Enhancing road freight transportation sustainability: a review of optimisation methods and industry 4.0 technologies

This paper systematically analyzes the extent to which prior research addressed sustainability principles—environmental, social and economic—in road freight transportation (RFT), using the R-based Biblioshiny app and VOSviewer® for thematic analysis. First, we categorize the factors contributing to transportation sustainability under each principle. Second, we classify existing studies into two perspectives: the adoption of (P1) optimization methods and (P2) Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies to examine how both perspectives contribute to RFT sustainability—an area where prior research partially addressed this goal. Our analysis finds 208 articles from P1 and 198 from P2 over the last decade (2014–2023). This study identifies three factors—carbon emissions, public health and well-being and cost-effectiveness—that have been the most explored in the existing literature. But other factors, such as the utilization of alternative energies (biofuels, compressed natural gas and hydrogen), intermodal transportation, fleet modernization, weight limits or space utilization, vehicle-driver efficiency, community impact, business competitiveness, supply chain performance and regulatory compliance, remain underexplored. Therefore, our findings open numerous possibilities within these less-explored factors, along with highlighting key areas for future studies. Finally, this study contributes to the existing literature by providing an overview of how adopting both perspectives can enhance RFT sustainability.