Digital driver support for more efficient timber transport

ByForest Machine Magazine

24 October, 2024
Digital driver

Both drivers and transport managers today lack important functionality and information linked to timber transport. Can a customized digital driver support be the solution to the problems?

Photo: Madeleine Silverbratt

The logistics of the forest value chains are complex and are affected by a number of actors as well as changing external factors such as weather, changing demand and sudden stops along the value chain. The fact that the choice of route is influenced by changing factors has meant that many of the detailed decisions about which timber to transport where have been moved out of central transport management to the drivers. At the same time, this risks leading to decisions that reduce the overall efficiency of the system due to a lack of overview.

Electrification increases the need for driver support

Future electrification of road transport is important to achieve fossil-free forestry. However, this will put transport planning to the test even further, as battery-electric timber vehicles have a more limited range than conventional vehicles, and routes therefore also need to be planned with charging logistics in mind. This may mean that a greater degree of centralised planning becomes necessary, which in turn requires drivers to change their way of working. Varying degrees of centralised planning have previously been tested in forestry, but the attempts have failed, among other things, on the drivers’ lack of acceptance of this type of change.

Can digital driver assistance increase acceptance of central planning?

The hypothesis of this project was to investigate whether a user-friendly, interactive driver assistance could make it easier for drivers, so that the acceptance of central planning increases. This would be a prerequisite for realizing the efficiency and sustainability gains inherent in electrification and the accompanying governance model. Currently, there is no such driver support on the market, but with today’s and tomorrow’s access to digital data and IT tools, there are great opportunities to develop it.

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The purpose of the project was therefore to investigate the need for and conditions for creating a driver support for timber transports and to produce a basis for how such support could be designed. The work was to be done in the light of an upcoming electrification of the vehicle fleet.

On-site interviews and observations

Data to map working methods and information flows were collected through semi-structured interviews. A total of 16 interviews were conducted with participants from the participating companies. The majority of the interviewees were timber truck drivers, but transport managers and senior managers also participated.

As a complement to the interviews, observations of the drivers’ work were carried out for half a day to one day per driver. A transport manager was also observed during one working day. During the observations, the observers noted the steps and decisions that the drivers performed and made, communication with different roles, how they worked with different software systems for transport, and approximate times of events.

Prototype for driver support

The material from interviews and observations formed the basis for a prototype driver support that was then evaluated through user tests in two different workshops. Drivers of both conventional timber vehicles and electric vehicles were allowed to test the prototype and provide feedback. The tests verified that the needs captured through interviews and observations were relevant and that a driver support similar to the prototype that had been developed was a requested aid in the drivers’ work. An upcoming electrification of the vehicle fleet was expected to add new needs linked to the planning of charging logistics.

Better efficiency and working environment

In summary, this study indicates that today’s drivers and transport managers lack functionality and information that are important for their work, and that could be accommodated within the framework of a digital driver support. These shortcomings are currently compensated by frequent telephone contacts with colleagues and partners to create an up-to-date picture of the situation, which is likely to affect the efficiency of the transport system while creating stress and thus a deteriorating work environment. Having access to adapted driver support that the transport manager also has access to and that allows sharing of information is considered to have the potential to increase acceptance for more central planning of the transport work.

Future work

Further work should include methods and key figures for measuring the effects of driver assistance as well as studies of how information quality and degree of adherence affect the experience of and benefit of a driver assistance in the style of the developed prototype.

Forest Machine Magazine is written and edited by a forest professional with over 40 years hands on experience. We are dedicated to keeping you informed with all the latest news, views and reviews from our industry.

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