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The potential utilisation of Autonomous Vehicles within the field service has been discussed for some time so forward-looking field service organisations may be keen to see the latest developments in this emerging technology have made public use of driverless cars a reality...

Earlier this month, Aptiv PLC, a global technology leader in mobility, announced the launch of a fleet of 30 autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas on the Lyft network.

A product of Aptiv’s Mobility and Services group, these vehicles will operate on Aptiv’s fully-integrated autonomous driving platform and be made available to the public in partnership with Lyft. On an opt-in basis, passengers will have the ability to hail a self-driving vehicle equipped with Aptiv technology to and from high-demand locations.

This partnership is a multiyear agreement between the two companies and a clear step toward generating revenue for Aptiv’s autonomous driving business. Both companies will leverage Aptiv’s connected services capabilities and Lyft’s ride-hailing experience to provide valuable insights on self-driving fleet operations and management.

“With Aptiv’s autonomous driving technology deployed throughout Las Vegas and broadly accessible through the Lyft app, a wide range of consumers will be able to share the experience of autonomous vehicles in a complex urban environment,” said Kevin Clark, Aptiv president and chief executive officer. “More importantly, the resulting knowledge and data will allow us to further refine our autonomous driving capabilities and strengthen our portfolio of industry-leading active safety solutions.”

The combination of Aptiv’s autonomous driving technology and Lyft’s ride-hailing app is the expansion of a successful partnership that launched in Las Vegas during CES 2018. That initial pilot provided more than 400 self-driving rides to the public and earned an average customer rating of 4.99 out of five stars. Like the CES program, vehicles will be operated by highly-trained safety drivers.

Aptiv, built on decades of experience in automotive performance, has a strong foundation in delivering safe technologies. The company prioritizes and meets high-level functional safety requirements in both its software and hardware validation.

Aptiv autonomous vehicles on the Lyft network have been available to the general public in Las Vegas starting May 3.

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The conversation around how driverless cars can be implemented in field service operations and the benefits they bring is an important one - however, one part of the conversation often overlooked is how autonomous vehicles could help field service organisations ensure their vehicles are being driven within legal limits.

Fortunately the good folks at Denmon Pearlman have put together an excellent infographic on the subject which should make interesting reading for field service and fleet management professionals alike...

 

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Gary Brooks, CMO, Syncron outlines some of the key technologies set to have a significant impact on field service in the not so distant future... 

Regardless of industry, emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles, wearable devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing and drones, will have a significant impact on how after-sales service, the service delivered after the initial sale of a product, is performed. For manufacturers of long lasting durable goods specifically, these new and evolving technologies will enable them to respond to the increasing demands of today’s consumers.

After-sales service is now one of the biggest opportunities for manufacturers to generate revenue, increase margins and improve customer loyalty. For field service repairs, emerging technology used correctly could become a huge source of competitive differentiation and improved service levels.

 Below, I outline five emerging technologies and how manufacturers can use them to positively impact their field service organisations.

Driverless cars:

According to Juniper Research, by 2025 there will be 20 million driverless cars on roads around the world, with them becoming most popular in North America and Western Europe by 2021. For manufacturers, this emerging technology could be especially beneficial to field service. Driverless vehicles mean technicians can multitask – something that they can’t (or at least shouldn’t) do behind the wheel today.

Multitasking allows technicians to use their field service app to ensure the upcoming appointment is as efficient as possible while en-route to the call – reading up on customer history, service part inventory and equipment data – so that the technician walks into the appointment ready to make the repair quickly and successfully. The possibilities are endless – if a vehicle is not stocked with a needed service part, it could self-drive to a warehouse to retrieve it while the technician is working on other aspects of the repair. This emerging technology could provide new and easy ways for technicians to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, and for manufacturers to create that competitive edge with their service organisation.

 

Wearables:

Gartner anticipates smartglasses, like Google Glass, could impact the field service industry by $1 billion in 2017. The biggest impact wearables could make is in efficiency – if technicians can diagnose and fix problems more quickly without bringing in additional experts, both the cost savings and improved customer experiences could be monumental.

The augmented reality associated with smartglasses provides on-the-job training to technicians, and enables them to more easily repair goods, especially those they have less experience repairing. Additionally, the hands-free nature of smartglasses allows technicians to complete tasks without having to start and stop to read or view instructions. Video collaboration with remote experts could also add to efficiency.

