In this blog post, we’ll explore how autonomous and green technologies can address congestion and environmental challenges. Join us as we explore the revolutionary changes in the future of transportation.
The future of transportation
Korea has identified five major challenges in road transportation and is working to realize them. They are: ensuring safety, increasing logistics efficiency, increasing road and public transportation use, improving the environment, and providing welfare transportation services.
Safe mobility
The most important of these is ‘safe mobility’. Safe mobility aims to eliminate traffic accidents by applying cutting-edge technology to vehicles and eliminate fatalities. To achieve this, it is important to maximize the safety of the vehicle. Traditional crash safety technologies such as seat belts, airbags, and impact-dissipating body structures play a big role. However, a major challenge for the future of transportation is to create technologies that provide information to the driver to prevent an accident from happening in the first place, or in some cases, to allow the vehicle to take control and avoid an accident on its own. To date, technologies related to automatic control include anti-lock brakes and drive control systems. The ultimate goal of these technologies is autonomous driving. Autonomous driving technology is expected to evolve further in the future, enabling safe driving without human intervention.
In addition, communication between roads and vehicles is essential to ensure safe mobility. If road sensors and traffic signal systems can communicate with vehicles in real time and use this data to automatically adjust their speed and direction, traffic accidents could be dramatically reduced. In particular, smart traffic management systems are needed to prevent accidents at intersections and multiple collisions on highways. These technologies require not only improvements in road infrastructure, but also improvements in in-vehicle information systems, so governments and private companies should work together to actively develop related technologies.
Efficient operation technology
The second is “efficient operation technology,” which refers to the increased use of roads and public transportation. A representative technology for this is “group driving,” which is being researched. It is a driving system that communicates with the car in front or behind in real time to stop and slow down automatically. By communicating between vehicles, drivers do not need to secure a safety distance separately, allowing them to use the existing road space more efficiently. It can also receive information about traffic signals in advance and accelerate and decelerate itself to avoid getting stuck at a signal. If that happens, you can travel from your starting point to your destination without stopping once. As a result, the time wasted on the road and the energy consumed by idling would be minimized.
The development of such swarm driving technology is not just about efficient use of road space, but also plays an important role in alleviating traffic congestion and reducing energy consumption. Traffic congestion is becoming a serious problem as urbanization progresses, and to solve it, it is important to move away from the traditional vehicle-centric transportation system and build a cooperative system between public transportation and vehicles. For example, if the public transportation system operates efficiently and more people use public transportation, congestion on roads will naturally decrease. Also, if public transportation and autonomous vehicles work together to optimize traffic flow, it can reduce unnecessary congestion on the road.
Welfare transportation systems
The third is to secure a welfare transportation system for the transportation disadvantaged. Currently, Korea is experiencing a rapid aging population. There is a growing demand for welfare transportation that can be used conveniently and safely by pregnant women, the disabled, and children. In addition, in rural areas, the demand for public transportation is decreasing due to the decline in population, so it is necessary to establish a welfare transportation system by providing customized special transportation for the transportation disadvantaged that responds flexibly to the demand for public transportation use, and develop it to ensure the mobility of all citizens.
Welfare transportation is not just about providing transportation; it is also about ensuring that everyone has access to transportation infrastructure without discrimination. For example, consider introducing reservation-based transportation or on-demand transportation services for people with mobility impairments or in areas where public transportation is difficult to access. These systems allow transportation disadvantaged people more freedom in their daily lives and play an important role in improving their quality of life.
Green transportation
The fourth option is green transportation, which minimizes environmental pollution. It is a demand-driven transportation system that includes eco-friendly road transportation, traffic operation systems, and transportation policies to dramatically reduce road traffic-related greenhouse gases, and it aims to actively combat climate change and achieve sustainable development based on the future transportation environment for people’s health and a comfortable and happy life.
To develop environmentally friendly transportation, it is necessary to expand the use of low-carbon emission vehicles such as electric and hydrogen vehicles and promote the full electrification of public transportation. This will reduce the amount of pollutants on the road and contribute to improving air quality. Furthermore, continued development of technologies to improve in-vehicle fuel efficiency will further help to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions. Furthermore, promoting eco-friendly modes of transportation, such as bicycles, as part of a green transportation system, and creating infrastructure suitable for walking are also important.
Streamlining logistics
Last but not least, the efficiency of logistics involves replacing the energy used in logistics vehicles with green energy and planning the logistics process through efficient transportation to make it greener and more efficient. This minimizes the cost of logistics and, more importantly, minimizes wasted energy, minimizes the emission of pollutants, and creates a greener transportation environment.
To improve the logistics system, smart logistics using the Internet of Things (IoT) is necessary. This can help optimize the routes of logistics vehicles and reroute them according to traffic conditions in real time to save fuel. These technologies can not only reduce logistics costs, but also contribute to shorter delivery times. In the future, unmanned delivery systems using drones or autonomous vehicles will also need to be explored, which will make the future of logistics more efficient and eco-friendly.
