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Analysis of Software Ecosystems in Freight transport - An investigation of the concept of eCall as a technological platform

Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The industry of road freight transport has a tradition of little or no information sharing, both\nbetween the transport actors and the customers of transport, and an overall scepticism towards\nimplementation of new technologies, which historically has resulted in the business having a\nhigh level of information asymmetry for the end-users of transport. As the area of freight\ntransport is a growing sector where goods sent by road is becoming more and more frequent,\nmore information is documented and the supply chains become increasingly complicated in\ntheir structure. In combination, the road accidents are no longer decreasing, as more transport\nis done by road. If more information is shared, the road efficiency will increase, and if the\ngoods carried by trucks was known and digitally documented, it is possible that the\nemergency services would have the possibility to minimize the effects of an accident. The\npurpose of the study is to seek an understanding if it is possible to increase the information\nshared between the parties of road transport by using the concept of software ecosystems,\nwhere the concept of eCall would be the platform around which a software ecosystem will\nevolve.\nThe technology of eCall is a concept where a car sends information to emergency services in\nEurope in case of an accident about location, direction on the road and other data. The project\nof I_HeERO are investigating the possibility of implementing eCall in heavy goods vehicles,\nbuses, taxis and two wheeled vehicles in Europe. With the industry of freight transport being\nlate adapters of new technology, the sharing of data about a vehicles load and location is\nsomething the actors are sceptical towards, and it is needed to investigate the possibilities\nwith eCall, and not solely the imagined drawbacks of sharing information.\nBased on the the Ecosystemability Assessment Method by Knauss and Hammouda (2014) the\npossibility of a software ecosystem evolving around a platform of eCall is investigated and\nanalysed, and based on this information a general assessment of software ecosystems in road\nfreight transport is concluded, stating that the possibility of a software ecosystem requires\nobvious individual benefits for the freight transport actors, as these need a push in order to\nadapt new information technologies. It is as well found that there are many barriers towards\nthe implementation of software ecosystems, but these are considered social rather than\ntechnical. Moreover, it is possible that legislating the information shared by the haulage\ncontractors and other transporters is the only way to enforce the information being shared, as\nmany actors only advantage is the information they possess and therefor are unwilling of\nsharing, even though it would benefit the sector as a whole. If using a governmentally\ninitiated software as eCall as the platform in the software ecosystem, it can be a benefit as this\nkind of software often have a clear roadmap and clear legislations, but a possible\ndisadvantage can be the possibility of the fundamental functionality being decided upon too\nearly, resulting in a limited and sluggish solution.\nIn order to use the concept of software ecosystems, the stakeholders of freight transport are\nrecommended to take action. The transport organisations are advised to increase their\ninteraction with software companies, enabling the possibility of shared and better software.\nThe actors in freight transport are advised to investigate the possibilities of information\nsharing and cooperation in software ecosystems. The customers of freight transport are\nrecommended to ask question about the transport purchased and demand information. Finally,\nthe academia are advised to further investigate projects of information sharing in freight\ntransport, with a close cooperation with the industry and a clear connection to practice
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2516005469
Cites: 13
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Related to: 10