Autonomous Vehicles and Industry 4.0: The Rise and Integration

The connection between autonomous vehicles and Industry 4.0 drives collaborative automation

The world as a whole has started adopting a valorous new society bursting with loads of emerging technologies and this acceptance is taking place so quickly that people don't take much time to recognize the interconnections. There are so many newcomers like cryptocurrency, cognitive computing, and all these are interactive, and in some way or the other, they are interconnected.

In the same way, self-driving vehicles are also foreseen to become a part of Industry 4.0. European technology platform manufacturers are developing a vision for 2030, where production logistics is integrated through self-driving mobile platforms, both indoors and outdoors by artificial intelligence (AI).

Technology advancement flowing from the corporate to the consumer side is outdated. Consumer technology is driving enterprise technology more and more. Unlike in the past, while investments in technology were just a cost factor, the transfer to the newer model is serving companies adjoining revenue.

This is a new technique of doing business which is known as Industry 4.0- the fourth industrial revolution. It comprises introducing internet-connected sensors on large machines and using analytics, cloud computing, and machine learning to forecast and stop issues.

Mass adoption of automation has been accelerated due to the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. Industries and organizations have realized the strength of automation in boosting productivity and gaining revenue during this pandemic. Some of them have successfully overcome the massive loss incurred in the drastic situation.

Industry 4.0 is eagerly waiting for the blend of cutting-edge technologies with a 5G network for automation. The convergence provides a potential for a country to rapidly gain revenue from multiple industries efficiently and effectively. Telecommunications companies are fighting over the patent issues of the 5G network. It is expected to hit the market within 5 years and enhance IoT in Artificial Intelligence-based products. The blend of 5G and automation can enhance sustainability through electrical assets, making smart cities digitized.

The main essence of Industry 4.0 is that it carries a big balloon of leading technologies which includes Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, IoT, AR, VR, quantum computing, and many more. But the most crucial element of Industry 4.0 is the value chain which is considered to be made faster and better through the use of digital transformation. Within companies, Industry 4.0 means that internal processes are connected and integrated, doing so via computer-based digitalization. Likewise, the same connectivity and integration go with the suppliers, customers, and other partnering elements in the value chain. This is generally known as vertically and horizontally integrating the value chain.

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and IoT together hold the potential of collaborative automation in Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 will experience a workforce combined with human employees and automation technologies to work efficiently. Companies will initiate collaborative automation to reduce a load of tedious, rigorous, and daily tasks so that the employees can focus on other crucial and creative tasks. The implementation cost will be expensive but the higher ROI in the nearby future makes it worth investing.

Autonomous vehicles could be a boon for undertaking the massive amount of transit needs for massively distributed manufacturing. We could use self-driving cars, self-driving trucks, self-driving drones, self-driving planes, self-driving ships, self-driving submersibles, and all manner of self-driving variations of vehicular systems. They are considered autonomous, or some say fully autonomous if they do not need a human driver or human pilot at the wheel.