Top 5 Trends that will change the future of Logistics industry

Unmanned robots controlled by AI, Drones that can carry cargo from point A to point B despite negative circumstances, and Autonomous vehicles that can drive and unload by its own. This isn’t some Hollywood sci-fi movie scene. This is the actual picture of imminent Logistics future trends in the industry.

Technology already has its foothold in logistics industry at the moment.  Big names in the automotive industry like OTTO, Tesla, and Mercedes-Benz etc. have already progressed impressively in this.

For instance, many companies have successfully tested features such as platooning, autonomous driving etc.

An-Effective-Efficient-Employee-Transport-Solution-6

In short, Logistics future trends is going to faster, leaner and above all, it will be self-sufficient and efficient in few years.

Let’s dig deep into such remarkable trends of Logistics industry that will change the face of it.

1.Autonomous Trucks

Lately auto-giant Mercedes-Benz revealed their autonomous future truck which according them will be on production by the year 2025.

The news literally broke the internet and reached nook and corner of the world.

However, it is indeed true that people has always been intrigued by the futuristic aspects so obviously, news like this will get a huge thrust.

But think about the technological side and the changes its going to bring in the logistics industry in the future.

The autonomous truck of Mercedes-Benz has two modes, obviously a manual driving mode and an auto-pilot mode. The cockpit of the vehicle has an onboard tablet with which a driver can control every aspect of the vehicle including navigation.

The vehicle can steer on its own and can avoid obstruction with the help of complex sensors and AI.

Iveco (Italian vehicle manufacturing company) is doing research on their version of autonomous trucks and is positive about commercial manufacturing within years.

What makes Iveco trucks different is that they use a natural gas engine to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their truck design is somewhat round shaped for aerodynamics.

The brain of these autonomous trucks i.e. the cockpit will have monitoring system either detachable or non-detachable, which will enable the driver to control every aspects of the vehicle.

These cockpits will have sufficient amount of space for the driver to relax and to become a mini office when the vehicle is in autonomous mode.

These mini offices can monitor the health of the driver, cabin temperature vehicle performance; routes, pollution (inside the cabin) etc. level so that maximum safety of the vehicle as well the driver can be assured.

Usually, a truck requires two drivers for commute if the journey is long.  In the case of autonomous truck only one driver needed for the entire commute.

2.AI (Artificial Intelligence)

AI is going to be the sole reason behind the transformation of most of the industries in the future. In the case of logistics and supply chain industry data-driven, self-learning and machine learning system will revolutionize manufacturing, logistics and warehouse industry.

First of all, there is going to be on-demand for fast delivery. After understanding the demand Amazon started working on drone delivery and has successfully tested their drone (Prime Air) which can guarantee speedy delivery of items.

Another study by,    DHL’s Logistics Trend Radar 2016 says that man along with robot will support all the need of logistics business in the near future.

Robots and AI will help in stacking and arranging a checking on orders within minuscule of time.

Read Also: “GPS tracking : Tracking Your Employees, Ethical or Not?”

In the digital world each and every industry is thriving in the midst of a sea of data. In the case of logistics, big companies ought to have a co-ordination between thousands of employees and vehicles in-order for their daily business to take place.

By leveraging data platforms AI system can predict anomalies and automate workflows which will make the job easy.

3.Robotics

Along IOT, machine-human interaction is also developing when it comes to logistics. Augmented Reality (AR) accessed via smart glasses used for vision picking enables intelligent hands-free operations.

In the case of robotics, DHL has already implemented collaborative robots in their logistics future trends where they work along with human in complete harmony.

These robots are mostly deployed in container loading and unloading, stationary piece picking, custom packing etc.

This kind of collaborative robots are called as Cobots. IDC in their latest statement revealed that by 2018 30% of all the new robotic deployment will be Cobots, which will perform much faster than the current ones.

Lately, locus has put forward a type of cobot in the competitive robotics market named as Locusbot which can help warehouse employees increase their productivity.

4.Blockchains and Smart Contracts

Block Chains have extensively been used for BitCoin related activities for so long. But little do people know that they have other uses.

Blockchain will enable Smart Contracts which will end all the disputes over quality, late payments, delivery etc. once and for all.

Major companies like HP, IBM and GE have already started huge amount in the technology.

Smart contract enables execution and delivery product and delivery services that have once been agreed upon.

Smart contract automatically triggers the next step in the process avoiding any room for fraudulent or dubious activities.

5.Uberization of Trucks

E-retailing is growing day by day. It’s going to so big that truck owners have to automate and lean towards mobile-based hiring solution for moving goods.

Mobile apps will be the crucial aspect of this type of new system. Exactly like Uber a fleet manager will be able to hire containers and trucks from point A to point B with a fee for better and fast transportation of goods.

