AI exposure: Transportation Inspectors
Inspect equipment or goods in connection with the safe transport of cargo or people. Includes rail transportation inspectors, such as freight inspectors, rail inspectors, and other inspectors of transportation vehicles not elsewhere classified.
Reading this score
computedAt 32.8% of weighted task load, Transportation Inspectors sits at the 57th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 51.2% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 17 tasks it averages 1.88 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Prepare and submit reports after completion of freight shipments, at 80.0%. The least is Measure heights and widths of loads to ensure they will pass over bridges or through tunnels on..., at 0.0%. A gap of 80.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within transportation and material moving occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 52 roles in the group is 24.2%, and only 9 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 17 tasks, 9 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 8 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.82 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.88 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.76 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.76 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.18 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.24 | 0-3 |
Task by task
17 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare and submit reports after completion of freight shipments. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.51 | exposed |
| Calculate gross and net tonnage, hold capacities, volumes of stored fuel and water, cargo weights, and vessel stability factors, using mathematical formulas. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | – | exposed |
| Record details about freight conditions, handling of freight, and any problems encountered. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.39 | exposed |
| Recommend remedial procedures to correct any violations found during inspections. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.06 | exposed |
| Determine cargo transportation capabilities by reading documents that set forth cargo loading and securing procedures, capacities, and stability factors. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.87 | exposed |
| Advise crews in techniques of stowing dangerous and heavy cargo. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Direct crews to reload freight or to insert additional bracing or packing as necessary. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Check temperatures and humidities of shipping and storage areas to ensure that they are at appropriate levels to protect cargo. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.91 | exposed |
| Notify workers of any special treatment required for shipments. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.99 | exposed |
| Read draft markings to determine depths of vessels in water. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 3.83 | untouched |
| Measure vessels' holds and depths of fuel and water in tanks, using sounding lines and tape measures. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Observe loading of freight to ensure that crews comply with procedures. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.09 | untouched |
| Visually inspect cargo for damage upon arrival or discharge. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Inspect shipments to ensure that freight is securely braced and blocked. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.45 | untouched |
| Inspect loaded cargo, cargo lashed to decks or in storage facilities, and cargo handling devices to determine compliance with health and safety regulations and need for maintenance. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Post warning signs on vehicles containing explosives or flammable or radioactive materials. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.08 | untouched |
| Measure heights and widths of loads to ensure they will pass over bridges or through tunnels on scheduled routes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.03 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 3 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.