HERE Technologies sees logistics automation delivering safety benefits

INTERVIEW: HERE Technologies touched on a particularly relevant theme when discussing the use cases for 5G in the transport and logistics industry, regarding the delivery of vaccines.

Senior director of product innovation Shobhit Jain explained the company can “make more data” and deliver “real-time optimisation” around the routing of goods, noting this opens the potential in the medical industry to “provide a dynamic route optimisation where you can get a good to a doctor versus to the lobby”.

While Jain referred to the delivery of annual influenza vaccinations, the point clearly holds particular relevance as the world scrambles to deliver Covid-19 (coronavirus) inoculations.

HERE Technologies views 5G as a key enabler of future services for the transport and logistics sectors, including automated vehicles and drones. Jain explained these may seem like a “far-fetched idea” but added the company is “already working on some of those use cases” using its high-definition maps to deliver sub-metre level positioning data on premises.

Creating “low-latency and real-time awareness of the dynamic objects” is “very important for improving split-second decision” making, helping to reduce accidents by removing distractions, he added.

Collaboration with operators remains a key aspect, Jain explained, citing work with Verizon and T-Mobile US.