Top 5 questions about GPS Car Trackers

Parking cars at unknown places have always been a frightening experience for car owners. Since car theft rates is on a global rise. The probabilities of someone stealing your car are high. To avoid such, the most thoughtful thing to do is to install a GPS car trackers to your vehicle so that you don’t have to be concerned or worried.

GPS Car Trackers

However, there are some obvious queries that will be in the mind of a buyer as there is a plethora of devices and software to choose from.

An-Effective-Efficient-Employee-Transport-Solution-6

So let’s address five of those important questions

1.GPS tracking device are they difficult to install and use?

The process is a bit tricky, however; those who are familiar with car parts can do this without any confusion.

First of all, open the gear console and take out the meter wire, make sure that the engine is running and the wire is singled out so that it can be connected to a GPS device.

Before any connection to the GPS device make sure that an earth wire is connected to the GPS console.

GPS console mainly has three sockets, Antenna socket, and Fuel and power aux socket.

After making proper connection the device should be hidden in somewhere where none would suspect.

Read Also: “Top 5 Dominant Trends in Commercial Fleet Management Sector”

Before hiding the device make sure that signal is coming through the connection between battery and the device is tight and proper.

2.How many types of GPS trackers are there in the market?

Passive GPS trackers/GPS loggers

This type of devices can gather information but won’t be able to send it anywhere. Instead of sending, the device will store information like speed, location etc to the memory card of the device.

The data can be retrieved later on from the memory card inside the device.

Active GPS tracker

Active or real time trackers will constantly send data to your device allowing the user to monitor his assets real time. To use the device, it has to be wired with the battery connection of the car.

3.How much does a GPS tracker cost?

Investing money on a GPS tracker is just like investing on insurance. Even though u may find the cost unwanted in the case of a mishap you will know how much worthy it is.

Costs of the device vary in accordance with the type of device that’s installed in your vehicle. On Amazon price range starts from $13 for basic GPS trackers. The price is much cheaper for the Chinese version on Alibaba.com in which price starting from just $1.

However, There are complex GPS tracking system which can provide more information than just location tracking. They can seamlessly integrate with hardware’s as well as software and can come up with vivid data which not only guarantees advanced safety for your vehicle but also to increase the efficiency of it. Cost of these tracking system depends on the number of hardware integration, software used, cloud support, vendor support etc.

4.What to consider while buying a GPS tracker?

Buying a GPS tracker is indeed a great decision, however, there are certain factors that has to be taken into consideration.

Compatibility: Make sure that the device is compatible with your car model so that it can

  • Collect all the date that the company had promised
  • It would not cause any irregularity in the normal functioning of the car.

Security: The device in accordance with its capability will collect data on a daily basis. Make sure that the company promises absolute security in the data transfer between your device and the GPS tracker.

User Experience: Make sure that the data collected by the GPS system is delivered to you in a way that you are getting the exact picture of what you have intended.

Reliability: Make sure that the device that you are purchasing is of top quality and worth every penny that you spend on it.

5.How to recover a stolen vehicle with the help of GPS tracker installed in your car?

User can set geo-fence (restrict the travel limit of vehicle) in their GPS system. If a vehicle has breached the fence, notification will be sent to the user so that he can directly approach the police so that police can track the vehicle in real time.

If the thief is trying to tamper with the GPS tracker, notification will be sent to the user with exact location and alert that someone is tampering with it.

Top 5 Ways to Reduce Employee Transportation Cost Using a Management System

Transportation of employees has now become one of the major factors in retaining them. However, Transportation costs are hefty and can prove to create a lot of economical problem for any company. So how to reduce employee transportation cost so that precious money can be saved? If cramming up employees in vehicles is the first idea that came to your mind. Look at the image below.

The solution to this issue should be efficient, cost-effective and at the mean time it should make the employees feel that they are safe and their transportation is reliable .All these can be achieved with an added bonus of cost-reduction with the help of an efficient Transportation Management System.

How To Reduce Employee Transportation Cost

Secure-&-Manage-your-Employee's-Daily-Commute-Contact-Us

Let’s see how.

1.Optimize the routes with Automation:

Often company vehicle travels through routes which cost a lot of time and money.  Route optimization equips a fleet in predicting cost-effective routes for every vehicle in a fleet.

The factors that can influence route optimization are,

  • Number of turns or intersection
  • Traffic congestion or any kind of protest that’s blocking the route
  • Weather
  • Safest route etc.

All this can be implemented in a fleet with the help of a Transportation Management Solution. Their software is constructed with the help of complex algorithm which can perform this task with ease.

2.Increase efficiency and decrease manpower:  

After fuel and vehicle maintenance manpower is the costliest aspect of a fleet business. Often a lot of fleet employees will be kept in as reserve in fear of any mishap. A management system can perfectly automate work flow, reduce paperless transaction, reduce telephonic conversation etc. in short; The Employee Transportation Management System helps in increasing the overall efficiency and helps in cutting down the employees of a fleet business.

