Assessment of Telematic Systems for Road Freight Transport

Sammanfattning: The focus of this thesis is the assessment of telematic systems for road freight transport from a planning perspective. The aim is to support strategic decisions related to architectural choices for such systems, with the possibility to achieve synergies by supporting multiple telematic services. The past decade has witnessed enormous growth in cargo volumes resulting in increasing demand for transport capacity. To match this increasing demand only with expansion of infrastructure, e.g. road and vehicles, does not seem to be a sustainable strategy. One of the few approaches with the potential to improve the use of current transport capacity is the integrated use of modern information and communication technology, otherwise known as telematic systems for road transport, an important component within Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). This type of systems can deliver multiple services that can be used to improve the efficiency and safety of road freight transport. However, attempts to unleash the potential of telematic systems and make maximum possible use of the available transport capacity have been hindered by several challenges ranging from planning and design to development and deployment. Considering the large scope of possible telematic services that can potentially be deployed in road freight transport, this thesis suggests a framework in order to enable structured assessment of telematic systems. Based on the suggested framework, a set of potential transport telematic services are identified and a method for quantifying the value of the services to society is developed. The suggested method takes into account the expected impact on different transportation challenges, such as accidents, fuel consumption, and infrastructure maintenance. Quantitative methods are provided for studying the value of services sharing a common infrastructure. Using quantified benefits of services and costs of various functionalities required by telematic services, the concept of a multi-service architecture is investigated using optimization methods, which handles the multi-dimensional relations between different services that are otherwise difficult to analyze with traditional cost-benefit analysis. The analyses show which telematic services can be achieved with different approaches, such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, etc. Although multi-service architectures are promising, several challenges need to be overcome, including security, service quality, privacy, and business models. The knowledge gained from the work presented in this thesis can be valuable for different stakeholders, such as governments, service providers, and transport service users, in fostering the planning, design, development, and deployment of telematic systems in transport.