Transportation and logistics companies are betting their business models on 5G amid cost, infrastructure, and adoption challenges

• Transportation and logistics industries are relying on 5G to create new products and offerings.
• Driverless car company Halo.Car and UK courier service Yodel join a growing list of companies pegging key offerings to 5G networks.

Startups and established companies alike are betting on the fast connectivity and low latency offered by fifth-generation mobile networks to transform transport and logistics.

5G enables transport operators to deliver new mobile capabilities to enrich the experience of both drivers and passengers. At the enterprise level, the technology is helping firms streamline their operations.

Samsung, for example, has plans to expand 5G internet to the daily commute. The firm is currently testing how well the technology will work underground and in rural areas.

The South Korean technology giant installed its 5G solutions across the metro network in Seoul in 2021, finalizing the project this year to "deliver seamless connectivity to passengers whether they are underground or on the ground," Joe Walsh, director of B2B at Samsung UK & Ireland, said.

With 5G technology, subway commuters benefit from improved download speeds and internet connectivity. Walsh says this redefined mobile experience means passengers can stream TV shows and movies and make video calls while traveling underground.

He adds that the company's 5G mmWave technology, designed to transmit large volumes of data with high speed and precision, is being tested to work more accurately in densely populated areas and open venues such as shopping malls and sports stadiums.

Making life easier for drivers

5G has become a crucial part of the transport and logistics industries. Daniel Lloyd, a UK-based delivery driver at courier firm Yodel, relies on 5G to navigate different routes and deliver parcels to customers on time.

The company was early to adopt 5G-enabled phones for couriers, which Lloyd said is "the lynchpin between me, the customer, and their delivery."

Lloyd joined Yodel in 2012 and has since become an avid user of the company's driver app. Introduced in 2019, the two-way app helps drivers learn their route, upload photos to prove that they've delivered a parcel, and access remote training materials. The app also lets customers track packages from dispatch to delivery. Yodel claims that its software — combined with 5G connectivity — has helped drivers like Lloyd increase productivity by up to an hour each shift.

"Knowing that I can do all of this at speed and with no connectivity blackouts, thanks to 5G, means that there is less waiting around, and I can move on to the next delivery almost as soon as I drop a parcel off," Lloyd said. "With accurate route planning as well, 5G has been a game-changer for delivery drivers."

Yodel says the app has helped it recruit new drivers and get them on the road in "record time." In 2020 alone, Yodel onboarded 2,000 new drivers and delivered remote training to more than 1,000 people via its driver app.

While 5G has supplemented Yodel's logistics operations, other companies' business models rely entirely on it.

Halo.Car, a Las Vegas-based company that offers remotely-piloted electric car-sharing service, uses video navigation and sensor data powered by T-Mobile 5G mobile networks to deliver cars to customers without a driver.

Antonella Siracusa-Rosa, a remote pilot at Halo.Car, delivers cars to customers remotely using this technology.

"Uber and Lyft also depend on mobile networks to connect to customers. Halo.Car takes it to another level," Siracusa-Rosa said. "When a customer calls a car, I drive to them, but instead of being inside the car, I'm driving remotely from a nearby office," she explained. "When I get to the customer, they get in the driver's seat. It's a rental, rather than a taxi."

Siracusa-Rosa added that Halo.Car feels like the future of driving as a job. "I do more deliveries per day because I 'get out' when the customer gets in and just switch to another car for the next delivery," Siracusa-Rosa said. "I joke that my job is driving cars on the internet."

This novel approach to car rentals is aimed at people who don't want to visit a physical garage. "I'm used to being able to get things delivered to me, especially with the pandemic taking everything contactless. But for a car rental, I still had to go to the car or shop and get back home. It's a hassle," Garo Atamian, a Halo.Car customer, said. "Halo.Car delivering the car rather than me having to travel to it is so much easier."

Unlocking new opportunities in the transport sector

Curb Mobility, which provides on-demand taxis across the US, is another transportation company that views 5G connectivity as a prerequisite to its success.

Vishal Dhawan, chief product and technology officer at Curb Mobility, explains that 5G helps the company process large amounts of data across an extensive network of vehicles and mobile apps while enabling real-time features.

"5G provides unprecedented reliability and low latency to seamlessly track real-time positions from vehicles on a sub-second basis to deliver richer mapping experiences like turn-by-turn navigation and vehicle position tracking," he said.

Heightened speed also allows the company to send more information over the network and operate cloud services, enabling "more complex algorithms based on multi-dimensional data sets."

The network is giving companies a competitive edge and paving the way for a new generation of products.

Jacqueline Davidson, program director at Aerospace Xelerated and principal of global accelerators and innovation programs at Boeing, takes the view that 5G adoption will result in new innovations across the industry.

One of the biggest impacts of this technology will be greater autonomy for transport and logistics companies. "I see this opportunity by providing more accurate real-time data making it easier for assets to communicate with one another or even the infrastructure around them," Davidson said. "We will see an increase in all forms of autonomy (from transportation, individual tasks, to even new industries being created) because of the scalability and flexibility of 5G solutions."

Although 5G offers massive potential for transport and logistics firms, Davidson urges companies to continue testing other products, services, and solutions as 5G evolves.

"Only through ample data, testing, and observability will consumers begin to adopt autonomy into their day-to-day," Davidson said. She added that 5G might not be "the ultimate solution" for now, but it will "undoubtedly open up opportunities" in even more ways as research and implementations progress.