In April, 2026, the TRANS Research Group and KAPSARC, Tsinghua University, Southwest Jiaotong University published their study, ”The potential role of truck-hailing and operational efficiency improvement in China’s road freight decarbonization” at Nature Communications, a prestigious top-tier multidisciplinary journal under the Nature Portfolio.
This study addresses the critical research gap in demand-side decarbonization strategies for road freight, a sector that dominates global transport energy consumption growth. Leveraging a national high-resolution dataset of 51,021 real-world truck-hailing operation records, this study for the first time systematically quantified the transformative efficiency gains of digital freight matching for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, including a 10% empty driving rate, 87-88% loading rate, and doubled vehicle turnover efficiency. It developed an enhanced fleet model integrating core operational parameters, mapped the cross-period synergy between logistics optimization and low-carbon technologies, and revealed that efficiency improvement in a medium scenario can deliver 9%-24% cumulative emission reduction in 2020–2035 and 23%-31% in 2035–2060. It also first assessed the emission offset effect caused by operational constraints of zero-emission trucks, providing critical early warnings for industry transition.
This work is a joint effort across leading global institutions. Co-authors are Dr. Xun Xu (King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center); Prof. Shiqi Ou, Prof. Zhenhong Lin (South China University of Technology); Prof. Tianduo Peng, Prof. Xunmin Ou (Tsinghua University); and Prof. Zhandong Xu, Prof. Mi Gan, Dr. Dandan Li, Prof. Xiaobo Liu (Southwest Jiaotong University). The corresponding authors are Dr. Xu, Dr. Peng, and Dr, Xunmin Ou.