by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Artificial intelligence will transform the logistics of consumer deliveries. AI promises to transform last-mile deliveries with some new technologies and improvements to old ones. The Wall Street Journal reports about it. Promising innovations are: Putting smarter drones in the air Sending robots to your door Predicting parking spaces Making the drivers safer Optimizing routes in …
In recent years, many cities worldwide have faced the impact of last-mile logistics and the resulting rise in urban traffic and pollution: these dynamics curbed the environmental effects. Urban traffic considerably impacts noise emissions, road safety, and air pollution. Hence, public and private parties shall undertake innovative solutions for reducing the negative effects of last-mile …
Making deliveries in crowded urban areas can be challenging for commercial vehicles, producing additional negative externalities. In recent years, cargo cycles, including bicycles and tricycles, either man-powered or electric-powered, have been considered a promising alternative for making last-leg delivery. Although cargo cycles have various benefits, the operations are still limited by the nature of the …
With growing freight operations worldwide, there is a push for transportation systems to accommodate trucks during loading and unloading operations. Currently, many urban locations do not provide loading and unloading zones, which results in trucks parking in places that obstruct bicyclist’s roadway infrastructure (e.g., bicycle lanes). A bicycle simulation experiment was designed in the USA …
Switching to electric vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions and preserve the environment is a common approach also being relevant to the last mile. However, establishing electric vehicles in the long term requires considering economic and social sustainability and ecological sustainability. Additionally, the last mile is characterized by different participants who must be considered for a holistic approach. In …
E-commerce is becoming an increasingly visible feature of modern society that places increasing strain on transport systems. Research has hitherto paid substantial attention to ways e-commerce might modify personal travel behavior. Still, it has been less attentive to the ramifications of e-commerce for urban freight. Although contemporary conditions of urban freight are increasingly scrutinized by scholars in …
How can flexible applications of the space and infrastructure of urban distribution centers (UDCs) be organized to help lower demands on space and infrastructure in cities? The application of flexible use of space and infrastructure can improve the efficiency of a UDC, but the challenge lies in the organization of the application of flexibility. A possible …
Same-day delivery, where a customer places an e-commerce order and delivers it within the same calendar day, is a small market segment. A McKinsey analysis suggests that same-day accounts for less than 5 percent of most countries’ courier, express, and parcel (CEP) market. McKinsey examines six variables that drive the potential for same-day delivery services. …
Cities are grappling with challenges brought about by the surging consumer demand and the booming e-commerce sector. Digital Twins empower decision-makers to construct virtual models of logistics operations, effectively tackling these issues. Digital Twins offers a promising solution to improve efficiency and sustainability. By adopting these recommendations, local authorities and EU services can pave the …
A new paper quantifies the potential Freight Demand Management (FDM) market in metropolitan areas. The authors define FDM and describe the various initiatives that could be undertaken to reduce the externalities produced by freight traffic. These changes involve altering the demand patterns enacted by the receivers of supplies. The term Freight Demand Management (FDM) is the area of transportation …