This month, Fujitsu revealed its key trends that will impact the British transport sector throughout 2019.


From blockchain, to enhanced security measures, to inter-sector collaboration, this year will see new technologies and operational efficiencies improve travel experiences for consumers up and down the country, the company says.

Chris Patton from Fujitsu’s EMEIA transport team delves into the key technological advances the transport sector can expect this year

“Like most professional sectors, the UK transport industry and its vast supply chain is undergoing continual technological evolution. In 2019, we find ourselves at a pivotal point at which some of the much-publicised technologies – such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning (ML) – are increasingly being explored as potential solutions for scaling across major transport organisations.”

Private-public collaboration

Optimising citizen mobility – through creating an integrated public transport network that is efficient, affordable and reliable – will become increasingly commonplace and popular, which means there is a clear opportunity for those in the transport sector to lead from the front.


But in order to create a seamless customer experience, which spans multiple public transport providers, greater collaboration is needed among these organisations. As providers increasingly begin to open up their data, so that services are aligned with their competitors and other modes of transport, end-users will start enjoying smarter journey features.

Blockchain in transport

Rather than 2019 being crowned ‘the year of blockchain’, we’ll instead see more small projects being activated within the industry, so that technology partners can demonstrate to stakeholders the benefits. This will then lead to further pickup and a natural evolution of Blockchain growing in more and more use cases throughout major transport organisations.

Heighted security

Throughout 2019, there will undoubtedly be more significant attacks on national organisations, across sectors, which sees customer data falling into the wrong hands. Data breaches aren’t just a concern for customers, either. With workforces increasingly going mobile, their information is at risk from malicious activity too.

Trusted technological counsel

Throughout 2019 and beyond, a major challenge for technology partners in the transport sector will be how to help operators differentiate their offerings. But introducing new technologies at the pace of other consumer-facing sectors like retail is simply unfeasible, due to the infrastructural complexities of transport.


However, by offering incremental upgrades to solutions like Oyster cards, to contactless bank cards, to smartphone app payments, operators can show they are listening to consumers and striving to meet rapidly changing technological expectations.