3.Elimination of dry route:

Dry routes occur due to lack of good management inside a fleet. Since fuel wastage is the most hazardous issue for fleet business. Dry routes can prove to be deadly.

Read Also:“10 Accurate Predictions From Movies About Transportation”

Dry routes mostly occur due to miscommunication, poor route optimization, lack of an efficient notification system for employees, etc.

An advanced Transportation management system can automate the entire process so that there won’t be any scope for miscommunication between transport managers, employees and drivers.

Route automation is the forte of a well made Transportation management system. The system can be easily integrated to mobile devices to that notifying the people associated with a fleet will be carried out efficiently and easily.

4.Complete monitoring of your vehicle and driver:

Drivers are the key to the success of any transportation business. The exact opposite can happen if the driver behavior is not aligned with the vision of the company.

To make sure that everything is right monitoring is the only solution. Monitoring is not confined to tracking or even watching the live feed. An advanced transportation management system can integrate with multiple hardware so that data can be collected both real-time and non-real time.

Bad driver behavior like, idling, harsh breaking, unscheduled stops etc. can be monitored through this hardware.

5.Analytics:

insights are one of the most remarkable inventions of mankind. Any analytics software will integrate with seamless data and will predict possible outcome and rectification methods so that necessary steps can be taken to prevent it.

Apart from predicting outcome analytics can give a clear picture of what’s happening with the fleet at the moment and why is not efficient. For instance, if there is an issue with vehicle allocation, analytics will point out there the issue is and will suggest better methods to increase the efficiency.

Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Public Transportation and Urban Mobility

AI has always been fascinating. The AI impact on public transportation has fueled our wildest dreams with quixotic thoughts which are far beyond reality. Thanks to Mr. Steven Spielberg for planting surreal picture of AI through his movies AI, Minority Report, and Bicentennial Man etc.

But let’s see things in a realistic perspective, why do we need so much progress in AI and Machine learning especially in Transportation sector.

Accidents are at all-time high this year. And above all transportation cost and fuel scarcity is increasing day by day. This tough situation demands the presence of AI for error-free and efficient decisions.

An-Effective-Efficient-Employee-Transport-Solution-6

So the question here how can it improve transportation and urban mobility?

Let’s discuss.

Automated Vehicles

Automated vehicles have the potential to dramatically improve road safety and revolutionize our transport systems.” – Ben Howarth, Senior Policy Adviser on Motor and Liability, ABI

At present truck driver shortage is a big problem all over the world with an average employee turnover percentage of 90, the only solution to this crisis is self -driving trucks.

Big names in the commercial transportation business like Uber, Tesla, and Google are continuing their research on autonomous vehicles and it is expected that a huge breakthrough will happen soon.

Mercedes-Benz has already gone so far in their research and it is believed that they will unveil their fully autonomous truck by 2025.

Otto another big name in the commercial truck manufacturing industry is also doing full-on research regarding autonomous trucks.

Lately, it was reported that Alvin Chin, Senior Researcher, Machine Learning in the BMW Technology Group, Chicago at BMW North America, has spoken in an interview that BMW uses machine learning in the development of connected cars technology. Their machine learning app is the main tool they have been using for this purpose. These apps pull data from the cars to analyze it so that the AI associated with the system can provide customers with an improved driving experience.

Connected cars are one of the major factors that will lead to the autonomous vehicle.  It is expected that around 381 million cars will be connected by the end of 2021.

Anupam Malhotra, Audi of America’s director of connected vehicles lately in an interview said that,

Clearly, Audi sees the industry changing in many significant ways in the next 10 years,” “On the technology side, today you talk about fuelling. Tomorrow it will be charging. Today it’s range anxiety. Tomorrow it’s range management.”

AI-driven Response System

Our lives have now been so much intricately woven into mobile phone-based apps’ especially to social media apps. Be it Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or even Snapchat. People are connected to each other like never before. AI can make use of this situation and can respond to issues in lightning speed.

Read Also: “GPS tracking : Tracking Your Employees, Ethical or Not?”

For instance, imagine a scenario where there is an emergency situation for an individual in between his commute and he is trying to reach out to the world using social media. An AI system can pick these messages from the gazillion incoming messages and will be able to direct it to the concerned authorities.

AI driven Surveillance System

News came out recently that China has installed cutting-edge AI driven camera system which will help police to detect anomalies in driving as well as identifying people in the street.

The cost of the surveillance system is said to be 20 Million USD and one of a kind in the world.

Chinese government installed the surveillance system as a part of their Skynet Operation, the nations anti-corruption program.

AI-driven surveillance cam installed inside a vehicle can detect any anomalies in the driver behaviour and can notify authorities so that effective steps can be taken to prevent accidents.

Improve Traffic using AI Driven Transportation Management Solution

Transportation Management system/solution driven by AI with the help of a myriad of data’s like, weather report, vehicle data and road sensors can come up with excellent suggestions to manage city traffic.