While adoption of wearable technology has been slow due to the dependence on apps and services targeted to field service, companies like KPIT have already deployed smart glass technologies for field service specifically. As barriers to entry become lower, brands will be forced to adopt ‘smart’ devices to meet demanding customer expectations.

Internet of Things (IoT) 

Forrester foresees IoT as a means to create more valuable customer interactions and improve the customer experience. And, this holds true for field service, which oftentimes serves as the ‘face’ of manufacturing brands.

The intertwined network of physical goods with sensors and software allows manufacturers to freely exchange data between the products they sell and their internal systems in place. This helps both the manufacturer and end-customer – products built with ‘smart parts’ can send a signal to both the manufacturer and customer to alert them a repair is needed and to schedule a service appointment soon. With the appropriate service parts management technology in place, the manufacturer proactively ensures the needed part is available and sends a technician to repair the product quickly, alleviating any downtime, and delivering the amazing experience customers expect.

3D Printing

3D printing has long been used in manufacturing to create part prototypes. Now, with the advances made to the technology, they can print parts in metal, which means 3D printing can be used to create actual replacement parts.

As the technology continues to advance, the impact 3D printing could have on parts inventory levels, warehouse needs and the logistics of moving parts from one location to another could be monumental. These factors will lead to reduced cost and faster repair times – meaning more revenue for the manufacturer and better experiences for the end-user. And, it might not be in the too-distant future that driverless vehicles could be equipped with printers that can print parts on the spot!

 

Drones

Drones are becoming increasingly common for personal use. You’ll oftentimes see them at high school sporting events, outdoor concerts or being used for personal photography. For field service specifically, there are both immediate and long-term benefits of drone technology.

More immediately, drones can be used as a means of diagnosing issues on large-scale equipment like oil rigs. This means less risk for the field service technician, as drones can help them survey large or hard-to-reach areas without putting themselves in dangerous situations. Or, they can be used in warehouses to retrieve parts, making the process much more efficient.

In the future, drones could even be used to deliver a part in the field. If a technician is on-site making a repair but doesn’t have the necessary part, a drone could bring it to him or her, eliminating the need to make an additional service call.

 These emerging technologies are beginning to impact businesses today, and manufacturers must consider adopting them to meet the needs of today’s customers, while simultaneously driving revenue. Soon, everyone will be able to say they’ve received exceptional customer service, as long as manufacturers embrace these new tools.

 

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More than 33% of transport industry professionals do not believe autonomous vehicles will work, according to findings published recently in the Microlise Transport Conference post event report.  

The statistics, covered in full in the dossier which has been released today, were captured during interactive voting on questions at what is now the largest road transport conference in Europe, attended by more than 1,000 delegates.

The report goes further than last year, by providing an in depth view of the road transport industry in 2016 on a range of key issues, with responses broken down by sector, age, job position and gender.

“We compile this report each year with the aim of delivering the most accurate reflection of the sentiment in the transport industry right now, across the key issues,” said Nadeem Raza, Chief Executive Officer, Microlise.

 

“The findings tell us that the industry is still not sold on the potential of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles – despite many experts predicting them on our roads in the not too distant future. It’s also interesting to note that industry support for leaving the EU aligns with last week’s referendum result.”

Despite a majority giving their support for a leave vote, when questioned about the EU, 43% said that they felt leaving would have a negative effect on the haulage industry.

Alongside a lack of faith in the EU and autonomous vehicles, the statistics also show that 84% believe the Government’s support for the transport industry is unchanged since the Conservatives came to power. More than 58% of delegates feel the situation in Calais has gotten worse in the last year.

“Standing at the podium I was struck by an audience defined by its reasonable views, moderate politics, inclusive attitudes and tenacious work ethic,” Conference Chair Quentin Willson commented as part of his foreword which is published in full in the report.

The date of next year’s Microlise Transport Conference has been announced as 17 May and it will again be held at The Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

To download the 2016 post conference report, which includes a recap of each session; statistics from the answers to questions put to delegates and analysis on the trends behind the numbers go to www.microlise.com/mtc2016report.  

 

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A new study from Juniper Research forecasts almost 20 million fully autonomous or self-driving vehicles on the road by 2025, with consumer adoption set to take off in 2021.  These driverless cars will, however, represent only 1% of all vehicles on the roads.

