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INDUSTRY WATCH
Artificial Intelligence
is changing the face of transport
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has
reached a level of maturity
where we can safely say it will
change driving, transport and
logistics completely. That is
according to the joint CEOs of
Payment24, Shadab Rahil and
Nolan Daniel, whose advanced
new fuel payment mechanisms
are focusing on smarter systems
in the fuel area of transport.
A
utonomous or self-driving
vehicles may appear to be a new
phenomenon, but key transport
manufacturers and stakeholders have
been developing smarter driving systems
for some time. South Africans can therefore
expect to see revolutionary new intelligent
cars and driving systems on our roads within
a matter of years. “AI has reached a level
of maturity where we can safely say it will
change driving, transport and logistics
completely,” said Daniel.
Meanwhile, Rahil added: “All that really
stands in the way of autonomous vehicles
on the road is legislation.The technology to
enable them is already in place.”
Rahil and Daniel predict that within the next
few years, AI will enable:
Self-driving transport shuttles: Replacing
today’s Uber with driver, autonomous
shuttles will one day traverse cities,
transporting passengers and goods
safely and cost effectively. AI’s natural
language understanding and pattern
recognition abilities will reduce the
need for user interfaces. Individual car
ownership will become less necessary,
and commuters will embrace the shared
transport model. By 2020, it’s expected that
up to 10 million self-driving cars will be on
the road worldwide.
www.intelligentcio.com
Self-servicing vehicles: Not only will these
autonomous shuttles know who needs
to be collected where, they will also use
AI to self-diagnose maintenance needs
and proactively take themselves to service
stations for repairs. Even non-autonomous
vehicles will be equipped with increasingly
intelligent systems to support proactive
maintenance and pre-empt breakdowns.
Intelligent route planning: With
embedded AI, onboard driving systems will
go beyond navigation and traffic alerts to
understand the most effective routes to use
based on driver preferences, road conditions
and even the current weather patterns.
Linked to other AI systems, intelligent cars
will one day offer route planning based on
preferred service providers, recent online
searches or digitised appointments.
Intelligent safety features: AI will take
modern safety features to the next level,
offering assistive safety that predicts
potential accidents, forecasts the behaviour
of other road users, controls the braking
system based on the road and weather
conditions to avoid skidding. AI will also
use onboard IoT sensors and inward-facing
cameras to record driving patterns to support
driver safety, insurance risk assessment and
law enforcement.
Eyes everywhere: AI-enabled, IoT-equipped
vehicles will prove an effective tool for roads
infrastructure and traffic management,
giving authorities a real-time view of the
state of roads and traffic.
Intelligent fuel consumption: AI systems
will enable significant fuel savings, supporting
more efficient route planning and new models
for transport, such a ‘green streaming’ to
avoid waiting at traffic lights, or ‘platooning’ in
which vehicles follow each-other at a distance
calculated to be safe and streamlined, and so
save on fuel. AI will also allow onboard sensors
to learn from fuel consumption patterns,
determining when too much fuel is being
consumed, and initiating a service.
Intelligent fuel payment: Fuel payment and
management system pioneers Payment 24
are already researching the potential for AI in
fuel payments. One area of focus is enabling
autonomous vehicles to refuel without human
intervention. AI will also enhance existing
smart systems to manage fleets, monitor
fleet fuel consumption and authorise fuel
payments for logistics companies.
“AI is changing the face of transport. It is
set to make transport cheaper and more
convenient, and crucially – it has the
potential to make roads safer,” said Daniel. n
South Africans can expect to see revolutionary
new intelligent cars and driving systems on our
roads within a matter of years
INTELLIGENTCIO
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