Automotive Article

These are turbulent times. Upheaval, change, and unprecedented circumstances have been seen all over the world. Whatever your field, you are bound to have noticed major shifts in the way that your industry operates.

This is certainly true for the world of transportation.

In this article, we explore five key changes that the transportation industry has experienced – or expects to experience – in recent and coming years. Importantly, we also explore how they might affect you and your business, or at the very least, the way you travel and commute.

By being aware of these five key changes, you can take steps to prepare. That might mean adjusting your budget, changing the way you drive, making alterations to travel and commuting, or exploring ‘greener’ and more environmentally friendly options.

The circumstances may not be within your control – but the way you react to them is. Browse these five key changes, be prepared to adapt, and you will not only survive the changes, but learn to thrive in them too.

KEY CHANGE 1: Environmentally Conscious Policy & Incentives

The environment is one of the hottest contemporary topics across a range of industries. More businesses than ever before are aiming to address what experts are calling a ‘climate crisis’. This is being seen not just in business, but also across national and international policymaking.

Examples include things such as the introduction of the popular Walk to Work, or Cycle to Work schemes, which is designed to reduce the congestion and pollution on major roads, as well as incentivise workers to improve their health.

More national or policy-wide examples include tax relief and incentives for businesses and individuals to only purchase environmentally-friendly cars – such as electric or hybrid vehicles that can then be written off as a legitimate expense.

Other widespread transport policies with an eco-slant include the construction of cycle tracks and bike routes, as well as congestion charges and tariffs designed to reduce the use of non-essential transport – especially in areas with high levels of pollution.

It is expected that there will be even more ‘aggressive’ or proactive environmental policies affecting transport in the future.

For all these reasons then, and more, if you are considering purchasing a car for your business, environmentally friendly options have the best chance of suiting your budget and standing the test of time.

KEY CHANGE 2: Automation

A key change expected to substantially affect the transport industry in the near future is automation. Whether through the use of robots and AI in manufacturing, engineering, and administration, or even the use of self-driving cars and autonomous vehicles, transport is getting smarter.

Digital elements have been incorporated into almost every new type of transport, and are being relied upon for an increasing number of uses and responsibilities.

Many of us – and many businesses – are already fully familiar and reliant on GPS tracking, for example, but in the future, this may become more futuristic and less populated by physical people. Managing a fleet of drones for delivery, or self-driving cars, may reduce an entire working team to just a single managerial individual, for example.

It may be years away, but it is always worth exploring the small ways that automation and artificial intelligence could help you, your mode of transport, or your transport business to thrive.

It might be as simple as using software to log your business miles when you travel for work, right through to exploring entirely automated delivery options, and more.

KEY CHANGE 3: Borders & Tariffs

One of the most controversial recent changes to the transport industry has been the upheaval surrounding Brexit – i.e. the UK’s departure from the European Union. This could have a major impact on British imports and exports, and many are finding the changes difficult to fully understand.

Some key areas that will be affected are an increased level of bureaucracy and ‘red tape’, potential shortages and delays with goods, higher prices due to increased levels of difficulty in supply, and contentious border issues – such as with Northern Ireland (which remains in the EU single market for goods).

Overall, it is expected that it will not just be Brexit that will affect transport in the coming years, but that there may be several new border issues and tariffs imposed worldwide.

The global marketplace is more volatile and competitive than ever, and the coming dramatic changes in the transport industry are expected to reflect this.

KEY CHANGE 4: Faster Changes To The Law

Until recently, a change to the law was often slow to be reviewed and even slower to come into effect. But that is starting to change.

Experts in the transport industry agree that there may be widespread reviews of certain policies, approaches, and laws in the coming years – and that they are expected to come into effect faster than ever before.

Laws can change the way we drive – from the rules on hands-free phone use in cars, rises in car tax dictated by how much CO2 the vehicle uses (coming into effect in 2021), and the new rules that will see motorists face a fine and penalty points if caught filming videos, taking photographs, or holding their device while driving.

