Trust Is Earned Through Execution: What Separates Transportation Leaders From The Rest

Why is trust becoming a competitive advantage in transportation? New research explores how execution, visibility, collaboration, and network performance are shaping future leaders.

Jul 06, 2026

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the recently published research report “From Managing Shipments to Orchestrating Networks: What Will Separate Transportation Leaders from the Rest?” Conducted by Adelante SCM and commissioned by Alpega, the research examines the capabilities, technologies, and practices that will distinguish transportation leaders over the next three to five years, based on surveys of shippers, carriers, and logistics service providers. To access the complete findings, download the full report.

Transportation management is becoming more complex and dynamic. Market volatility, rising customer expectations, labor challenges, geopolitical uncertainty, and rapid advances in technology are reshaping how freight is planned, executed, and managed.

Against this backdrop, what will separate transportation leaders from the rest over the next three to five years?

To explore this question, Adelante SCM and Alpega surveyed 56 supply chain and logistics executives from manufacturing, retail, and distribution companies, as well as 239 carriers and logistics service providers (LSPs) from across Europe. While the two surveys differ in size and respondent composition, together they provide valuable perspectives from both sides of the transportation ecosystem.

The results reveal strong alignment on where the industry is headed. Both groups envision a future defined by greater connectivity, visibility, automation, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. More importantly, respondents repeatedly described a shift from managing transportation activities to orchestrating transportation networks, a theme that emerged consistently across both the quantitative and qualitative findings.

Would You Put Your Freight on a Driverless Truck?

Driverless trucks have been “coming soon” for more than a decade. But recent developments suggest the industry may finally be approaching a new phase. This month, for example, PepsiCo disclosed that it is operating 35 driverless trucks on public roads in Arizona as part of its live supply chain operations.

Back in August 2022, we asked Indago members about testing driverless trucks. At the time, most respondents were not testing the technology. It’s now four years later. Has shipper sentiment changed? Are companies more willing to test or use driverless truck capacity, and what barriers remain to broader adoption?

Download the Report

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