This system can offer its users’ mobility map of the city so that migration of traffic can help improve the safety of people.

Around 1.3 million people die on roads annually and AI driven management system can bring unbelievable changes to the existing condition.

Since the days to come are of autonomous vehicle these type of system can seamlessly integrate with the cars and can assure safety for people.

Conclusion

It is expected that AI market which is now at USD 1.2 Billion will be 10.30 billion by the end of 2030. The future is shining brightly because of AI. Lives will be simpler, safe and fast. From Dawn to dusk AI will be helping us in one way or another.

Will 200-mph Hyperloop Model Transportation System By Arrivo End Traffic Congestion?

Elon Musk has become an iconic figure for tech enthusiasts all over the world. His celebrated persona has become equal to that of Steve Jobs. Lately, he broke the internet when he put forward the idea of connected cities with a lightning speed hyperloop transportation system.

However, it seems that his ex-employee has beaten him fair and square by starting the construction of a remarkable high-speed Transportation System.

A new company called Arrivo founded by Brogan BamBrogan is behind the latest tech innovation. Brogan was a former SpaceX engineer founded by Elon Musk.

Secure-&-Manage-your-Employee's-Daily-Commute-Contact-Us

Described as ‘Super Regional Network’ Brogan revealed to Fortune.com that,

What we’re focused on is connecting regions to themselves,” It’s the main doctrine of Arrivo’s take on the Hyperloop: a “super regional network” that focus on cities and their surrounding suburbs rather than long-distance journeys championed by companies like Virgin Hyperloop One, still the only hyperloop startup to build an operational test track.

Arrivo along with the Colorado Department of Transportation and E-470 Public Highway Authority is planning to construct this revolutionary transport system along the eastern perimeter of Colorado City USA.

Read Also: “13 Amazing Electric Vehicles That Will Change The Game”

Arrivo team comprises of five former employees of Virgin Hyperloop one and two from the SpaceX and AECOM program.

The working principle of Arrivo’s transportation system is quite simple yet innovative. The jaw-dropping speed of 200mph is attained by loading freight to a platform which levitates on a magnet. In short, it uses the Hyperloop technology.

Arrivo uses a vacuum sealed electromagnetic highway as their medium of transport.

Arrivo, the company based in Los Angeles has said that construction of the Hyperloop will start by 2019 and will be open to the public by 2021.

The first commercial use of the system will be from the Denver International Airport to the Aurora Commerce Center. Arrivo said that installation of the Hyperloop will reduce rush hour travel time from Denver Airport to downtown from 55 min to 9 min.

The proposed Arrivo transportation network is said to have 3 main types.

  • One with autonomous lanes
  • Second one intended for freight transport
  • The third will be a super metro.

Colorado has a population explosion since 1970. The rise was an alarming 145% and is expected to be at the brink of crisis by 2035. It is expected that Arrivo’s new hyperloop transportation system will be a relief to the people who are tormented by daily traffic.

The biggest hurdle in front of the company now is the budget itself. The hyperloop comes with a tag of $24 Billion which is insanely huge considering Colorado is a state. However, there are multiple investors in the project who are positive about the outcome.

Conclusion

The Hyperloop transportation system from Arrivo will end the traffic congestion of Denver once and for all in the future. No doubt in that. Another aspect is the job opportunities it can provide. According to news reports Arrivo has guaranteed that it can provide jobs to more than 200 people by the end of 2020.

Top 5 Dominant Trends in Commercial Fleet Management Sector

In modern times, innovations in consumer technology are giving innovations in corporate technology a hard run for their money. Keeping this in mind, you would need to understand on how the commercial fleet management is evolving in the wave of the technologies.

Another hurdle in front of any fleet owner or managers in this technological advancement would be to figure out on how these innovations could make their way into the sphere of fleet management and improve their business.

An-Effective-Efficient-Employee-Transport-Solution-6

Let us now have a glance at the 5 dominant trends in commercial fleet management that will change fleet business forever.

1.Predictive maintenance

Instead of waiting for a mishap to happen, fleet managers will advocate a proactive approach towards vehicle health. Maintenance needs to be undertaken on a routine basis before it melts to serious breakdowns.

With OEM (in built) telematics, fleet managers have better inputs about mechanical and physical condition of a vehicle. When vehicles are going to share this data in real time, a better feedback system is put in place.

2.Autonomous vehicle preparation

There is a widespread interest among self-driving autonomous vehicles. Several automobile giants Nissan and Mercedes group have invested millions in this domain. There is bound to be continuous development and research in this stream with added infrastructure needed to support them.

Read Also: “Failure to Motivate Employees – How It Impacts the Management”

Advanced driver assistance system would be a nice value addition. It is expected to extend much beyond the physical terrain and in the coming years is expected to scale new heights.

