic management. Traffic management, separation standards, and airspace planning design have also changed. Advanced business intelligence systems are in airplanes. It is a customized pricing, sales, marketing, scheduling, and fleet management system.

A few potential applications of AI in aviation are airplane movement directions, safety checks, unloading, loading, fuelling, anti-icing, and de-icing. The on-the-ground operations like cargo, mail, passengers, and baggage. Ground handling can also be where AI can make a difference, in the process or speed. AI also helps better strong airport security as it can turn historical and real-time data into anomalies.

AI in Railway Transportation

Railways was first established and then developed in the 19th century. It was the most innovative sector of the economy and handled the biggest part of the industrial revolution. Railways lost in the long-term development against airways.

In the 1990s, the development of the internet of things and big data provided railways with many opportunities in the new era of innovation. AI in railway improved the manufacturing process, maintaining rail operators and infrastructure managers. The AI application in rail companies has customized organizational structures to improve performance. This would reduce costs by improving management and revenue against other means of transport.

Automation Of Train operation (ATO) can be a great example of AI in railways. ATO takes all responsibility from managing the process of the driver to controlling the train system. The driver in the train system has various degrees of autonomy. The International Electrotechnical Commission has made four degrees of slabs for train automation. The third slab is driverless operations. The fourth is autonomous and unattended train operations.

Rail-freight was uplifted in competitiveness and performance. Shift2rail is the activity related to ATO on optimizing resource use. Some projects are on their way to better synchronization of container train movements. These decisions are made by the network, data exchange, and real-time Information. ATO was in the testing stage. But as a success in 2018 on the freight Betuwe route, a connectivity route to the port of Rotterdam to Germany.

Railways avoid every interruption of the services they provide which is very valuable. So AI can utilize data power by sensors placed on important trains and their infrastructure components. The AI benefits in railways are forecasting fast or less comprehensive repair and cost reduction. Rail operators must be aware of potential failures before accidents and losses occur. The train operators can reduce fleet reserves if there is any breakdown. AI would help them increase reliability with effectiveness.

Until now, amongst all kinds of innovative measures of AI in the transportation industry rails transportation has been the biggest pride for India.

A foreground image shows a logistic ship, in the background image shows an AI-based automated robot.

AI in Shipping

Recently, river, sea, and inland waterway transport have shown many important developments. A few of the trends are ship traffic has increased and is dense. This gave a path to improve maritime safety and surveillance. The increase in container traffic has called for adaptations to port terminals and good connections to the hinterland. The vessel size keeps growing, increasing the pressure that ships receive on ports and their cities. The environmental factor is also addressed and has moved towards greener rules. These rules are of the International Competition in the global maritime industry. IoT, digitalization, big data, and automation have been game-changers for the water landscape.

AI is the only key technology that is used in intelligent ports. They range from problem-solving and pattern recognition to machine learning. The operating system uses AI for port equipment scheduling (cranes and vehicles) and berth planning. AI runs automated loading cranes and vehicles in the U.S.A, Asia, and Europe ports. AI decides which containers have to unload first, how to stack them, and even the predictive maintenance of port equipment.

AI takes data to tell about the ship's estimated arrival and departure time. This reduces the wastage time for vessels in a shipping port by 20% and makes the logistics more predictable. It allows more transparency in operations about the availability of dock space. This information helps sailors to adjust their speed and save energy. The data is analyzed and collected at the container port for future operations. AI-assisted tools need a day to manage the delivery process and optimize future terminal operations.

The Transportation Industry is a sector that every country wants the best in it. Tourism, airplanes that patrol the border, and the trains that run between national borders imply AI and ML. These sectors keep innovating, and these sectors first receive every best AI and ML application in transportation. The same is going to open up numerous lucrative job opportunities. If you belong to the transportation industry and want to grab lucrative hikes, you should upgrade your abilities by earning AI and ML skills. Take a step today and secure your career for the upcoming 15 to 20 years.

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