Driven by increased safety and convenience for drivers, development has progressed to live trials with North America and West Europe set to become the first to witness driverless cars in use on the road.

The research found that in the interim, consumer usage of ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance System) technologies such as adaptive cruise control and automated braking will become key. It argued that these systems will serve to prepare drivers for the psychological change from the role of driving a car to operating a driverless car.

How to Monetise Driverless Cars?

The new research, Autonomous Vehicles: Adoption, Regulation & Business Models 2015-2025, finds that although the market has progressed to live trials, a discernible monetisation strategy has not become evident. Stakeholders are currently investigating multiple business models with manufacturers expected to engage in product licensing, self-production or open sourcing the systems.

Top 5 Players Driving the Market

Juniper Research ranked the top 5 most promising players in the driverless car sector. They were scored on a number of key factors such as: live trials; miles tested on road; technology development; project scale and scope; future potential and market opportunities. The rankings were:  Google, Volvo, Daimler, Tesla and Apple. Google was ranked as the most promising player, having been in development the longest and having logged the highest amount of autonomous miles on public roads.

Dealing with Dilemmas

The research noted that concerns over the decision making capabilities of these systems have been raised and questions have been asked about the decisions autonomous vehicles would take when presented with the Trolley Problem, where the autonomous car will be forced to choose between two disastrous outcomes.

The Juniper study argued that the siloed nature of technology development requires stakeholders to collaborate and ensure a minimum level of safety for those in the hands of autonomous driving systems.

The report forms part of Juniper’s ongoing analysis of Connected Cars & Telematics.

 

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This excellent infographic published by Cox Motor Parts shows us that the Driverless Vehicle is coming ever closer...

 

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The UK Government has launched a £20 million competitive fund for collaborative research and development into driverless vehicles, along with a code of practice for testing the technologies. 

The Government says the measures will put the UK at the forefront of the intelligent mobility market, expected to be worth £900 billion by 2025.  It aims to make the UK the best place for testing driverless technology and is inviting bidders to put forward proposals in areas such as safety, reliability, how vehicles can communicate with each other and the environment around them and how driverless vehicles can help give an ageing population greater independence.

The fund is part of the £100 million funding for research into intelligent mobility announced by the Government earlier this year.  Successful bidders will match fund money with their own.

 

A new joint policy unit, the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (C-CAV) has been established to co-ordinate work by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and formulate future government policy on driverless cars and connected technology.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said: "To boost productivity Britain will need to capitalise on new technologies like driverless vehicles, securing high skilled jobs for those who want to work hard and get on, and contributing to a more prosperous future for the whole of the country. Our world beating automotive industry, strengths in innovation and light touch regulatory approach to testing driverless technology combine to make the UK market competitive and an attractive destination for investors."

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said: Driverless cars will bring great benefits to our society and economy and I want the UK to lead the way in developing this exciting technology. Our code of practice clearly shows that the UK is in the best position when it comes to testing driverless cars and embracing the motoring of the future. We now look forward to working with industry to make this a reality." A decade ago Britain’s car industry was in decline, but it is now the most productive amongst the major European producers," commented Jones. "New technology can help it improve its productivity and competitiveness in the future."

A code of practice was published to accompany the announcement to provide the industry with the framework they need to safely trial cars in real-life scenarios, and to create more sophisticated versions of the models that already exist. C-CAV is currently working on a range of new technological developments, including plans to test new roadside communication technology to improve traffic flow and safety through ‘connected corridors’. This would pilot technology that will provide drivers with useful journey and safety information.

 

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In the first part of this feature we looked at how the arrival of the driverless car is imminent with tests being held in open roads across a number of countries including the UK. Now in the second part Kris Oldland looks at how the technology could have a much more disruptive influence than in just the fleet sector…

Indeed with numerous national tests being undertaken it is surely just a matter of time before the first commercial driverless vehicles roll out. In fact further promising news for the approaching future of driverless cars was recently unveiled by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles which stated that only four of its 48 driverless cars participating in tests have been involved in accidents.

Google’s fleet of around twenty cars has now completed nearly a million miles without human intervention since the project started six years ago, said Chris Urmson,  the head of Google’s self-driving car project, .

Of the four licensed driverless cars in the state of California that have been involved in minor traffic accidents since September, Google’s cars played a role in three of the accidents. Two of these incidents occurred when the cars were in self-driving mode, while the other two happened when the person required to stay behind the wheel of the automobiles was in control.

