By Franco Fenoglio, President of the Industrial Vehicles Section UNRAE – Unione Nazione Foreign Vehicle Representatives
The world of heavy transport is facing a delicate transition moment towards a safer and more sustainable carriage management: in this scenario, digitisation and connectivity will play a key role in making this change effective. This is a very serious matter considering that only the latest vehicles are equipped with the most advanced, mandatory safety systems since November 2015 and that statistics show that 16t (or bigger) capacity vehicles’ average age is 11,3 years (higher than Ue average), with negative consequences in terms of sustainability and safety. It is of utmost importance to renew the fleet of a field that plays a key role in economic development, considering that 86,5% of freight in Italy is transported by truck (76,4% in Europe). Urgent measures are required to ensure the renewal of the fleet of circulating vehicles: road haulage must become a top political priority, as it is a delicate task and responsibility to implement specified steps to assure an efficient, safe and sustainable development of this field. It is necessary to shortly outline an industrial and social policy to return an important share of International transport to Italian companies and a development plan for the adoption of different logistic solution as the only answer to the increasing sustainability demand. We are travelling towards the future and there is no time to lose. The idea of “4.0 Transports” is already a reality in the field of road hauling. Assisted and integrated driving devices enable vehicle to road and vehicle to vehicle connectivity, as well as they integrate and assist driving, thus increasing active and passive safety levels, with the help of platooning and automated driving systems. The connection between manufacturers and circulating vehicles allows a constant monitoring activity, as well as logistic and technical fleet control, including remote intervention service to assure a tailor made management of the service. This in case of new generation vehicles: Viasat Fleet will attend to the others with its ready to go solutions which are easily adaptable to every vehicle, no matter what age they are.