AI in logistics

This white paper on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Logistics targets ALICE network members and organizations interested in starting AI projects in the logistics field. AI currently permeates all sectors and industries and becomes an increasingly important technology. The characteristics of the logistics industry, such as a fluctuating consumer market, multiple actors with opposing goals, and complex optimization problems, make it highly suitable for AI applications. AI methods can capture the complex relationships in logistics environments, leveraging the increasing availability of data to make logistics processes more efficient and sustainable. The European Union (EU) supports the development and use of AI by creating a regulatory framework called the EU AI Act, aiming to ensure the safety, transparency, traceability, non-discrimination, and environmental friendliness of AI systems used in the EU. After exploring the foundations of AI, the white paper provides application examples for AI in logistics from members of the ALICE network. The application examples are clustered according to their application domain (ports, intralogistics, and transport management), as well as the task that an AI algorithm on (sensing, thinking, acting). Finally, the white paper addresses common challenges of starting and AI project and ways to overcome them.