3.IoT focus to be more on vehicles

In the last few years all of us have heard of IoT(Internet of Things). This wave is going to spread manifold as we become connected to the internet. It would of prime concern to fleet owners on how it is going to have an impact on their vehicles. With the number of vehicles expected to grow in the coming years,  a Herculean effort will be devoted  to research on how they are going to interact with the environment.

This growth is expected to churn in benefits for the mobile workforces. The benefit is likely to spell over to plumbers, landscaper or pest control that is on the field jobs.

4.Better choices related to OEM telematics

This is not something new! But in the coming year it is likely that more companies are going to offer Telematics hardware as part of the set up. It is for the gamut of vehicles and not merely restricted to the traditional commercial ones.

This promises to be good news for all the fleet owners as benefits in the form of ease of adoption, vehicle data in a comprehensive manner along with zero maintenance is assured. With the help of this software any new vehicle could be activated online, and it does enable real time monitoring as well. With the help of 4 G connections better data connection is assured and mobile workers are better equipped to be productive on the roads.

5.Real-time logistics

The latest trend hitting the ground is the ability of logistics fleet integrating with your supply chain in real-time. The advanced telematics will allow fleet management to be cloud-based and help monitor the location and movement of your vehicles, temperature, pressure and other factors affecting your fleet.

The vehicles will reply on sensors which will automatically integrate the entire supply chain process. The transmit of information to the software will be made easier and generate an efficient invoice and bills for your loads.

Conclusion:

With technology and innovation constantly moving ahead of its time, the entire commercial fleet management community should look out for the latest recommendations to the industry. Fleets needs to effectively manage data, decode it, and use it in effective planning and meaningful KPI’s.

Top 5 Tips For Effective Fleet Maintenance

Fleet managers are aware that fleet maintenance takes a couple of norms, the scheduled and unscheduled.

Fuel efficiency of the highest order with less vehicle breakdowns are quality traits desired for an operator. You need to take a proactive approach as far as maintenance of vehicles is concerned. This will ensure lesser breakdowns along with better fuel efficiency.

Secure-&-Manage-your-Employee's-Daily-Commute-Contact-Us

When you caught up in the vicious cycle of running your business, sadly this is an overlooked aspect.

Let’s have a look 5 tips that can effectively change your fleet management for good.

1. Understand who is taking charge

Vehicle maintenance heads now here as people cannot decide for themselves who is in charge. You tend to pass the buck to someone else. This can be avoided by clearly demarking the responsibility. It would be better to hand over the responsibility to the driver as he is the best person in monitoring and being aware of the situation.

Read Also: “Data Analytics and Its Use in Fleet Management”

Though this decision has to be fleet specific, the whole idea would be to have a system that puts proper accountability with regards to proper maintenance of a vehicle.

2. A maintenance checklist to be prepared

An important way so that you do not overlook maintenance tasks is to develop a maintenance checklist. This could be unique to the needs of your fleet but they need to include

  • Interior or exterior lights
  • Hoses and Belts
  • CV joints
  • Check of wheels, tires or rims.

3. The onus should be on technology

Proper maintenance requires data at its peril. Reports on how management has been performing along with budgetary reports need to be collected. This does go on to facilitate better decision making. With fleet management software, things become a lot easy as piles of paperwork are converted into digital files. This can be saved and easily managed. An icing on the cake while going digital is you get automatic alerts when the time of the next maintenance pops up.

4. In fleet management, emphasis should be put to preventive maintenance

Waiting for a fleet vehicle to break down and then perform maintenance work is simply an inefficient idea. In addition to nightmares, it is also going to shoot up the repair costs. The approach needs to be proactive and schedule routine maintenance. During these appointments, a professional will observe the visible wear and tear paving way for future breakdowns. The problems are nipped in the bud before it escalates to serious issues.

5. Incorporate best ideas from the maintenance professionals and drivers

No one is better equipped to provide you with an idea about the condition of your vehicle. They operate your vehicle on a day to day basis and are aware of the pros and cons of it. It is better to work with a maintenance professional and formulate a plan for your vehicle. If a team approach is advocated towards maintenance it ensures effectiveness.

It may seem a tinge unexciting, but taking care of your fleet is part of routine affairs of management.

Conclusion

Your fleet’s vehicles are unknown to everyone and all drivers rely on them for their day to day tasks, so make sure you are aware of the maintenance the vehicles undergo. Also, look out for the maintenance professionals to get a better idea about their strategies and if they fit best for you. By practicing a proper approach, you can improve compliance and effectiveness.

10 Accurate Predictions From Movies About Transportation

Tech portrayed in Sci-fi transportation movie has always been ahead of time when compared to the existing technology, especially futuristic ones. But where do they draw the inspiration to portray the future in such bizarre/ jaw-dropping/brilliant way?

