Symposium 2025: Transport & Logistics

The transport and logistics industry is undergoing a profound transformation. Faced with climate change, workforce shortages, and the need for greater efficiency, the sector must innovate to stay on track. At Flanders Make, we are helping accelerate this transition through cutting-edge demonstrators that make transport cleaner, smarter, and more reliable than ever before.

Tackling climate change

Powering the move to electrification

Transport accounts for 22% of global CO₂ emissions, making electrification one of the most pressing challenges for a sustainable future. To tackle this challenge, we focus on advanced motor design and energy optimisation.

A new concept for electrical rotor excitation extends motor life and boosts efficiency, paving the way for more durable electric drives.

The Energy Management System for Hybrid Energy Storage reduces battery costs and enhances performance by intelligently balancing energy use across multiple sources.

Meanwhile, the Bearing Current Mitigation Tool improves reliability in high-voltage drives, reducing wear and extending system lifetime.

Together, these technologies drive the shift towards clean, electric mobility—helping vehicles go farther, last longer, and operate with a smaller environmental footprint.

Addressing labour shortages

Smarter systems for a connected world

The ongoing shortage of drivers and logistics staff is forcing the transport sector to rethink how it operates. Automation and intelligence are stepping in to fill the gap—ensuring that transport remains safe, efficient, and productive.

Our Multiple Hypotheses Tracking for Robot Navigation demonstrator gives autonomous vehicles and robots advanced situational awareness, enabling them to navigate complex, changing environments—even when the connection drops. This capability is essential for driverless logistics.

In agriculture, we show how autonomous control systems can match human adaptability via Control for Complex Manoeuvring in Agricultural Vehicles, executing precise movements in dynamic conditions.

Complementing these, our Mutation Testing for Fleet Software demonstrator enhances reliability across entire vehicle fleets by automatically validating software performance, reducing downtime and improving safety.

Together, these innovations lay the foundation for semi- and fully autonomous transport systems, helping the industry maintain output despite workforce shortages—and moving us closer to a resilient, automated logistics future.

Getting more from every vehicle

Smarter maintenance and diagnostics

As demand for transport grows, the performance and reliability of existing fleets are under pressure. Our demonstrators show how smart monitoring, data-driven insights, and AI-assisted diagnostics can maximise uptime and efficiency.

The Vision-Assisted Gearbox Inspection demonstrator enables predictive maintenance by detecting wear and defects early, preventing breakdowns and keeping vehicles operational longer.

Expert Knowledge-Based Maintenance Support merges technician expertise with intelligent data analysis to speed up troubleshooting and reduce downtime.

Meanwhile, Hybrid Bearing Load and Condition Monitoring uses continuous multi-sensor measurements to spot anomalies before they escalate—avoiding cascading failures and costly repairs.

Together, these technologies create a proactive maintenance ecosystem where every component is continuously monitored, assessed, and optimised. The result: longer vehicle life, higher reliability, lower operational costs, and a smaller environmental footprint.

Using fleet capacity wisely

Smarter planning for a sustainable future

Fleet vehicles still too often drive half-empty, contributing to road congestion, wasted energy, and rising costs. To counter this, Flanders Make is helping logistics operators make better use of existing capacity through digital intelligence and advanced planning tools.

On our Symposium we showed how smart algorithms can optimise fleet deployment across multiple transport modes—from long-haul trucking to rail and last-mile delivery. By integrating real-time data, demand forecasting, and multimodal coordination, these systems ensure that every vehicle, route, and resource is used to its full potential.

The result is a connected, adaptive logistics ecosystem where goods flow seamlessly, emissions are reduced, and productivity and sustainability go hand in hand.

Towards a smarter, greener transport ecosystem

From advanced energy management to autonomous navigation, from predictive maintenance to intelligent planning—Flanders Make’s transport and logistics demonstrators showcase how innovation can reshape mobility for a sustainable future.

By combining electrification, automation, and digital intelligence, we are helping the industry move faster, operate more efficiently, and drive forward with purpose—towards a cleaner, smarter, and more resilient transport ecosystem.