Digital tools are transforming road transport. "Learning Artificial Intelligence"

• "Based on reliable and quickly delivered data, we can make sound business decisions. Just a few years ago, a road transport company needed over two weeks to respond to a given situation. Today, it's done on an ongoing basis. That's a huge difference," says Magdalena Szaroleta, Managing Director of MCG Logistics.
• "At MCG, we're already learning about artificial intelligence. I feel it has enormous potential. I have no concerns whatsoever that it might result in job losses. In my opinion, AI will take over repetitive, monotonous tasks from humans and give them time to think, unleashing their creativity. I can already see this in my own work environment," he adds.
• "For years, Poles were masters of Excel. They packed all sorts of data into spreadsheets. It took a lot of time to enter it and even more time to draw conclusions from it. Today, that's ending. Data is collected on platforms that generate reports and present conclusions," he explains.
• The conversation is part of a series of interviews that will serve as the basis for the report "From Tape to Algorithm: How Digitalization Is Shaping the Future of Industry," prepared by WNP Economic Trends in conjunction with the New Industry Forum (Katowice, October 14-15, 2025).

How is digitalization changing road transport? What's it like at MCG Logistics (formerly Maszoński Logistic), where you've been Managing Director since March of this year, and also from a broader perspective as someone who's been active in the industry for over 20 years?

MCG Logistics is a company strongly focused on automation and digitalization in business. We have "automation specialists" in our team—people dedicated to supporting our digital operations, monitoring and analyzing data on an ongoing basis. In transport, significant gains can be made in terms of cost reduction, route optimization, planning processes, and overall efficiency gains. However, it's crucial to stay current...

Today, transport process management relies on TMS. This solution allows us to track every order in real time and inform the customer where the vehicle carrying their goods is. Orders are entered into the system automatically, not manually, as was the case not so long ago. We use SIDs (a unique identification number assigned to an order, shipment, container, or customer). We have tools that connect our customers' systems with our TMS, allowing us to handle administrative tasks quickly and efficiently, allowing us to focus on the core of the transport service.

Telematics is also important. The entire industry is currently undergoing a tachograph replacement. Thanks to the new devices, it will be known not only where a vehicle is and what it's doing, but also how to account for it (the new tachographs record the moment a border is crossed, which in turn affects the driver's pay – editor's note).

Much has changed in road transport over the past decade or so thanks to digitalization, but in my opinion, much can still change. That's why, just a month ago, we formed a team whose goal is to review our organization with the goal of streamlining digital processes and strengthening them in company management. This includes accounting, HR, and, above all, transportation processes, as they are the most crucial.

We also have an ESG project ahead of us, which requires us to optimize our operations in terms of environmental impact. This cannot be accomplished without collecting and analyzing further data sets, such as the fuel consumption of our cars.

Based on reliable and quickly delivered data, we can make sound business decisions. The more reliable and faster this data is, the better for us. In my opinion, this is crucial for achieving business agility, which is especially necessary today given the challenging market situation.

Digital projects currently underway at MCG Logistics

Does any digital solution used in road transport stand out above the rest? Is it a universal key that opens various locks?

- So far, I haven't found a solution that would be a universal key that would open all transport locks... But I dream about it and I believe that perhaps we will create it ourselves.

I see enormous potential for combining all transportation processes in a single tool: from order registration, through fleet planning, transport pricing, to monitoring, purchasing, technical support, and data analysis . And if this tool also suggested the best optimizations and suggested changes, we would have a true revolution in the industry.

Road transport companies (the larger ones) probably used computers in the 1990s, but the gateway to the digitalization of the industry opened wide a dozen or so years ago with the development of digital communications in the GSM standard and GPS technology . This enables data transmission from the vehicle to the dispatch center and vice versa.

"Yes, that process accelerated then. Another "historical moment" for the digitalization of road transport was the pandemic. It motivated us to rethink the organization of the logistics process and to react differently than before. Previously, we were accustomed to working in the office and storing documents there. Today, five years after that breakthrough, perhaps as much as 80% of the documents we need for work are stored online. These include invoices, but also all documentation related to orders and their confirmations."

Nowadays, most companies actually operate on platforms. The sheer number of platforms is a problem for transport companies, as each client has their own platform and centralizes their carriers on it. However, the era of working "by phone," "by fax," and "by email" is undoubtedly over. Everything has ended up in systems.

What digitalization projects are you working on at MCG today?

