The digital truth and the physical twin

The truth is no longer what you see with your eyes; the truth is in the digital sphere, where it only sometimes needs a physical twin. After all, what's the need for a road sign along the street if the information is already in the car? Simon Moritz details how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming companies and business models as we know it.

One of the big challenges today in transportation is that the many different subsystems do not communicate with each other. Simon Moritz demonstrates how the data silo walls can be brought down and entities can be connected together to create new insights and new business opportunities. This is a data-driven opportunity that starts in the digital realm but with some anchors to the physical sphere when necessary. Instead of talking about the digital twin, we should focus on the physical twin. The digital representation is the truth and the law, while the physical entity is a mere copy of that reality. In fact, this is already true in many countries where the transportation regulation is digital and the truth, while the traffic signs along our roads are only a medium of the truth for us to interpret. Simon details how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming companies and business models as we know it. As companies focus on digitalization, they are becoming aware that their old business, which in many cases focuses on a physical product, will soon have no market and that they need to change their whole business model and offerings. Companies that sold trucks are now selling tons transported; companies that sold traffic lights now sell traffic flow optimization; and companies that sold things are now giving them away in order to sell the data generated by the things. This new transformation opens up a whole new data-driven marketplace, where new startups can make a huge difference. Data that before was way too complicated and costly to reach will now be at hand, and new alliances will make new serendipitous insights possible. In the digital space, it’s possible to bring down the walls between the many different subsystems and make them talk. However, to make this a global play there is a need for standardization. While standards are good, they are typically too slow to get a fast take off on. Simon explores new de facto standards are being generated as more and more companies are coming together to agree on the best way forward for the digital infrastructure and shares a case study from Drive Sweden, which represents not an enterprise voice but the voice of the whole transport industry.