Due to the rapidly changing nature of driving, transport, and (especially) their intersection with technology, it is expected that laws and policy will be reviewed and rolled out faster than ever before.

Stay up to date to avoid being caught out by a rule that you may not even have known existed!

KEY CHANGE 5: Remote Working

One of the most major changes experienced by the transport industry is the rise in remote working.

But remote working is no longer just a response to national lockdowns or the reduction of travel during a global pandemic. It is also a widespread change in the way that we work and how businesses are choosing to operate.

Remote working can reduce the amount of congestion and pollution on national roads. It can save time and money in commuting and connect workforces from all over the world – regardless of their physical location. It is a complex issue with pros and cons, but will inevitably become a major talking point in the contemporary transportation industry.

Driving does not have to be tedious or monotonous. It can be comfortable, easy, and even exciting! Whether you are commuting to work, visiting friends and family, running errands, or doing the school run, a car is one of the most convenient and cost-effective ways of getting from A to B.

But how can you make it better? How can you improve your overall driving experience so that driving is no longer just a chore, but a pleasure? Read on to discover how to upgrade your driving experience with these five simple tips.

1. Try Before You Buy

If your budget allows, and you would like to upgrade your driving experience by obtaining a new car, why not ‘try before you buy’? Recent surveys have shown that renting (of homes, cars, furniture, and more) is more popular than ever.

When it comes to a car, this can be a great way to test whether a car really is the right fit for you. The car needs to be appropriate for your lifestyle and budget, as well as suit your style, driving practises, family needs, and more.

A new car can be a significant financial investment, and renting is a great way to test the water before you take the plunge! Renting is especially suitable for customers who may only need a car on a sporadic basis, and therefore do not wish to make a full-time investment in one.

2. Improve Your Driving Skills

Many drivers are not aware that their level of driving skill is one of the most important factors in several areas. It not only affects how enjoyable driving is, but can affect how much you spend on travel and fuel, how well maintained your car is, your safety, level of carbon emissions, and more.

Simply driving more efficiently – such as by selecting the appropriate gear, reducing wind resistance and driving at the correct speed, for example – can transform your driving experience.

Long-term, it can save you thousands of pounds as your style of driving will no longer be burning unnecessary fuel. Efficient driving is also safer and less likely to result in unnecessary wear and tear on your car – meaning fewer expensive trips to the garage!

Driving more efficiently, or with more skill, also gives you more confidence and helps your journeys to feel smoother and more enjoyable.

3. Go Electric

Studies show that more drivers than ever before are keen to go green and make the switch to a hybrid or electric vehicle. This is not only better for the environment, but it may be more cost-effective too.

You may even be eligible for particular discounts, incentives, or tax reliefs by driving a more environmentally-friendly car.

One of the most common concerns about electric cars is whether their range on a single charge will be long enough for most journeys. But the range and mileage possible for electric cars is growing all the time. Research some of the electric cars with the longest range and you can proceed with the confidence in which one is most suitable for you!

You will not only be upgrading your driving experience by selecting a new car, you’ll be doing more to help the planet too!

4. Claim A Company Car

If you are employed, why not discuss with your employer if you could claim a company car? Although you are still liable for some charges associated with the car (such as the Benefit in Kind Tax), maintenance, and fuel, obtaining the car itself can be your employer’s responsibility.

Many employers are keen for their employees to make the best and most professional impression on clients and other companies, and arriving at meetings in a new, clean, and well-maintained company car can be a great way to do this.

As a result, company cars can be a great way to experience a luxury vehicle for a fraction of the usual cost!

5. Maintain Your Current Car

Upgrading your driving experience does not have to be expensive or time-consuming. It can be as simple as making the very most of what you already have. Such as by keeping your car clean, tidy, and well-maintained, for example.

A well-maintained car feels much smoother and more comfortable to drive, while being safer and more cost-effective overall.

You may also choose to add some accessories or fragrances, or to invest in new parts that will make the car drive like brand-new, even if it has seen many years of service!