 

It has also been reported that all of the accidents occurred when the cars were driving at speeds below 10 miles (16 km) per hour. In a written statement Google stated that its driverless cars have had “a handful of minor fender-benders, light damage, no injuries, so far caused by human error and inattention.”

Google first sent self-driving cars out onto public streets about six years prior to when the state offered its official permission. Google has said three additional accidents occurred in that time period. So whilst there may be an initial fear response to such news the truth is that since 2009, the company has said its cars have travelled more than 700,000 miles in self-driving mode.

This is an impressive statistic that plays well for those companies seeking to develop driverless vehicles who have attempted to establish belief that driverless vehicles and not only a safe option but a safer option. They claim their cars' cameras, radar, and laser sensors, among other features, are superior to human awareness.

However, whilst the safety of self-driving cars has been emphasized, some experts have also warned that those driverless vehicles could be particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks with concerns about the safety of driverless cars have been raised by politicians in the US and elsewhere.

One such warning came fromthe FBI who warned that driverless cars could be potentially used as lethal weapons, predicting that the vehicles "will have a high impact on transforming what both law enforcement and its adversaries can operationally do with a car”

 

Whilst this is of course a scary scenario, it is important that we don’t become so worried about the potential dangers that we don’t explore the potential opportunities that driverless cars could bring.

One such possible opportunity was highlighted by technology entrepreneur and Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales who discussed the topic of driverless cars in his keynote speech at the recent IFS World Conference in Boston.

“I think it will be ten years max before we see driverless cars somewhere in the world. It could be faster than that but of course this an area where there are regulatory concerns and so forth” he began before outlining why he believes the impact of driverless cars reaching way beyond the automotive industry.

“The way to think about this is don’t think about the first order of what happens, think of what happens next” Wales explained “One of the first things I came up with when I first started thinking about this was pizza delivery” he added only half joking

“Why cook pizzas in a restaurant to then send them somewhere so they are getting cold on the way? Why not cook it in the car? The answer is of course you can’t put a pizza oven in a car with a driver?” he explained before continuing “but now you could have a driverless car that cooks the pizza on route, delivering you a super fresh pizza to your door”

 

Of course such an idea would have a number of obstacles to overcome, and I don’t think we will see Wales tackling the Pizza Delivery sector in the near future, but it is a great example of the wider benefits such transformative technology as driverless cars could have beyond their initial direct marketplace, when we combine it with imaginative thinking.

And if we turn back to field service then again the potential for driverless cars to change the way we operate are numerous.

For a start there is the obvious benefit of an engineer being able to work in between jobs, this could be a huge time saving factor if your engineers have even a moderate amount of reporting to be completed on each job.

One obvious benefit is an engineer being able to work in between jobs. But how about we apply some further imaginative thinking and combine driverless cars with IoT with 3D printing with field service scheduling?

 

Our engineer’s daily schedule could be programmed into his vehicle based on data provided by the devices he’s set to fix. His job list is optimised based on geography and urgency of the repair.

On the way to each repair he is able to analyse the data and look through suggested potential issues so when he arrives on site he has the best possible chance of finding a resolution swiftly. All the while the 3D printer in the back of his vehicle quietly prints any parts that need replacing automatically as the IoT enable devices provide data as to what parts are required at what job.

Let’s be honest if first time fix rates didn’t increase in this scenario there is something wrong.

However, not everyone is on side as yet, with many in field service being cautious of such a significant change, even seeing this leap forward as technology for technology’s sake.

Recent research by Masternaut actually revealed that professional drivers stated that If they had to work with autonomous vehicles in the future, 15% of professional drivers said that they wouldn’t like it and change jobs, whilst almost a quarter (23%) said that wouldn’t like it but stay in their job.

As David Kalimoff a Senior Field Engineer for Viable Med Services commented recently in the Field Service News linkedin group “When a driverless car wants to impress me, have it haul my tools, test equipment and replacement parts from the parking garage to the 6th floor of the hospital where the system is, in a blizzard…”

Whilst Kalimoff may have been a bit tongue in cheek with his comment he does make a valid point there is only so much that we can expect from driverless vehicles.

 

However, whilst the arrival of driverless cars is seemingly inevitable, and also fast approaching it is the savvy field service organisations who start thinking now about how they can harness such technology to their advantage. Also much like they have had to evolve closer working relations ships with operations management, IT professionals may well see them selves building even closer ties to their colleagues in fleet management as yet another area of field service begins to merge with IT infrastructures.

