Value-Creating IT for Road Haulage Firms

External homepage: http://www.viktoria.se/page.cgi?content=groups/telematics/akeri.html

Value-creating IT for Roadhaulage Firms is a VINNOVA-funded action research project (Susman and Evered 1978) intended to generate general guidelines for how transport information systems should be developed and implemented based on the needs of road haulers. We are particularly interested in sociotechnical aspects associated with the adoption of ubiquitous computing in transport organizations.

Ubiquitous Transport Systems

UTS is a vision of a seamlessly integrated computing environment applicable to the transport industry. UTS is in effect an assemblage of embedded vehicle systems, communication systems, fleet management systems, traffic control systems and traditional office systems effectively involving all functions of a transport organization. This vision is partly realized by a multitude of systems currently available to these organizations, but the integration of heterogeneous stationary and mobile systems still presents problems. Our research intends to explore the process and outcomes of merging these two distinct parts of UTS.

 

Mobile-Stationary Gateway

Moving towards our vision of a seamlessly integrated computing environment applicable to the transport industry the Mobile-Stationary Gateway initiative targets the interconnectedness of mobile and stationary computing resources, regardless of vehicle or software make. In collaboration with established system vendors and road haulage representatives the goal is to provide a common interface able to link mobile and stationary components of UTS. An important aspect of this initiative is the clear goal to increase the capacity of the user organizations while retaining a heterogeneous collection of available separately evolving systems.

PROJECT MEMBERS

This project is conducted as a collaborative effort where researchers, systems vendors, and truck manufacturers develop, implement, and evaluate systems together with road haulage firms. Project members include the Viktoria Institute, road haulage industry representatives (The Swedish Road Haulage Association and a number of road haulage firms), systems vendors (Hogia, IBS, NL Partner, Transics, Transware, and Vehco), and truck companies (Scania and Volvo Trucks).