Intelligent transportation system

An Intelligent Transportation System manages vehicles, loads and routes to improve safety, and reduce vehicle wear, transportation times and fuel costs.

A typical system would be purchased by the managers of a trucking company. It would have a satellite navigation system, a small computer and a digital radio in each truck. Every fifteen minutes the computer transmits where the truck has been. The digital radio service forwards the data to the central office of the trucking company. A comp[puter system in the central office manages the fleet in real time under control of a team of dispatchers.

In this way, the central office knows where its trucks are. If a truck gets off its route, or is delayed, the truck can be diverted to a better route, or urgent loads that are likely to be late can be diverted to air-freight.

A good load-tracking system will help deliver more than 95% of its loads via truck, on planned schedules. This allows a trucking company to deliver a true premium service at only slightly higher cost. The best proprietary systems, such as the one operated by FedEx, achieve better than 99.999% on-time delivery.

Load-tracking systems use queuing theory and least cost traversal logic to predict and improve arrival times. They use bar-coded containers and pallets to track loads combined into a larger container.

The controlled routes allow a truck to avoid heavy traffic caused by rush-hour, accidents or road-work. Increasingly, governments are providing digital notification when road-ways are known to have reduced capacity.

A good system lets the computer, dispatcher and driver collaborate on finding a good route, or a method to move the load. One special value is that the computer can automatically eliminate routes over roads that cannot take the weight of the truck, or that have overhead obstructions.

Usually, the drivers log into the system. The system helps remind a driver to rest. Rested drivers operate the truck more skillfully and safely.

When these systems were first introduced, some drivers resisted them, viewing them as a way for management to spy on the driver. Only a foolish management would use it this way.

A well-managed intelligent transportation system provides drivers with huge amounts of help. It gives them x-ray vision into their own load and the network of roadways. If management treats drivers as the heroes they often are, then the system becomes a fine tool to help drivers meet the company's commitments.