Hi-tech set to reduce trucks
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by Sally Nash • Almost 20% of trucks will be withdrawn from UK roads over the next 10 years, mainly as a result of advances in information technology, claims the RAC.
In a new report, the RAC says truck traffic could be slashed by 18% because: • Products that can be digitised such as books and films will be delivered online instead of by truck; • In-cab communications and computerised vehicle routing will continue to help take freight off roads; • The road haulage industry is expected to lose even more business to rail and sea; • Companies will be able to make their supply systems more efficient through better information about what customers want and when.
Most of these changes will take place over the next five years, says the RAC: "This tremendous potential to reduce congestion depends heavily on how well freight businesses adopt technology and on transport policy and pricing."
Professor Alan McKinnon of Heriot-Watt University, who carried out the research, stresses that the 18% figure is based on projected traffic growth rather than on current levels. Although the figures can only be "guesstimates", he adds that some distribution managers involved in the research agree with them.