Digitisation and autonomous driving to halve costs by 2030

The FINANCIAL — Munich, September 19, 2018 – The digitization and automation of processes and delivery vehicles will reduce logistics costs for standardized transport by 47% by 2030, according to a new report from PwC’s Strategy& consultancy. The Global Truck Study 2018 has found that around 80% of these savings will be attributable to the reduction of personnel in the transport and logistics industry. In addition, there will be enormous increases in efficiency: autonomous lorries, for example, will be able to travel 78% of the time from 2030 onwards, as opposed to 29% of the time since 2030. This will be because there will be no breaks for drivers and idling time will be reduced through the use of algorithms. A consistently digitized supply chain saves administrative overheads, replaces time-consuming inventory, and reduces insurance costs by cutting error rates. In total, savings of up to 41% are possible by 2030 compared to today’s supply chains. The first-mile delivery of products will become more efficient over the next few years, primarily as a result of the automated assignment of freight to the truck, and platform solutions will replace manual administration tasks, which will release savings potential of 45% by 2030. For last-mile deliveries, data-driven demand analysis, automated deliveries (for example through drones) and reduced administrative overhead could see costs fall by 51%.