AI and Global Mobility

We all know AI is helping us to give several steps ahead in some differentiated sectors. Many scientists point out that AI is leading us to a new industrial revolution. I have the same belief. AI is increasingly improving our world in all aspects. Today's topic is how AI is helping us in the mobility scope.

Mobility - VCI, Portugal

We are seeing a very significant amount of investments in the automotive industry to apply AI-based algorithms. The self-driving cars are becoming more reliable due to those investments. However, AI is not strictly applied to drive the vehicle.

Mobility - VCI, Portugal

We see lots of other car features using AI. Some examples are the emergency brake systems, adaptative cruise control, read traffic signals to identify the allowed velocity, driving monitoring systems to check if the driver is distracted, systems to adjust the vehicle settings such as temperature, mirrors and seat position, and so forth. These features are improving global mobility by helping the driver to reduce the risk of having an accident and mobilising the traffic. At the end of the day, all these futures will achieve a self-driving car experience with a high level of security and reliableness. Many known companies are studying and developing in this area. Tesla is trying to improve its autopilot system, Google is developing self-driving cars as well, and  Uber is testing the use of robot-taxis. With self-driving cars, we can optimize, monitor, and organise all of them to have more fluid traffic experiences, instead of the chaotic ones we are facing nowadays. We can also explore ride-sharing using autonomous cars to have cheaper and more secure rides.

At the personal car use field, one of the new goals is to help the users to find a parking spot in garages. Going shopping and park is a big problem in today's world. The communication between the garage and the vehicle is the key to use the garage cameras and sensors, so the vehicle finds the best parking spot. Off course, in an autonomous car perfect world, this communications and parking are done by the car, and it parks itself.

In the public transportation field, we are starting to have AI systems that collect real-time data on traffic conditions and customer requests. Therefore, these systems can find an optimal route for the vehicle.

Moreover, goods transportation will also be revolutionised with autonomous vehicles. Autonomous trucks can economise costs and time in the goods delivery chain. Using route optimisation, we can have more efficiency in term of fuel consumptions and time spent in each delivery. This means saving money, time, and reduce CO2 emissions. Furthermore, we can combine autonomous trucks with predictive systems capable of forecasting the demands of goods. As soon as the AI systems predict some increase in demand for a certain region, the autonomous vehicles will delivery more goods in that area. This anticipates under or oversupply of goods. 

We can apply the same logic to the autonomous train. We can use autonomous train fleets to transport not only people but also goods in an efficient way. Yet, we all know the railway problems. Especially problems with schedules. The AI-based systems can make a huge difference here. Using sensors, we can collect real-time data. The AI systems analyse the collected data, and then, output ongoing problems such as failures of the rails and possible solutions in real-time.

Aeroplanes are one of the most used transports in the world. Therefore, improving the planes' availability and reliability is imperative. Some studies and companies are using AI to decrease delays and flight cancellations by using systems to predict the optimal maintenance time. Also, in the planes ecosystem, we are seeing companies trying to plan and optimize their fuel consumption using AI. Here, the main goal is to be more sustainable by saving more money, and also decreasing CO2 emissions. These AI-based systems use the weather conditions, aircraft types, altitudes, route distance, and so on, to predict the optimal amount of fuel. Thus, the aeroplane will fly with less weight, that leads to less fuel consumption and less pollution.  

We can improve even more the way we transport and deliver goods. We saw Amazon investing in drones to do their deliveries. It improves mobility in our cities. By using drones, we avoid traffic delays and human errors. Moreover, we reduce the number of vehicles in traffic by using other transport to make deliveries.

Looking into the sea, we can improve the available space in ships by remotely control them or having autonomous fleets. Thereby, we do not need a crew on board, or at least we reduce the number of required people. Moreover, the ships can have a new design so they can have more cargo area. In the same area, we can also optimise the loading of the ship using AI-based algorithms.

AI will change transportation as we know it. We are facing problems such as the traffic's increase in our cities and its consequent noise and air pollution, and the scarcity of urban areas. The global organizations are starting the use of AI-based and data-mining systems to identify, predict, and solve mobility changes. The global mobility is constantly changing. AI-based algorithms are already dominating the automotive industry. These systems help in reducing accidents and fatalities, lower manufacturing costs, and increase service level, and availability. Although the main problem in mobility is the way people and goods move, the traffic is not the unique point of improvement in the mobility systems.

In short, AI can have a huge and positive impact on our mobility systems by optimizing them to a level where the humans are far of getting there. 

What do you reckon about the AI impact on mobility? For you, what will be the mobility sector where AI will have more influence?