A proposal paper from the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) said all pre-trial procedure should be done digitally unless pleas are contested.
It also proposes sentencing being conducted online in some cases.
Chief Executive Eric McQueen said it was time to "reconsider fundamentally how our services are delivered".
The SCTS is to hold a series of "discussion events" around Scotland to gather views on the proposals, which aim to speed up legal proceedings and see fewer witnesses cited to attend court.
Mr McQueen said "summary criminal court procedure has not kept pace" with technological innovation, with Scotland using Victorian-era systems which "still rely heavily on paper transactions, postal-based practices and bringing people together in a court room for procedural hearings and trials".
The paper notes an Audit Scotland report that highlighted that this "brings inherent inefficiency, delay and inconvenience", noting an excess of "churn" in the system.
The SCTS said "much of the procedure that is currently conducted in court rooms can and should be conducted digitally", with "stricter case management rules and set timescales at the core of the process".
Proposals include:
Mr McQueen said: "I am pleased to introduce this paper which describes what a new summary criminal court process could look like underpinned by digital case management.
"Our task now is to bring our summary criminal court procedure right into the 21st Century, not by tinkering at the edges, but by radical digital transformation to improve the quality of justice for all concerned.
"I am convinced that by having the right dialogue with the right people, we can realise that possibility."
A "radical digital transformation" of Scotland's court system has been proposed, which could see many hearings in criminal cases conducted online.