Whatever your budget and time constraints, with a few subtle changes you can make your driving experience smoother, safer, and more enjoyable.

With the growing adoption of technology in every aspect of our life, it is evident that autonomous vehicles will evolve the transportation sector in the coming years. Therefore, auto makers are innovating business models and testing their autonomous vehicle models rigorously to fulfil the consumer’s demand for hi-end and energy-efficient vehicles. But when will autonomous vehicles become mainstream?

With the shifting consumer preferences and growing need to curb emissions, the automotive industry is accelerating towards the new world, driven by sustainability and electrification. The infiltration of technology is evolving the automotive industry in a way that the automakers are rapidly innovating their business models and working seamlessly with partners to enhance the autonomy of vehicles. Currently, many semi-autonomous driving systems are already on the road with driver-assisting features like lane assist, adaptive cruise control (ACC), electronic stability control (ESC), rear-view video systems (RVS), adaptive highlights, forwards collision mitigation (FCM), automatic emergency braking (AEB), automatic crash notification (ACN), and others. However, fully autonomous vehicles are not distant from reality. The Google autonomous vehicle company, Waymo has already tested its self-driving cars for over 10 million miles in rough environments while Tesla and Uber have also put their driverless cars to testing to approach autonomous vehicles in a phased manner. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers, the level of automation starts from Level 0 (manual driving) and ends at Level 5 (no driver intervention) and the auto industry is inching closer towards completely driverless cars as many companies have started working at improving the technology.

The Five Levels of Automation

• Autonomous Vehicle Level 0 (No Driving Assistance)
For cars with zero level automation, the driver is responsible for performing real-time functions such as steering, accelerating, parking, and others, but there are some automated systems in place to assist the driver. The technology support systems may intervene during driving temporarily to offer alerts or momentary action in specific situations. Currently, majority of the vehicles on the road across the world are Level 0.

• Autonomous Vehicle Level 1 (Driver Assistance)
The new car models feature automated driver assistance systems to help ensure the overall safety of the car and driver. However, the driver remains very much in charge of the vehicle in managing the essential driving functions. Adaptive Cruise Control is one such feature of Level 1 Automation cars, which facilitates optimal distance between the vehicle and traffic ahead without any manual intervention. Generally, Autonomous Vehicle Level 1 has at least one advanced driver-assisted functioning.

• Autonomous Vehicle Level 2 (Partial Driving Automation)
Level 2 driving automation supports primary driving tasks such as steering, acceleration, and braking in specific scenarios, but the driver must remain alert and actively always supervise the technology. Highway Driving Assist feature installed in Kia, Hyundai, and Genesis vehicles, and BlueCruise hands-free feature offered by Ford are some of the examples of Level 2 driving automation technology. Tesla’s new Full Self Driving Capability technology is an Autonomous Level 2 system, which will continue to remain so when Autosteer feature for city streets comes with the over-the-air software update. Besides, piloted auto features in Level 2 and Level 2+ automation are expected to grow exponentially by the year 2025.

• Autonomous Vehicle Level 3 (Conditional Driving Automation)
Cars with Level 3 Automation are able to drive themselves under certain conditions, but not for long distances or motorways. At Level 3, the driver does not require to put his hands on the steering, but he must be prepared to take back the control if the conditions change. The level 3 automation utilizes various driver assistance systems and AI technologies to make decisions on changing environments around the vehicle such as fleet volume, weather conditions, traffic congestion ahead. In 2017, Audi unveiled the A8 luxury sedan with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, claiming to be the first automaker to design a car with level-3 capabilities. Despite the claims, Audi A8 never received regulatory approval for its newly built system, and the engineering marvel is still classified as a Level 2 vehicle in the USA. However, Honda in early 2021 released the company’s Legend flagship sedan with an approved traffic jam assistance system, which is available for sale in Japan. Other cars that are waiting for regulatory approval include redesigned Mercedes-Benz S-class and 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS electric vehicle with Drive Pilot technology. Currently, no Level 3 systems are legal to use on American roads yet.

