Potential Applications of Intelligent Transportation Systems to Road Freight Transport in Mexico

In the past few years, tools have been developed based on different communication means with the purpose of achieving a safer, more efficient, and environment-friendly operation of vehicular flows in the transport systems. Some of the early means generally involved a very strong human participation. In the course of time and with the rapid progress made in electronics, telecommunications, and computer systems, such processes have become automated until generating a series of technologies that currently are incorporated into the single generic term of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). This research has multiple purposes. First, some characteristics of road freight transport in Mexico are presented. Then, with such characteristics under consideration, the ITS technologies with the largest potential for application to that transportation type are described. A vision of future implementation is shown. Finally, some conclusions are presented.