Distraction or disruption? Autonomous trucks gain ground in US logistics

Technology has upended one business after another across the United States. To cite only the most recent developments: Lyft and others have utterly changed personal transportation, and Airbnb has done the same for hospitality. And in January 2018, the first Amazon Go store opened, sans checkout clerks, promising similar upheaval for grocers. What is happening is fairly well understood, if initially underestimated. Digitization and other technological advances are exposing the vulnerabilities in every industry, particularly retail. And now, logistics companies are starting to feel the heat. Our new research has turned up five trends that offer startling indicators of impending change for the trucking, rail, warehousing, and logistics companies that move America's merchandise. Start with autonomous trucks (ATs), which will change the cost structure and utilization of trucking--and with that, the cost of consumer goods. Sixty-five percent of the nation's consumable goods are trucked to market.