Continental improves loadspace utilization with AI

The AI-based solution provides information via a smartphone about how much charge can still be accommodated in vehicles. (Photo: Continental)

With the digital solution, Continental wants to contribute to greater capacity utilization and productivity as well as more sustainability. at this Trailer Capacity Rating The developers use the above system to record the available loading space in trucks, Semi-trailers and trailers for artificial intelligence. Fleet managers receive accurate digital information via smartphone about how much can still be loaded. In combination with corresponding weight data from a smart tachograph or fleet management system interface, scheduling can be improved – for example by providing the free capacity of digital freight exchanges so that more routes can be driven at full capacity, according to the supplier.

The focus is on the issue of fleet efficiency. According to the KBA’s official cargo transportation statistics, heavy commercial vehicles completed more than 150 million empty trips in Germany alone in 2020. The solution not only supports fleet managers in optimizing their transportation capabilities, thus making their fleet more efficient, according to Ismail Daly, Head of the Intelligent Mobility Business District at Continental. “By saving fuel and CO2, fleets can do just that They also make an effective contribution to greater sustainability in the field of logistics.The driver, ramp agent, or dispatcher takes a photo with a standard smartphone. This is uploaded to the Continental cloud, where an AI algorithm developed by Continental computes the available load space.

Prototype delivers results in seconds

If the driver wants to modify the information manually or add additional information before uploading it to the cloud, this can also be done via a smartphone, according to Continental. The data can then be forwarded to the scheduler. Generally, this process should only take a few seconds with a good connection. “Technologically speaking, the artificial intelligence used in it is based on years of experience that we have gained in many projects related to driver assistance and autonomous driving.says Jörg Lutzner, Head of Innovation for the Intelligent Mobility Division. After a development phase of about two years, the prototype has already achieved good results. Now we are looking forward to more data from real life.