Autonomous trucks have started running. Where are small and medium-sized transport companies headed?

I am Teruaki Yokoyama, an administrative scrivener specializing in the transport industry.

I found some interesting news from Truck News.

https://www.trucknews.biz/article/s073004/

The premises of logistics are quietly beginning to change.

Earth Corporation, Suzuyo, and T2 conducted a demonstration of relay transport using Level 2 autonomous trucks. The route covered approximately 440 km from Ibaraki Prefecture to Hyogo Prefecture. They successfully completed a 'round trip per day' by driving autonomously on the Tomei and Meishin Expressways.

This is not flashy news. However, I suspect those who have been involved in logistics will realize the significance of this.

For 28 years, I have worked in various fields, including waterworks construction, waste paper collection, and the transport of hazardous materials. Although the jobs were different, they all had one thing in common.

'If people don't move, the cargo doesn't move.'

That was the standard in logistics. If you are driving from Kanto to Kansai, you plan the operation while considering driving hours, breaks, and overnight stays. For long-haul drivers, the feeling that 'a one-way trip is the realistic limit for one person' goes without saying.

That is precisely why the result of 'being able to make a round trip in one day' carries weight. In terms of transport capacity alone, it is about double. More than just the numbers, it was a moment where the premises of logistics shifted slightly.

What left a particular impression this time was the existence of a relay hub called 'Transgate'.

They established bases in Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Nishi Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, where autonomous trucks handle the expressway portion, and human-driven trucks handle the local roads. It is not about making everything unmanned. People handle the work they are good at, and they entrust only the sections that autonomous driving is good at.

Logistics does not move on logic alone. There are many conditions in the field not written in textbooks, such as the shipper's time requirements, cargo handling conditions, traffic jams, weather, and rest areas. The idea of 'using it where it can be used' rather than 'replacing everything' is what makes this realistic.

T2 aims for fully unmanned trunk transport using Level 4 from fiscal year 2027 onwards. If realized, logistics on expressways will gradually change its appearance.

On the other hand, the names listed this time are Earth Corporation, Suzuyo, and T2. All of them are large companies. Neither the investment in vehicles nor the development of relay hubs is on a scale that many small and medium-sized transport companies can immediately undertake.

So, will the role of small and medium-sized transport companies diminish?

I don't think so.

Even if trunk transport on expressways changes, the final leg of delivering cargo will remain. Jobs that require experience accumulated in the field, such as community-based delivery, detailed coordination with shippers, and responding to urgent requests, will continue to be necessary.

What small and medium-sized transport companies should think about is not how to beat autonomous driving, but how to coexist with it and what roles they will play. I believe that companies that have the answer to that will support the future of logistics.

The 2024 problem was a trigger to think about labor shortages. This demonstration gave us a glimpse of what lies beyond that in the world of logistics.

The day when autonomous driving becomes the norm has arrived. It is not just trucks that are changing. The very role of transport companies may be quietly beginning to transform.

To all professionals and transport company executives, please feel free to connect with me.

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