Nguyen Ngoc Dong, deputy minister of transport, speaks at meeting on the opportunities and challenges the fourth industrial revolution posed for the transport sector in Ha Noi on Friday. — Photo baogiaothong.vn

The fourth industrial revolution is having a profound impact on every country, industry and business, and the transport sector is no different.

The Ministry of Transport organised a meeting on the opportunities and challenges the fourth industrial revolution posed for the transport sector in Ha Noi on Friday.

According to Tran Quang Ha, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department under the Ministry of Transport, said that the country’s transport industry had experienced the second and third industrial revolutions, and would now embrace the fourth.

Specifically, the industry has set up high speed road systems and applied information technology and Internet connections in providing transport services such as ticket booking and check-in and automatic charge collection, he said.

The appearance of Internet-based transport services such as Uber and Grab and the provision of public services via the Internet are strongly influenced by this revolution, he noted.

"However, due to the lack of resources and an overall information technology application model, applications are just being developed on a narrow scale, without having formed a common and shared database for the whole sector," Ha said.

The deputy director also said that the fourth industrial revolution could help save labour through technology, however, it could also affect workers by cutting job opportunities for cheap labour and change the mode of production through apps like Uber and Grab.

Nguyen Ngoc Dong, deputy minister of transport, noted that the beginning of the technology revolution would certainly affect the Vietnamese economy in general and the transportation sector in particular.

“Therefore, we must analyse and evaluate in order to manage the industry to keep up with global development,” he emphasised.

In the future, the deputy minister said that there would be reviews and updates to supplement and amend regulations for management in line with actual requirements.

The effects of data digitisation and big data storage require the industry to review strategies and planning to make timely adjustments, creating opportunities to leapfrog in the direction of development, he said.

"We also need to research new technology applications, digital technology, information sharing, artificial intelligence and robots to improve operational capacity. At the same time, agencies also need to be proactive in sharing information to serve the work of management and operations," he said.

Dong also emphasised the preparation of human resources. "The urgent need is to prepare and direct skills training and update knowledge," he added. — VNS