Robotics and artificial intelligence are changing more than the warehouse, says Ray Roberts, enterprise sales executive at Logiwa. An example: Autonomous vehicles are becoming more active in trucking.

AI will be a boon for supply chain operations, but a one-size-fits-all approach will not work, Roberts says. The AI “engine” works on the inputs given. Data on moving pharmaceuticals won’t be useful in other verticals, for instance, because the logistics experiences differ. Each engine or “brain” is a singularity not useful to other industrial sectors.

“That limits our ability to use AI extensively,” he says. “The key challenge there is going down the wrong path. You could decide to go down the AI path to solve a labor problem for a set of data it doesn't have, and it's going to create a whole new set of challenges. So I think guidance is the overarching need a lot of folks have when it comes to AI.”

While cross-vertical extension of AI programs isn’t here yet, AI-enabled programs powering autonomous vehicles move freight every day, Roberts says. “On the dense East Coast, [there’s] nothing to worry about there, but if you're in Texas or California, there are already autonomous trucks on your highways.”

Drivers pick up freight and maneuver through inner city traffic, then head to highway rest stops, where they drop the truck. “They set it and forget it,” Roberts says. “The truck drives off all by itself, nobody's in it. It goes to its destination, and the same inner-city experience happens for the final mile.”

Roberts says autonomous cargo planes, holding 800 kilos, operate in Europe where remote villages have limited access to hospitals. “They carry medical supplies. They land and offload, they're set again, and take back off. These companies are already happening, collecting data and proving it's effective, efficient and safe.”