AI in action against cargo theft

• Innovative AI technology for greater security in the direct loading area
• Sustainable on the road: optimizing cargo space utilization

In the logistics industry, companies face major challenges in transporting their loads safely, trans-parently, efficiently and sustainably. 
Cargo theft and unused cargo space cause financial losses and affect the entire supply chain. Quehenberger relies on artificial intelligence to overcome these challenges and increase safety and sustainability in the road transportation sector. State-of-the-art cameras and intelligent software directly in the trailers monitor the load and opti-mize the cargo space. Quehenberger is initially installing AI-controlled cameras on ten international trailers for the pilot phase. In future, the entire fleet and transport partners are to be equipped with them.

Safe on the road
The cameras scan the interior of the trailers and analyze and aggregate the data in real time. In the event of problems such as slipped pallets, an alarm is triggered to inform the truck driver and the dispatcher.

Theft protection
The annual damage caused by cargo theft in Europe is estimated at around 8.2 billion euros. The most common types of theft in logistics are the theft of cargo from trucks, the theft of complete load carriers and the theft of fuel. An additional problem is the entry of “unwanted guests”, e.g. peo-ple who gain access to the truck unnoticed at borders.  The cameras detect deviations from the route, unplanned manipulations or door openings and also if, for example, the tarpaulin of the truck is cut open. In such cases, the AI triggers alarms and in-forms those responsible. This ensures optimum theft protection with minimal use of resources.

Every millimetre of loading space should be used
The camera measures the entire loading space within the trailer and reports a free loading space to the dispatcher in pallet units. The dispatcher can now offer this loading space on the freight ex-changes and, ideally, sell it en route. The second expansion stage would then be for the AI to inde-pendently offer the loading space on the exchanges and find the optimum additional load.  “When all systems are optimally interlinked, many things are possible: maximum cargo space utili-zation, the sale of free cargo space on the go, the best possible secured load and perfect theft pro-tection with minimal use of resources,” explains Robert Köbrunner, Head of Q Direct.

Challenges in the ongoing project
It was crucial in this project that all the people involved were brought together. From transport spe-cialists and camera technicians to drivers and safety specialists, everyone contributed their exper-tise. The project team now faces an extensive learning phase in which the software will be trained with specific use cases. “It will be more work for our team at first, but we are convinced that it will be worth it,” says Eugen Goss, Product Specialist and Project Manager.