• Autonomous Vehicle Level-4 (High Driving Automation)
Cars with Level 4 automation do not require human intervention in most circumstances due to their self-driving mode. The advanced driving assistance systems can intervene if anything goes wrong in Autonomous Level-4 driving. The drivers can manually override the self-drive mode and operate the car on their own. Due to legislation and infrastructure issues, level 4 automation cars are restricted to function in limited areas and speeds. Currently, Level 4 driverless technology is used in vehicles designed for public transportation such as robotaxis, that are programmed to travel between point A and B and are restricted by geofencing technology. Sometimes, severe weather conditions may limit or cancel the use of Level 4 autonomous vehicles. NAVYA, a French company is building and selling Level 4 shuttles and cabs in the USA that can run up to a speed of 55 mph whereas Canadian automotive supplier Magna enables Level 4 capabilities in both urban and highway environments. Recently, Volvo and Baidu have also announced a strategic partnership to develop Level 4 electric vehicles for the robotaxi market in China.

• Autonomous Vehicle Level-5 (Full Driving Automation)
Level-5 or fully autonomous vehicles would require zero human intervention as the vehicle will be assigned to perform the “dynamic driving task”. These cars would be free from geofencing and would be able to go anywhere and do anything that an experienced driver could do. The cars would not be affected even by the bad weather conditions. Besides, the fully automated car would only require human involvement to set a destination. Although fully autonomous vehicles are undergoing testing in several parts of the world, mainstream production is still a few years away.

Can Autonomous Vehicles Solve the Congestion Problems in Urban Areas?
The onset of autonomous vehicles can provide multiple benefits to the existing road systems and reduced traffic is one of them. According to a study conducted by the University of Cambridge, a fleet of driverless vehicles working together to keep the traffic moving smoothly can improve overall congestion in urban areas by at least 35%. The optimized traffic flows and reduced number of vehicles on the road can lead to lower incidences of road violence as well as less pollution. Many times, the basic problem of traffic congestion is primarily due to human involvement such as when the driver does not allow other drivers to change lanes, prevent cars from merging on highways, execute bad driving behaviors, etc. On the contrary, autonomous vehicles prevent drivers from obvious bad behaviors such as blocking crosswalks and enable a cooperative interaction framework to reduce visible congestion.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication (V2V) allows vehicles with advanced autonomy to communicate with each other by broadcasting and receiving information such as road conditions, traffic flow, speed and direction. The sensors start generating a warning alarm in cases of possible collisions if another vehicle is drifting in its lane. According to the USA Department of Transportation, V2V Communication can reduce the severity of non-impaired crashes by up to 80% and thus prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes every year. Another significant feature of autonomous vehicles is platooning, which can reduce aerodynamic drag and lower fuel consumption and emissions that help to keep the traffic moving and reduce congestion. Besides, the Adaptive Cruise Control feature can help to adjust the speed of vehicles automatically, determining the speed of other vehicles in the environment and thus keep the traffic flowing.

Are Driverless Vehicles Solution to Climate Change?
Self-driving cars provide ultimate environmental benefits that can help to make the world a better place with reduced carbon emissions. According to the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, autonomous vehicles have the potential to reduce oil consumption by 2-4% by 2025. Robotaxis and shuttle mobility have the potential to meet the daily mobility demands and end the mass private-car ownership at least in suburban and high-income urban areas. Many companies have already started operating large testing fleets of shared automated vehicles.

Greater convenience, better availability, provision of affordable mobility is expected to boost the adoption of robotaxis in the years to come. The usage of robotaxis and shuttles can lead to reduction in adoption of private vehicles by up to 20% by 2030. Robotaxis are programmed to maintain consistent driving speed and maintain optimal distance between vehicles, which helps to reduce excessive braking and re-acceleration and thus lower emission levels. Besides, advanced driving systems such as eco-navigation, wireless communications, adaptive cruise control, etc. could reduce pollution by cutting down vehicular emissions. While Google’s Waymo started offering driverless rides in robotaxis in 2020, Alibaba-backed AutoX has debuted a fully driverless robotaxis, Gen5 to safely navigate China’s complex urban driving situations.

