Nearly all (94%) of trucking and other physical operation executives believe their company needs to invest in artificial intelligence to stay competitive, according to a Samsara report released last month.
Over half of the 1,500 respondents across 21 industries are already using AI, and 87% plan to increase their AI investment in the next year, Samsara’s State of Connected Operations report said.
Executives reported AI’s operational returns on investment include reducing costs, boosting efficiency and improving safety, Evan Welbourne, Samsara’s head of AI and data, said the report’s announcement.
"AI is everywhere, and physical operations leaders are quickly embracing it,” Welbourne said. “When used strategically, advances in AI can bring meaningful change to the companies that power our global economy.”
Interest in and expectations for AVs are high, especially as some tech firms hurtle toward a commercial, driverless future. But only 22% of leaders expect the technology to become standard in the industry in the next two years, the report said.
For now, adoption of autonomous vehicles appears to be more limited to robotic forklifts and remotely-operated yard trucks, Samsara’s report found.
Trucking leaders planning to deploy or already deploying AVs reported flexibility and scalability (54%), increased efficiency (50%), and improved customer and community experiences (50%) as their most desired benefits.
AI’s potential impact has already caught the attention of the American Trucking Associations and a variety of transportation businesses, such as Ryder System, which shared last month how it’s starting a group to review and steer ideas and a framework for the technology. Companies are also providing products with customer-facing AI capabilities.
