Last Mile Delivery

Electrification Solutions

Electricity is key to Zero Emission
operation of last-mile delivery

Transport, integral to our daily lives, is currently undergoing a structural reform – towards digitalization and decarbonization. The COVID pandemic has accelerated the shifts, with everyone adopting new norms. But while social distancing and travel restrictions have meant most people are much less itinerant, other transport sectors are experiencing huge growth. In the parcel delivery sector, the number of items distributed worldwide increased by 17.5%, in 2022 reaching a new high of nearly 35 billion items.

We want to make all-electric
last-mile delivery a reality

Meanwhile, as the virtual reality and metaverse concepts continue to hint at what people might one do be able to do without stepping out of their homes, e-commerce and online shopping continue to grow rapidly.

Urban last-mile delivery (LMD), a core aspect of the package delivery value chain, is the end leg of an item’s journey, from a transportation hub to a final destination. The most labour-intensive stage of delivery, scattered customer distribution and the high frequency of requests means it accounts for a high proportion of costs across the wider logistics chain. Purpose-designed shopping festivals, like Double 11 in China, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday in western countries, during which time period the number of parcels drastically increases, are a major driver behind the rapid development of this means of urban delivery.

Walmart automates last-mile delivery with new AI platform

In a new corporate blog post, Walmart details the many steps it is taking to utilize innovative solutions and strategies across the enterprise to enhance “last mile” (the part of the supply chain where packages travel from a pickup center to their final destination) delivery performance.

According to Walmart, six times the number of customers placed delivery orders in the fourth quarter of 2021 as did pre-pandemic. Over the last two years, the retailer has taken a number of steps to reduce the distance deliveries travel to customers while also increasing convenience for shoppers.

Last Mile Delivery Market by Platform

Autonomous last mile delivery comprises autonomous vehicles both ground and aerial (example drones) to deliver the product or service to the customer's doorstep devoid of any human intervention in the complete process. On-demand delivery services are expected to witness a major change due to the commercialization of autonomous aerial delivery drones and ground delivery robots used to deliver packages. These delivery drones and robots are used in the retail, food & beverages, logistics, and healthcare industries, among others to deliver parcels. Ground delivery robots are being designed in such a way that they not only pick up subtle cues provided by pedestrians or other structures present on and along roads but also follow street signals while navigating.