Ideas from scientists, sci-fi novelists and visionary architects have always had their influence. Above all, the incredible mind has played its part too.

When it comes to the technology used in all these transportation movie, the sky has always been the limit.

But the question here is. Is it entirely fictional? Or is it conveying an idea about the future technology that is about to arrive soon?

Absolutely not! Some ideas are so brilliant and innovative that they actually came to be true.

An-Effective-Efficient-Employee-Transport-Solution-6

Some of them are waiting to be in the future.

Let’s have a look

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Directed by the visionary, Stanley Kubrick the movie set a benchmark when it comes to sci-fi movies. The movie featured a lot of tech-based innovations which were so well-thought that it came to be true later on.

Speaking about transportation system used in the movie, the most important and significant one was the pan-am space clipper. This space plane depicted in the movie has the ability to take passengers from our planet to a space station (Space Station V).

Years later, space shuttle came to be true when Russia launched a low-earth space shuttle on April 9, 1971. Transportation to the space station came to be true in the year 1971 when NASA launched their first orbiter in the space shuttle system OV-101 out of a modified Boeing 747.

2. Star Wars (1977)

The cult classic Star Wars began its journey in the year 1977 and is continuing. The movie has managed to continuously astonish people with its jaw-dropping visual effects. Apart from the visual effects, Star Wars has always been praised for the creativity that is being put behind the cinema in setting the mood for the audience.

Among the various technologies depicted in the movie, the most sought-after technology was the land speeders. The hovering car concept, although featured in many movies, the most noted one was the one in Star Wars.

In one of the recent events hosted by Renault, a new concept car was unveiled by Yunchen Chai. It is a hovering car which is the winner of the car of the future design. Yes, hovering cars is not very far from realization. Let us look forward to flying over the roads very soon.

3. Blade Runner (1982)

Directed by Ridley Scott, it is a neo-noir science fiction which portrays Harrison Ford as a cop who is in pursuit of fugitives that escape back to earth from off world colonies. A classic, which has no equal.

I’m sure all of us have dreamed about flying, not on airplanes, but on our very own cars. How great it would be if we could avoid the traffic and hover above other vehicles? This movie has depicted that fascination about flying a car and landing on top of tall buildings. It is purely a vision for mankind for quite long.

Well, many aerospace companies like DeLorean, Terrafugia etc gone so far in research of manufacturing commercial flying cars. It is not very far that we realize our imaginations.

4. Back To The Future 2 (1989)

Back to the future is indeed iconic in every sense. The story revolves around a mad genius who invents a car that takes you to the different time zones by travelling around to the past and future. This adventure/comedy science fiction transportation movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Read Also: “Hoax or Not? Beer As an Alternate Fuel For Your Vehicle”

Hold on! Time machine has not been invented yet. But yes, the hover board that is depicted in the movie is definitely a dream that has come true. Recently in 2016 a company named Hendo has introduced a prototype levitating hover board.

5. Total Recall (1990)

I hope most of us have come across this Schwarzenegger movie at some point in our life. Long before we send space orbiting probes, and the ones which landed on Mars, we fascinated about life on Mars. Martians we depicted even in cartoons and television commercials.

Total Recall is a cult classic movie that features a self-driving car with a creepy humanoid robot. In it, Schwarzenegger boards the Johnny cab and tries to ride in it without saying a destination and ends up tearing the humanoid robot from its pedestal.

A self-driven cab is now not a dream but a realization. General Motors have announced that their Robot Taxi service will be ready to go by 2019. Soon you will be riding Zoox taxis that are driven by robots. Woo-hoo!

6. Demolition Man (1992)

Directed by Marco Brambilla, Demolition man is a Science fiction movie that has a lot of new technological vision. The lead roles are done by Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. The movie revolves around these two men; one a cop and the other a notorious criminal.

The movie has an autonomous GM Ultralite Police Car that uses Biolinks to adjust the setting of the car in accordance with the driver. Biolinks are not very far away. We have it on our phones or at a place we work. Soon your vehicles will have these and we will have them unlocked by scanning our fingerprint or our iris.

Fujitsu has already predicted that biometrics will be used as car unlock system and will be used to create a personalized driving experience. Now you can forget the hassle of carrying around keys everywhere.

7. Minority Report (2002)

This is another neo-noir movie starring Tom cruise, where he is a cop who is after future criminals. The movie is directed by the well-known director Steven Spielberg. The core theme of the movie is a conflict between free will and determinism. If a crime can be forecasted, can it be stopped? In minority report, the cops predict a crime with the help of 3 psychics they call ‘precogs’.

There is a nail biting scene in the movie where Tom Cruise jumps about vertical car lanes to capture a criminal. Do you think we can have these kinds of roads in the near future? Oh yes we can. Architects Christopher Christophi and Lucas Mazarrasa in 2014 have suggested a feasible design that vertical transportation for megacities will soon be realised in the near future.

