DHL has released its seventh Logistics Trend Radar, unveiling the emerging AI trends and sustainable solutions that are set to impact and transform the logistics industry.
The DHL Logistics Trend Radar 7.0 includes 40 trends – 17 social and business and 23 technological – and predicts time to adoption and their impact on logistics.
While trend clusters like robotics, the Internet of Things and digital backbone continue to significantly affect logistics, DHL believes the emerging field of AI is making an increasingly substantial contribution and that sustainability remains a top priority.
“The DHL Logistics Trend Radar is an invaluable strategic resource for our customers and logistics community,” said Katja Busch, CCO and head of DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation. “It consolidates key logistics trends, with AI and sustainability taking the lead in this edition, driving the evolution of businesses, consumers and technologies over the next decade. This empowers our customers and us to stay competitive in a demanding landscape.”
Prominent trends
The relevance of AI for the logistics industry has expanded significantly, with five prominent trends: generative AI; AI ethics; audio AI; computer vision; and advanced analytics. These collectively aim to transform logistics processes by leveraging sophisticated data analysis and generation, enhancing human-computer interaction through voice and sound analysis, automating visual data interpretation, and autonomously generating new content based on learned patterns. Considerations of ethical implications of the AI technology leap are also being outlined.
DHL’s sustainability trend cluster spotlighted two trends: renewable energy infrastructure and sustainable fuels. These trends are essential for reducing carbon emissions, enhancing energy efficiency, and enabling sustainable operations along the supply chain.
In addition to the report’s emphasis on technological innovation, the DHL Logistics Trend Radar 7.0 also examines social trends and their implications for supply chains. These include diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging (DEIB), alongside the growing significance of employee experience and workplace health and safety.
Valuable insights
The DHL Logistics Trend Radar is founded on an integrated customer-centric innovation approach, harnessing key insights from thousands of engagements at DHL Innovation Centers globally. Each year, the four centers – in Germany, Singapore the USA and the United Arab Emirates – attract more than 13,000 visitors. These interactions with customers and DHL colleagues involved in daily operations provide valuable perspectives for logistics transformation.
Complementing these insights, the Trend Radar also integrates classic research methodologies and the expertise of key opinion leaders from influential think tanks, renowned consultancy firms and top-tier academia from around the world. Additionally, the DHL Warehouse of Innovation platform facilitates collaboration with startups, researchers and investors to co-create future-oriented innovations alongside DHL.
Read the full DHL Logistics Trend Radar 7.0here.