From highways to mines, Scania is testing autonomous vehicles. What’s the state of the technology? What can be expected by 2030? And what will be the role of truck drivers in the future?
Across 36 countries, which together account for 70% of global GDP, 3.6 million truck driver positions are unfilled.
Underlying structural demographic trends are increasingly alarming, notably a widening gap between younger and older drivers.
Young drivers under 25 make up just 6.5% of the total driver workforce. In stark contrast, the share of truck drivers who are over 55 is 31.6%.
Over the next five years, 3.4 million truck drivers will retire in the countries studied – posing serious challenges for the transport industry.
What is the impact of driver shortage?
The shortage of drivers is one of the key challenges facing the global transport industry. It is directly impacting our customers and our own logistics.
It is projected to reach a tipping point within the next decade, according to IRU data, potentially causing significant delays in freight movement. This would have a cascading effect on time-sensitive industries, exposing them to operational risks, such as halting production lines due to the dependence on just-in-time delivery. Most businesses, especially cost sensitive ones like e-commerce, would be seriously affected by higher transport costs.
This was the case during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted global supply chains, constrained businesses, led to empty shelves, and increased the cost of goods. We had difficulty delivering trucks to customers across Europe because the transport companies were short on drivers.
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