A perspective paper looks at digital transportation’s basic theories

Digital transportation describes transportation where advanced digital technologies are integrated into the system to improve its efficiency and safety. A perspective paper summarizing the development of transportation and examining digital transportation from a variety of viewpoints was published in the Journal of Highway and Transportation Research and Development on March 31, 2026.

“It is our hope that this paper will attract the attention of industry experts and scholars. We call on the academic community to develop new theories of digital transportation based on the entirely new demands that the digital society places on transportation,” said Bingqi Zhang, author of the perspective paper and Chief Researcher for the Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport in Beijing.

Transportation originated because primitive humans needed to communicate. Humans started with the most basic roads, and applied their skills and wisdom to create vehicles, invent boats and rafts, construct roads and canals, and set up relay stations. These advances allowed humans to transmit government decrees, transport military provisions, and gain access to more distant regions. “The need for human travel and the movement of goods gave birth to transportation,” said Zhang.

In his paper, Zhang traces the evolution of transportation from primitive societies to industrial societies. With the progression to industrial societies, cities became larger and more important, with more and more human activity happening in the cities. Transportation increasingly played a more important role in everyday life.

“It is evident that transportation is inseparable from human production and lifestyles. These generate demands for travel and the movement of goods, while the reach scope, scale, and cost of transport constrain economic activities and social functioning. Each technological revolution has been applied to transportation either first or among the first of all sectors,” said Zhang.

In the digital society of today, the demand for transportation may be declining for the first time in human history. In a digital society, some material products are being replaced by digital products. So the need for daily travel decreases. “At the same time, the integration of artificial intelligence into the transportation system is not comparable to the replacement of horses and oxen by machines; rather, it represents a complete restructuring of the system, not merely an increase in power,” said Zhang.

Researchers are currently addressing the framework for transportation with practical theories related to the various modes of transportation along with the construction and maintenance of infrastructure. “While these theories can guide continuous optimization and reinforcement of industrial society transportation systems in detail, they are inadequate for effectively addressing the revolutionary developments in transportation that the digital society will bring,” said Zhang.

Zhang proposes a digital transportation system that consists of a travel service network, a physical freight service network, and a digital freight service network. “It covers the full physical space from the deep sea to outer space, as well as the full digital space encompassing all agents from biological intelligence to digital intelligence, and meets the transport needs of people, physical goods, and digital goods,” said Zhang.

Zhang identified key research directions for future focus. He recommended that systematic research be conducted to forecast the digital societal environment relevant to transportation. He also recommended that in-depth analysis should be carried out at the various stages in the development of digital transportation. The third focus he proposed involved research management approaches, related to legal governance, that are suitable for digital transportation. His last recommendation is to conduct comprehensive research on digital technologies. The hope is that readers will study the theory of digital transportation from a broader, macro perspective.

“We will continue our research to clarify the definition of digital transportation, analyze its developmental needs, propose transportation modes for the digital age, and ultimately construct a comprehensive theoretical framework for digital transportation,” said Zhang. “This study will effectively guide the development of modern vehicles and the digital transformation of transportation infrastructure.”