Three of them are worth mentioning. The first, M-Driver, allows us to track fuel consumption data for individual vehicles, costs, and documents, including receipts, which are scanned, automatically read, and thus digitized. M-Driver allows for invoice insertion immediately after unloading the vehicle. It replaces at least several administrative positions that could be used elsewhere, replacing tedious, repetitive tasks with creative work.

The second project is optimizing order entry into the system. Today, clients use a variety of formats, so we need a tool that unifies them. We're working on this as part of the GoSpot project. This solution allows us to automate the process.

The third is the Science platform project. This is our telematics. A lot of good things are happening here. Just a few years ago, road transport companies would react to the previous month's results after the 18th of the following month. It took over two weeks for a business response to a given situation. Today, it's done on an ongoing basis. That's a huge difference.

What drives you when deciding to digitize your company? You've already touched on this in our conversation, and as a journalist who covers logistics, I suspect it's about cost reduction, competitiveness, increased operational capacity, and so on.

Yes. I would look at it from three perspectives. The first is short-term, "here and now." Digitalization enables operational process control, optimization, acceleration, and the ability to quickly respond to market events. And cost reduction. This is crucial, because costs are rising and rates are falling. There are fewer orders on the market, so we need to adapt to this and manage the process wisely.

In the medium term, the driving force behind digitization remains increased market competitiveness and increased flexibility. Data can help us determine which direction to pursue, which industry holds the most promise, and where to shift our activities, such as sales.

In the long term, digitization allows companies to adapt to national and EU regulations. This includes the aforementioned ESG, but also, for example, e-invoicing, which is a state requirement under the National e-Invoicing System (KSeF).

Digitalization is driven by internal factors on the one hand, and external factors on the other. Overall, this results in an increasingly strong digital impact on transport companies' businesses.

Will artificial intelligence eliminate differences in road transport?

How do you assess the level of digitalization in the road transport sector in Poland? The industry is highly diverse. Doesn't this hinder business relationships, for example, between large companies and small ones, which are arguably less digitally advanced?

Yes, the difference is easy to spot. Smaller companies, and there are many of them in Poland, operate primarily "analog." If they don't need to adopt digital innovations, they don't – due to cost.

Objectively speaking, digitalization isn't cheap. New tachographs cost over 3,000 PLN each. If a company has 100 vehicles, that adds up to a significant sum, which requires careful planning. It's worth examining how mid-sized companies are positioning themselves for digitalization. They see the opportunities and are moving toward it step by step.

I wonder how the use of AI will impact our industry. To some extent, AI offers free solutions, so the cost won't make a fundamental difference. Perhaps this is an opportunity for smaller companies with enough courage and creativity to take advantage of.

At MCG, we're already learning AI. I feel it has enormous potential. I have no concerns whatsoever that it might result in job losses. In my opinion, AI will take over repetitive, monotonous tasks from humans and give them time to think, unleashing their creativity. I can already see this in my own work environment.

How do you assess digital solution providers and their integrators? Does the Polish market offer what transport companies expect? Do you have to rely on foreign solutions?

"I think there's plenty to find in our country, although personally, for me, the offer is still too modest. I'd like more, and above all, faster. On the other hand, as an industry, we should create a need that IT companies can address. Perhaps the ideal solution is close at hand... For now, the lack of universal solutions remains a drawback. As the saying goes: everyone builds for themselves."

This is a fundamental question: to centralize or not to centralize data exchange. There are several platforms in the transportation market that operate on the foundation of a centralized model, thus pooling a significant amount of knowledge. Each order submitted through such a platform is subject to a fee, meaning that transportation companies ultimately pay for it. Therefore, such centralization is not beneficial for everyone.

Perhaps, however, we will be able to create solutions based on the analysis of large data sets that will be suitable for every market participant. I feel there is still much room for improvement in the field of telematics: faster, more efficient, AI-enabled... I hope that soon we will be able to boast and say, "Wow, this is it."

How does the industry approach data exchange between B2B partners? I've heard that there's distrust here, fearing that the business will be taken over.

"It's not like you're publicly disclosing your volumes. But it's true: using various platforms, you're sharing data about cars and customers in real time. This process is covered by GDPR clauses. Companies planning to digitally optimize their operations should take this into account. Regulations can sometimes hinder their intentions, ensuring that each party is adequately protected."

Overall, however, information exchange is crucial for our industry. It allows, among other things, to reduce empty runs. Currently, depending on the route, this represents 8-20% of all transports. The shorter the route, the greater the risk of carrying air.

Some people have concerns, but generally people are convinced

You said that MCG has designated employees to support the digitalization process. They don't need convincing. But how will other employees, such as drivers, assess the digital changes? They may now feel much more in control than they did 15-20 years ago. It's difficult, if not impossible, to go your own way, and that's a national trait.

