Purpose / Description

Europe’s last mile delivery market accounted for 624 Mio. € in 2018 and is expected to grow to 2.298 Mio. € in 2027. New trends such as same-day deliveries, e-commerce, and the need for social distance due to expected pandemic periods boost the market. However, the increasing scarcity of loading/unloading spots also pressures the market, and the inadequate structure of parcel deliveries is hindering market growth. Autonomous delivery device systems are expected to improve urban goods distribution, solving customer needs more efficiently and resulting in faster delivery in less congested & polluted cities.

Process / Execution

Despite the advantages of autonomous ground delivery devices (ADD), the sector has not yet fully integrated these vehicles into its systems. LogiSmile demonstrates an autonomous delivery system (hub or flexible van + ADD) tested in various urban and industrial environments (3 cities: Esplugues, Hamburg, and Debrecen) for different use cases. It reduces costs, parking issues, emissions, and congestion as it operates independently of delivery times (fully automatic delivery) and ensures flexible, rapid, contactless delivery.

The participating cities explore their infrastructure and legal frameworks to operate autonomous delivery vehicles, reviewing current traffic policies, consumer-vehicle interaction, data sharing, and interaction with pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles. This collaborative approach, along with citizen engagement, facilitates continuous product development and service design. The ADD will be adapted technically to suit the infrastructure and needs of each city. The final goal is to enable cities and operators to establish a common framework for European cities for the operation of ADDs with or without vans as flexible hubs.

Requirements

• An Autonomous Hub Vehicle (AHV): Acting as the “Mothership”, it’s a self-driving vehicle that, along with other commuting vehicles, transports packages in urban traffic
• An Autonomous Delivery Device (ADD): A medium-sized self-driving robot that detaches from the “Mothership” and completes the final delivery to recipients
• A remote back-end control centre to manage communication

Partners involved

• Capgemini: supporting adaptation and development for use cases on ADD and AHV, along with software development
• City of Hamburg
• CARNET - UPC Technology Center: The Future Mobility Research Hub, initiated by SEAT, Volkswagen Group Research, and UPC, is an open hub for industrial and academic partners in automotive and mobility research & innovation. CARNET acts as the project leader.
• Technische Universität Braunschweig, Niedersächsisches Forschungszentrum Fahrzeugtechnik (NFF): a leading tech university in Germany
• Technical University of Catalonia: The Institut de Robotica i Informatica Industrial (IRI-UPC), a centre of excellence in Spain, focuses on robotics and AI research.
• Barcelona Metropolitan Area
• DKV Debreceni Közlekedési Zrt., representing the city of Debrecen
• PTV Group: provides software solutions to support modeling, simulation, and optimization
• Otostolik Sp. Z O.O.: an online food ordering and table booking platform with around 100 partner restaurants across 4 cities
• City of Esplugues
• LMAD (Last Mile Autonomous Delivery): developing next-gen delivery solutions for logisticians and retailers