The rapid development of technology is changing the way society functions, with the evolution set to continue to impact all facets of life.
While the integration of the internet into the daily routine of Australians has been progressing for the past two decades, acceptance has grown to the point that it is now changing the way society operates.
While traditional bricks and mortar businesses supplement their trade with an online presence, new market leaders are emerging, such as Amazon, which have grown in part due to consumer connection trends drastically changing.
There is now a real alternative to the chore of daily shopping, with the online world empowering consumers, who now have available at their fingertips unrivalled choice, and importantly, prompt delivery.
Flowing on from the change in consumer habits in the online world is an inevitable shift in the logistics chain, which is requiring truck manufactures to adapt, explains Bill Gillespie, Hino Australia General Manager of Brand and Franchise Development.
“I think the biggest challenge for the industry is keeping pace with what’s occurring in e-commerce, the knock-on effect that it is having on logistics, and the de-construction of the traditional distribution model,” said Mr Gillespie.
“Once, you would have a ship that would bring stock in to port and then transported to a warehouse, where a medium sized truck would take it to the store, then a smaller truck would often transfer it to the final destination.
“I think the major dilemma that the whole truck manufacturing industry is faced with, is offering scalability to businesses, as their own needs are changing quickly.
“That being said, I think the light duty market seems to have the biggest potential for outright growth in numbers.”
The move into the online world for business and shifts in the truck purchasing decisions, will meanwhile see an unprecedented demand for modern technology in the logistics chain.
Developments in efficiency, from the performance of trucks to how and where they are driven, will continue to result in improvements on the balance sheet.
“There are potentially two or three (major technical innovations facing truck manufacturers), but I would say that the biggest change is going to be the potential for autonomous driving,” said Mr Gillespie.
“That has the potential to have the biggest impact on the industry, and frankly, it is needed given the forecast shortage of drivers globally.
“The turnaround times on manufacturing in the truck industry is traditionally in 10-year cycles, so for us to meet the pace of change that is happening right now, it is a challenge.”
While fully autonomous, self-driven vehicles, are still some years away from widespread adoption and acceptance, already some modernisations are shaping the industry in vehicles currently available.
Attracting new drivers to the industry from a wider talent pool is a key factor in many new truck designs, with refinement ongoing with each fresh model release.
The growing acceptance of automated and automatic transmissions eases strain on drivers and improves fuel efficiency during stop-start city driving, while other features such as ever improving ergonomics ease the physical toll on drivers behind the wheel.
Another technological innovation that is currently future-proofing the transportation industry is the use of telematics, as GPS and the broadband cellular network technology continues to improve.
The use of data has wide reaching advantages for manufacturers and fleets alike.
For manufacturers, there is better model planning to suit the market, while for fleets improvements can be made in fuel efficiency, driver safety and timing optimisation, fleet performance and schedule management, location and history information, as well as fleet benchmarking.
The logistics industry has continued to evolve ever since steam powered wagons replaced horse drawn carriages - the latest innovations will continue to push the boundaries in order to keep pace with technology-driven changes in consumer behaviour.