FUTURES OF TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

Despite the pandemic, the larger trends in the transportation industry are not going away. The need for more environmentally friendly, resilient and comfortable ways to move around will persist and reassert itself after the lockdowns have ended.

Last-mile delivery usually refers to the transportation of goods from a transportation hub (such as a warehouse) to the final destination (consumer's homes). It might not sound like an area that particularly favors a lot of innovation – but it does. In this article, we explore why it matters.

About 90% of the world's commodities are carried by the international shipping industry, annually. Liner shipping also transports around USD 4 trillion of goods yearly. There are more than 8,000 thousand of ports in over 200 countries worldwide. Here are their current challenges and future trends.

According to the Nature, there are around 3 trillion trees throughout our planet. That's about half the number of trees we had 12,000 years ago. And we chop down 15 billion more trees every year. That's without a doubt a lot. But these tree-planting drones could help us get some of it back.

China has had a bad reputation with regard to the environment for many years. But understanding that looking out for the environment has benefits both internationally and domestically; the country has been changing. In fact, some may even argue that China is, at the moment, leading the cleantech revolution - ahead of the United States and other Western countries.

The autonomous vehicle is set to be as life-changing as the invention of the motor vehicle itself. Modern-day cities have been shaped largely by the mobility that is achieved through motor vehicles, providing transport services to people and goods alike and supported by major road networks worldwide.

Since the very first flight by the Wright brothers in 1903, flight as a mode of transportation has revolutionized our world and how we travel. But what does the future of airplanes have in store?

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have come to stay. And they promise to revolutionize several industries. But, like every other technology with the potential to significantly change things around us, it doesn't come without some risks. One, in particular, is terrifying to think about: drone attacks.

It would be a stretch to say that airplane wings haven't changed much over the years. But to the less careful observer, at least aesthetically, that's what it seems like. But that could be all about to change, as NASA just tested airplane wings that fold up and down - much like bird wings.

A recent Intel study has estimated that the "passenger economy" will be worth US$7 trillion by 2050. The "passenger economy," a term coined by the American technology company, is the full economic and societal value stemming from fully autonomous vehicles. In this economy, there are both winners and losers.

Drones originally surfaced for military purposes. However, since their introduction, they have rapidly expanded to other areas, such as entertainment, supply chains, rescue missions, and so on. Despite still being strangled by regulation in many countries, this is expected to be loosened. After that, it's a world of opportunities.

Flying cars are no longer a distant dream. The race of bringing new vehicles up to the skies is on and over 10 companies are expecting to launch flying cars by 2022. The sky's the limit for flying cars, but are we ready for the evolution of air civil transportation?

A group of scientists from the University of California, Riverside, got inspired by Wolverine, a comic character from the X-Men, who has self-healing abilities. As a result, they created transparent, self-repairing and highly stretchable material that can be electrically activated. Therefore, it’s especially suitable for improving the performance of smartphones, robots and other electronic devices.

The company Hyperloop One announced the semi-finalists of their challenge: to make a good case for how the Hyperloop track might generate economic growth, development, and change the way people live and work in their region. Among the routes was the 90-kilometer journey between Tallinn and Helsinki. But is this happening any time soon, in the Nordics or around the world?

There is surprisingly little information and debate on how to electrify our roads. If all cars become electric, how much electricity will be needed, how is it produced and distributed?

Nikola Motor Company has revealed their Semi Truck runs on hydrogen and electricity. Tesla will reveal their electric-only version in September. While electric goods transport is easier to realise for short-range distances, manufacturers face the challenge of organising recharge or refuel stations on long-distance routes. How ecological will electric semi-trucks be, if the infrastructure they require is massive?

Maas Global's Whim and Tuup are apps that combine public and private transport options to offer consumers ease of mobility. The mobility-as-a-Service market is expected to grow rapidly and create new opportunities for different transport business models.

Owning an autonomous vehicle makes little or no sense in the future unless you run a taxi or delivery service. Self-driving cars will be constantly available all around our cities. They run without cease and only stop for recharging or servicing. People may own vehicles for some off-purposes, but the roles of owned vehicles will be much alike those of horses today.

When there will be cars without drivers, it is inevitable that all vehicles on the road will be monitored, and if necessary, taken over by software that runs the entire road traffic system. Where there is software, there will be hackers, who can hack the cars, and what the car AI thinks are roads.

The social and economic power of millennials will increase remarkably during the coming years. Currently, it seems that major cities in the U.S. might be at risk of losing the competition over millennials to their mid-sized counterparts, and big cities all over the world are expected to face the same challenge in the future.

Demand for electricity off the grid and during peak hours is going up. Without a massive growth of energy storage, a new energy crisis is possible.

Data files have been successfully stored into DNA and extracted from it. According to Wired, researchers from Columbia University and the New York Genome Center have stored a movie, an operating system and other files on DNA molecules. The method is called DNA Fountain.