8. HER (2013)

Her is about a lonely writer who develops a unusual relationship with an AI-powered operating system that meets his every need. It is a romantic science fiction drama written, directed, and produced by Spike Johnze. It has a great cinematography and is well written, and it takes the viewers through an emotional roller coaster. The lead role is handled by Joaquin Phoenix.

Unlike the other movies listed here, ‘Her’ suggests that in future there won’t be many cars on the road, and people will rely mostly on public transport.

Sounds shocking? Come on, we will have to conserve fuel in the future if at least for the coming generations.

Many American cities already have a huge reduction in personal vehicles as people started using public transportation. I believe a lot of us agree to the fact that it saves energy, reduces traffic and pollution.

9. I Robot (2002)

I’m pretty sure you have seen this Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan movie. It happens to be a neo-noir science fiction action film directed by Alex Proyas. A futuristic movie, it shows an era of robots that assist humans with house-hold work and goes berserk when its program is corrupted.

This transportation movie features a concept car Audi RSQ that is capable of autonomous driving. We have already discussed regarding the cars that drive autonomously and we know that soon it will be a realization and cars will be driving around on their own.

For now, vehicles like Audi A8 and various Tesla cars are capable of autonomous driving. Want to know how it works. Well, put it in automatic mode and take your hand off the steering and your legs off the pedals and the car will automatically sense the traffic ahead and drive automatically. Now you don’t need to get a sore foot trying to drive in traffic.

10. Iron Man 3 (2013)

You all know Tony Stark, the Iron man. Many of you have watched the trilogy umpteen times, especially the third part in which the villain is the infamous Mandarin. Spoiler Alert!

Have you noticed in this transportation movie that there is a flashy Audi concept electric car? It’s not just designed for the movie. The car (R8 e-tron) is real and the beast of an electric vehicle can run 62mph in 3.9s, has 456bhp and have the ability to run 280 miles on a single charge?

Anyway, electric cars are not something new. But an electric car having that much power and runs several miles is a dream come true.

Tesla has revealed their supercar ‘Roadster’ which is the fastest electric car in production. It goes from 0-60 in 1.9 sec and has the ability to go 620 miles on a single charge.

10 Future Transportation Methods That Will Change The Way We Travel

To a great extent Innovations in the future transportation methods has changed the way we travel in this century.  But it’s all an outdated topic to discuss now.  Let us see what future transportation methods holds for the transportation industry which in some way or the other, changes the way we experience travelling.

1. Smart Cars

Well, this is something that’s already taking its place in the market. Smart cars were a concept thought of after the implementation of smart watches. The first thing you will notice about these cars is its shape and size. They are small and compact in size.

Secure-&-Manage-your-Employee's-Daily-Commute-Contact-Us

Smart cars use artificial intelligence assistance offering you a hassle-free driving. It can give route suggestions, be autonomous in driving, talk to you when you are behind the wheel, and sometimes it can also measure your emotional responses.

As they say ‘A smart car for smart drivers.’

2. Urban transport pods

Imagine jumping into a moving pod and travelling to another part of the city?  That is what an urban transport pod is all about.  When the plan for this future transport was being made, it aimed at developing a system for urban transportation in a sustainable way.

No such pods are out and running yet, but soon we will have the opportunity to travel in one of them. They are certainly environmental friendly and easy methods in the transportation industry.

3. SkyTran

All of us have wasted a lot of time in traffic and wished if we could just fly above all and reach our destinations. That’s the idea that SkyTran brings to us. SkyTran is a self-driving monorail that allows you to fly 20-25ft. above the ground for a 10min trip.

The government   should make these new technologies being tried out at different stations for a stretch of 1km in various countries, since the technology is almost about to make its place in many parts of the US.  The first fully-fledged SkyTran is going to make its entry through Logos in Nigeria by 2020. We are really excited to fly though!!!! Aren’t you??

4. Maglev Trains

The Magnetic levitation train, or as commonly known, the Maglev trains, uses electromagnetic field repulsion technique to float over a predefined route.

In MagLev trains, the vehicles are lifted by magnetic fields which travel through a pre-decided path that has no physical contact with the trains. Instead, they are automatically moved through the magnetic field. This revolutionary transportation can be seen as very cheap, fast and easy.

Read Also: “10 Things That Can Go Wrong in Employee Transportation”

The same technology will be put to use in roads in such a way that a platform will be levitating on a predefined path that can carry your vehicle from one place to another quickly. Elon Musk, The face of Tesla has already put forward his concept of levitation transport and it is believed that within a couple of years he will make it happen.

5. Super Cavitation

The Super Cavitation transportation follows the submarine technology and can travel underwater at 750mph.  When an object is submerged under water, it starts creating bubbles. This phenomenon is known as Super Cavitation. The same technology being applied to the transport industry will soon change the way people travel

Since the bubbles are filled with gas it reduces the contact friction up to 900 times than that of normal. Owing to this reduction only a small force is required for quick propulsion. Regarding the transportation applications, many reports state that it can get you travelled from New York to London in just an hours’ time in a submerged pod that can run through waterways.

