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New Tech Driving Change
Heavy-duty vehicles account for six percent of EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while agriculture accounts for ten percent. With the EU aiming to reduce GHG emissions by 55% by 2030, it’s no surprise that truck and tractor manufacturers are embracing new technologies to make heavy-duty vehicles more sustainable and productive. In particular, advancements in IoT connectivity, machine learning, and in-vehicle telematics are reshaping the design, development, and operations of heavy-duty vehicles.
Transport and vehicle sustainability are now synonymous with electrification, an essential step toward reducing carbon emissions. However, electrifying heavy-duty vehicles is not easy because their sheer weight alone requires enormous battery power. Going electric also requires a complete design rethink, with software and sophisticated electronics replacing steel and rubber under the hood.
In agricultural vehicles, for example, the engine is an expensive and indispensable part of the machine but is now less important than data.
Competition in the industry was always based on how machines were designed, engineered, and built, says Jelte Wiersma, Secretary General at CEMA, the European Agricultural Machinery Association. But now it’s about what your design can offer in terms of data and AI tools that help improve the farming operation, such as reducing labor and input costs.”
AI-powered automation and advanced telematics are reconfiguring R&D processes, enabling heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to access key logistics insights, streamline assembly production, and retrofit existing vehicles to meet changing regulations.
In trucking, for instance, leading manufacturers like Daimler are aiming for electric trucks to account for 50 percent of European sales by 2030. But switching from combustion engines to batteries is not as simple as switching fuel.
To convert a diesel operation into an electric operation, you really need to know about the basic logistics data of what you're transporting, how long your trip is, and what the weight is, says Professor David Cebon, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight at Cambridge University. Telematics information is essential for fleet operators trying to work out which logistics journeys (and vehicles) they can convert now and which ones to convert when batteries get better. In addition, real-time logistics information is crucial for optimizing and scheduling vehicle charging.
More Sustainable and More Productive
New digital technologies have also ushered in an operational revolution. From multi-device control and remote monitoring to high-tech sensors and real-time connectivity, the integration of IoT and AI in vehicles is radically changing what commercial, industrial, and agricultural vehicles can achieve.
Connectivity, both machine to machine and machine to cloud, is increasingly important, says Wiersma. In the old days, tractors used to power their instruments directly, but now all the machines need to be connected with the cloud.
When working the soil, for example, a tractor's software gathers data on the soil quality and the quantities of substances in that soil before communicating this data with the tractor’s command center.
The machine is no longer directed by the driver but by digital technology telling the machine what to do. Connectivity with the command center is therefore essential.
Automation has become a byword for productivity, but automation is only possible through specialist technology communicating with one another. Be it trucks and tractors or diggers and cherry-pickers, modern heavy-duty vehicles need a wide range of software, sensors, cameras, and HMIs working in harmony to improve operational performance. For agriculture, the seamless interconnectivity of software, machine, and a human operator will improve yields and minimize spending on labor and fertilizer.
The modern farmer will become more and more a manager of technology, data, and fleets, and less and less a tractor driver, says Wiersma.
From planting and watering to harvesting and fertilizing, the development and use of next-generation agricultural machines will also have a knock-on effect on sustainability.
By using AI to spray your crops, instead of spraying in one big cloud over the plants, you use sensors and cameras to see where weeds are growing and only spray liquid there, says Wiersma. This precision farming decreases the cost for chemicals, reduces fertilizer usage, and also leads to fewer diesel emissions from driving up and down a field.
