The Physical Internet in the Era of Digital Transformation: Perspectives and Open Issues

Abstract

The Physical Internet (PI, or pi) paradigm has been developed for a global logistics system that aims to move, handle, store, and transport logistics products in a sustainable and efficient way. To achieve this goal, the PI requires a higher level of interconnectivity and interoperability in terms of physical, informational, and operational aspects, which, by following the principle of the digital Internet (DI), is enabled by an interconnected network of intermodal hubs, collaborative protocols, and standardized, modular, and smart containers. Meanwhile, digital transformation (DT) has become mainstream in Industry 4.0 to innovate many industries, including logistics and supply chains, through the use of breakthrough digital technologies in the fields of information, communication, connectivity, analytics, and computing, such as the next generation of communication and networking (i.e., 5G), the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data analytics (BDA), and cloud computing (CC). In this context, the introduction of DT in the PI vision has many implications for the development and realization of an efficient and sustainable global logistics system. This study investigated the perspectives of PI under the impact of DT. The major challenges and associated open research regarding the adoption of DT in PI have been thoroughly investigated.