Optimizing Last-Mile Deliveries with New Technology and Strategies

Abstract

The popularity of online shopping and e-commerce has skyrocketed in the recent years. This change in consumer behavior has brought forward numerous new challenges, in the context of the final mile of logistics. These challenges come especially in the form of the three dimensions of sustainability: environment, social, and economic sustainability. In order to combat these challenges, logistics companies now look for new ways of optimizing their last mile delivery (LMD) systems. This process of optimization involves new technologies and strategies, which companies are scrambling to consider, test, and implement. Newly surfaced technologies such as electric vehicles (EV), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and autonomous ground vehicles (AGV), continue to show impressive potential for last mile delivery applications, while newly surfaced strategies, such as underground logistics systems (ULS), pickup points, and crowdshipping show potential for usage of new technologies in them. Together, the new technologies and strategies aim to make last mile deliveries sustainable, improving the environmental, social, and economic conditions of consumers and companies in urban areas alike.