With a throw away commenting Wales may have just given someone the key to disrupting and re-inventing the pizza delivery industry forever. The question is who is going to come up with the equivalent game-changer in field service?

 

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Driverless cars have been on the horizon for a number of years now, however it seems the shift from exciting prototype to functional reality is coming ever closer and at ever-greater speed. Kris Oldland reviews developments in  a two-part feature.

With the UK government sanctioning trials on public roads this year in Bristol, Greenwich, Milton Keynes and Coventry, that functional reality is now becoming highly tangible here in the UK , especially as UK ministers have now ordered a review of the UK's road regulations to provide appropriate guidelines.

Indeed driverless vehicle production is seen by the British government as a major area that can help continue to drive the UK economy away from the austerity path undertaken in the last five years. Former Business Secretary Vince Cable revealed the details of the new plan at a research facility belonging to MIRA, the automotive engineering research organisation based at Nuneaton. He commented that the manufacture of driverless vehicles is “putting the UK at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities for our economy and society".

However, whilst Britain may feel it is in pole position to take advantage of this technology the truth is that the UK is behind not only other countries in terms of development but also behind their own schedule as well. The Department for Transport had originally pledged to let self-driving cars be trialled on public roads by the end of 2013 but concerns about legal and insurance issues restricted driverless cars to private roads until the recently announced trials.[quote float="left"]Manufacture of driverless vehicles is putting the UK at the forefront of this transformational technology.

 

California, Nevada and Florida in the USA, plus Japan and Sweden are all undertaking tests and there is a veritable who’s who of the automotive industry joining the race to develop driverless cars alongside the much hyped Google Car.

Most experts predict that we will see driverless cars potentially in the five to ten years.

Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, has estimated that fully autonomous cars will be available by 2020. Elon Musk, Tesla CEO also agrees with this, stating: “Five or six years from now we will be able to achieve true autonomous driving where you could literally get in the car, go to sleep and wake up at your destination.”

However, Musk also added that there would likely be a further 2 to 3 years for regulatory approval.

Meanwhile luxury brand Jaguar has admitted that autonomous driving for them will be a reality by 2024 with similar claims from Audi, Daimler, Nissan and many others also in the offing.

Of course the label "driverless vehicle" sounds like an incredible leap forward but technologies such as cruise control, autonomous tic braking, anti-lane drift and self-parking functions are already built into many vehicles offering a certain degree of autonomy.

That said there are still a number of additional technologies that are key to driverless vehicles being successful.

One such innovation is Lidar (light detection and ranging), a system that measures how lasers bounce off reflective surfaces to capture information about millions of points surrounding the vehicle each and every second. This type of technology is already used to create online maps used by the likes of Google and Nokia.

Yet another complimentary technique is "computer vision" - the use of software to make sense of 360-degree images captured by cameras attached to the vehicle. This can help warn of hazards like pedestrians, cyclists, roadworks and other objects that might be in the vehicle's path.

Then there is global-positioning system (GPS) location data from satellites; radar; ultrasonic sensors to detect objects close to the car; and further sensors to accurately pinpoint a vehicle's orientation and the rotation of its wheels, to help it understand its exact location.[quote float="right"]A number of additional technologies are key to driverless vehicles being successful.

 

And it’s not just automotive companies getting involved in the development process.

Leading Swiss telecom provider Swisscom has reported on the first test-drives of an autonomous car equipped with sensors, computers and special software. The car is being trialed around the streets of Zurich with two human passengers on board.

However, Swisscom claim they are not trying to gain a share in the auto-making market but instead want to understand how to apply the innovations of digital communications network in this sector.

“Swisscom is not turning into a car manufacturer. But future innovations in the automotive industry will centre on networking with the environment. For this reason, the driverless car is a prime example of digitisation and therefore of great interest to us,” said company official Christian Petit in a statement.

The software developed by Swisscom is used to give driving instructions and analyze data. The board computer powers, steers and brakes the car. Radars, video cameras and laser scanners are used to detect nearby vehicles and pedestrians. Germany's AutoNomos Labs, which has run similar tests in Berlin, has also participated in the project.

Look out for the second part of this feature where we reveal Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales’ suggestion on how driverless cars could revolutionise the pizza delivery industry (and probably field service too!)

 

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