"Individuals have concerns, but the general belief is that we're moving in the right direction, that digitalization is changing the organization for the better. As I mentioned earlier, we no longer need someone to type up receipts; we need an analyst. We're replacing repetitive tasks with interesting work. By increasing its efficiency, we're building on partnership and accountability."

But surely not everyone who transcribes receipts is capable of being an analyst?

- Yes. The heart of the matter lies in the answer to the question of how ready we, as employees, are to change.

Has the number of employees been reduced at MCG due to digitalisation?

No, definitely not! What's more, we've now hired more people to develop our transport and forwarding business. We're currently recruiting two more positions, but we're also optimizing staffing within our organization by testing automation solutions in administration.

Employees know this. We have room to move them forward. However, they must be willing to develop, acquire new skills, and find their place in a new field.

From the perspective of a manager of a large transportation company, how do you see the digitalization of the public sector? Is the Polish administration performing better in this regard than before?

"The administration has certainly made significant progress. We have e-TOLL, SENT (Electronic Transport Supervision System - editor's note), and the National e-Invoice System will launch next year. All of this is being done administratively, systematically."

However, I have the impression that when introducing new solutions, the public administration is learning from a living organism. Well, beginnings are difficult... This requires additional work, monitoring, and security, because we are responsible for the data provided to the state. We must conduct each implementation responsibly...

The full implementation of the electronic consignment note (eCMR), which is intended to replace paper documents, has been postponed by two years. It is expected to take place in 2027.

- eCMR would be an ideal solution if it could be fully implemented. Transport desperately needs it.

How do you generally assess the digitalization of the economy in Poland?

"In my opinion, it's not doing too badly. If I look at financial turnover, for example, we're ahead in many respects." In Germany, you can't pay with BLIK. We Poles have this driving force: we want faster, more efficient, better. Personally, I'm dissatisfied with digitization, but it stems from our desire to digitize our ideas as quickly as possible, not from the fact that we're lagging behind as a country."

For years, Poles were masters of Excel. They crammed all sorts of data into spreadsheets. Entering it took a lot of time and drawing conclusions from it even more. This is ending today.

Data is collected on platforms that generate reports and present conclusions. Based on these, we can make decisions and see where they lead us. I like to work in PDCA mode: plan, do, check, and then act. Digital solutions allow us to do this today.

So, we can put it figuratively in this way: first, road transport in Poland moved from a notebook to Excel, and now it is moving to platforms.

- Exactly.

Transport Autonomization, Cybersecurity and ESG

Returning to artificial intelligence: is institutional support for AI development necessary? Do you think this technology will be so attractive to businesses that it won't be necessary?

I think so. I'm concerned that the "institutionalization" of AI may mean its limitations. I assume that businesses will be responsible in their use of it, both in terms of what data they share with AI and what knowledge they want to derive from it.

The road transport equivalent of a robot on a production line is the autonomous vehicle. I have the impression that there's less talk about it than there was just a few years ago... Is the autonomy of truck traffic a pipe dream, or are carriers seriously considering it?

"It's certainly not a 'current issue.' If anything, it might be within 10-15 years in Europe. There are not only technical issues at stake, such as developing the appropriate technology, but also legal ones. Costs and public acceptance must also be considered."

Are cyberattacks a significant threat to road transport? Surely an attack on a road carrier isn't as spectacular as an attack on a railway or airport. So perhaps the industry isn't targeted by hackers?

Road transport companies are well protected against them. At MCG, we're technically prepared and we also conduct training for our staff. Our secure process is so well-established that phishing scams are becoming less frequent – ​​I don't see them in emails.

Once a month, we hold development and transformation meetings at our company. During one of them, we discussed cybersecurity. We feel that everything is working well, but the risk is too great to ignore the problem.

You mentioned carbon reporting for ESG policy purposes. What does this look like in practice? I've seen dedicated apps for this purpose.

"At MCG, this happens automatically, based on data coming online from cars. We do it even though we don't have to (ESG reporting for companies that were supposed to start in 2026 and 2027 has been postponed by two years - editor's note). Entering this process showed us how much data we need to monitor and prepare for analysis within the company."

Are customers interested in knowing about the emissions of their cargo transport?

"For now, I don't see much pressure from customers for this information. Tenders require carriers to be able to calculate emissions, but I don't think it affects their decisions. It's a mandatory requirement. In practice, only one of our clients requires it on an ongoing basis."

Polish or foreign?

- Foreign.