Why are Self-Driving Vehicles Not Mainstream Yet?
Ever since the evolution of autonomous vehicles, multiple testing operations have been carried out, billions of dollars have been spent on fickle technology, but still, autonomous vehicles have not been able to match the competence of human drivers. Besides, legislation battles, environmental factors, and safety issues are making it hard for automakers to bring autonomous vehicles on roads sooner. However, ubiquitous, robust, faster, and higher-bandwidth communication systems can boost the autonomous vehicle network’s capabilities. The cloud system would facilitate engineers to offload a lot of data processing away from the vehicles that could enhance connectivity. Besides, building smart cities with optimized traffic patterns could help to eliminate the infrastructure bottleneck for autonomous vehicles, and thereby make driving more efficient and safer. The introduction of other technologies for advanced driver assistance systems might ease consumers into accepting and using them over time.

According to TechSci research report on “Global Semi & Fully Autonomous Vehicle Market By Automation Level (Level 0, Level 1 & Others), By Component (Embedded Systems, Cameras & Others), By Vehicle Type, By Region, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2016-2030″, the global semi & fully autonomous vehicle market is anticipated to reach USD64 million by 2030, owing to growing focus of automotive OEMs and increasing government support for developing driverless vehicles. Besides, foray of technology giants venturing into the autonomous vehicles are driving the semi & fully autonomous vehicle market in the coming years.

According to another TechSci research report on “Global Automotive LiDAR Sensors Market, By Vehicle Type (ICE, Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles), By Application (Semi-Autonomous Vehicle and Autonomous Vehicle), By Technology (Solid-State LiDAR and Mechanical/Scanning LiDAR), By Image Type (2D Image and 3D Image), By Location (Bumper & Grill, Roofs & Upper Pillars, Headlight & Taillight and Others), By Company and By Geography, Forecast & Opportunities, 2014-2024″, the global automotive LiDAR sensors market is expected to reach USD734.91 million in 2024, owing to the rapid progress in autonomous vehicles and increasing demand for connected vehicles.

We all move around on our favorite bikes. At times, you need to have your bike transported to a different state or the city. In this case, you cannot just ride your bike for several hours to take it to another city with you. In this case, it is better that you look for a good transport company. Since there are a lot of transport services available, it may not be easy for you to choose the best one. Therefore, we have shared a couple of simple tips that will make this choice easier for you. Read on to find out more

Things to Keep in Mind

The most important thing that you need to consider before shifting your bike is to consider its condition first. This is important if you want to maintain a high level of safety.

Don’t forget to carry all of the important documents with you. Apart from this, if you are going to hire the services of a two-wheeler transport to shift your bike, make sure you give them the relevant documents.

Also, you may want to discuss all the charges and expectations before you sign the contract. After all, you don’t want to end up filing a dispute at the end of the move. As soon as everything is ready, you can allow the service provider to transport your bike to your destination.

Look for a Reliable Local Service

Since you are a beginner, you may not be familiar with the process of moving a bike to a new place. Since our professional bike transport company has a lot of experience in this department, it is normal for them to do this type of move.

So, what you need to do is look for a reliable transport service provider in your city, especially if you want to get great results. These service providers make sure that you enjoy a hassle-free move.

Ideally, you may want to look for the best provider. While interviewing the service provider, don’t forget to ask about the type of packaging they are going to use for your bike. Also, you can ask about how long they will take to deliver your bike.

You can also ask about the type of vehicles they are going to use for this purpose. There should be no communication gap between you and the transport company.

Make your Life Free of Trouble

It is important that you make your life free of any trouble. Therefore, it is better that you look for a good bike transport service that will be able to meet your expectations and transport your bike to your new place safely and securely. Make sure that the service provider you are going to choose is professional.

Long story short, we suggest that you keep these things in mind to make sure that your bike is transported to your new city without any problem. Hopefully, this article will help you go through the process more easily.