6. Skylon

As the name suggests, Skylon is an aircraft transport technology and can reach you even to the earth’s orbit in just 4-5 hours. That fantastic day isn’t far now. The agency that’s researching on this has said it won’t just help you travel anywhere in the world in just 4-5 hours, but also give you a chance to travel the space.

The Skylon is powered by a new technology engine SABRE. It has the ability to move the aircraft 5 times faster than the sound in the atmosphere.  It is considered as one of the cheapest ways to achieve your space dreams.

7. Nuclear Powered cars

Uranium is used to power cities, submarines and planes. How about a vehicle?  As crazy as the idea sounds, nuclear powered vehicles might happen in the future but not to a public transportation level as danger surrounding the technology is too high.

China has already announced that their nuclear-powered rockets will be good to go by 2040.

8. Hyperloop

This high-speed train system, Hyperloop, has started a revolutionary way of the new train system. The concept plans to carry passengers at a speed of 700mph through a tube. With the previously proposed technologies, Hyperloop will allow floating of trains using magnetic fields like the Magnetic levitation train.

Though the project is just under the news, nothing has been confirmed about its launch. Many people seem to back the theory of hyper loops, but the feasibility of the project is yet to be tested.

9. Teleportation

Science is working on your worry of the long morning commute and public transit dilemma. The teleportation works on the phenomenon that scans your body, grasping all your favorite parts, and transmitting it onto another point in a fraction of the second.

Many people call the technology the ‘Star Trek’. If this technology really comes into existence, it won’t be difficult for you to travel from point A to point B by just crossing the space between them. Sound interesting, what say?

10. Space Elevator

The Space Elevator concept was first proposed in the year 1985. Many people call it a fiction due to its idea of a giant elevator carrying us from the earth to space.  The technology will allow a carrier to transport passengers across planet via a cable.

Space Elevator’s idea of space transportation system being developed can make traveling to Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) a daily event and transform the global economy.

Conclusion

Technology without a doubt, will bring significant change to our future transportation methods. Future transportation methods are not long in distance, its almost near, so keep in touch with us to be updated on everything new.

GPS tracking : Tracking Your Employees, Ethical or Not?

GPS trackers are a boon to mankind and can be named as one of the most important inventions of this century. . It is installed in various devices like mobile phones, wrist watches, cameras and what not. We cannot agree more to the fact that navigating has become quite easy with the help of navigation tools that precisely show the best shortest route that can be taken along with the traffic details. But the possibilities of GPS tracking system are not constrained to these.

An-Effective-Efficient-Employee-Transport-Solution-6

Invasion of privacy is one of the ethical issues of GPS tracking which is discussed about a lot. Knowing where a person is at any time can infringe a person’s basic freedom as such because the system can provide information about an individual even without their consent. At present there are no laws that are violated by tracking a person as such.

However, in the case of various industries employers save a lot of time and money by using GPS as an amazing tool to watch over their employees’ movements. For example in case of a package delivery service or fleet tracking in transportation industries, an employer can monitor if a particular employee is travelling to other locations without their consent. It varies according to job role or industry. It optimizes resources and saves time for the transportation industry. Let us take a look at how companies make use of GPS tracking services.

Read Also: “How Do You Track or Measure Employee Engagement”

Bosch has recently installed GPS tracker onto their power tools successfully. Although GPS drains a lot of battery, they have installed it into corded models. It keeps track of where the tools are which reduces overtime. Moreover it helps in theft and misplacement recovery. Some of the other benefits include alerts to the cell phone regarding non-working hour activation or non-authorized location alerts. Tracking is free for the first 12 months and later on it will be $9.99 per month or $99 per year for the GPS tracking service to continue. Although a confirmation regarding this is yet to be clarified.

However, according to tech enthusiasts the tracking device installed in the tools will be a GPS25-4 retrofit tracking module that can be installed in all the current retrofit Bosch SDX-max hammers (10 models). However, the newer Bosch models like the GSH27-26 brute turbo breaker will have the GPS tracker pre-installed as standard equipment.

The device is one of a kind and is the exact reason for the hype. Earlier devices like Milwaukee’s Tick and One-Key or DeWalt’s Tool Connect systems etc. were not capable of such extensive tracking as they were only able to connect to a mesh network through Bluetooth.

Conclusion

The use of GPS tracking can be perceived as a double edged sword. When employers are making use of GPS tracker to track the activities of employees, there is an ethical question whether tracking each and every activity of employees is a breach into personal privacy. But if there is a legitimate reason for tracking there it’s ethical and a necessity in today’s work atmosphere. Complete information about tracking and how they use this information should be rightly communicated to the employees.