The concept of self-driving cars is currently being received with equal parts awe and skepticism. However, a new study illustrates how the benefits may exceed the drawbacks of a corporate approach.
According to the article “Impact of Autonomous Vehicle Assisted Last-Mile Delivery in Urban to Rural Settings,” this technology minimizes delivery tour completion time and delivers the most cost-effective business model. It is published in Transportation Science.
“The idea for this research came from the United States Postal Service declaring its intention to begin employing autonomous cars on rural routes,” said Sara Reed, assistant professor of business analytics at the University of Kansas.
“We discovered that autonomous vehicles are cost-effective across all customer geographies, but that the greatest gains will be seen in urban contexts, particularly because parking is difficult and customers are closer together. Serving customers on foot becomes more advantageous in urban settings than in rural settings, where one may have to walk great distances between customers after parking. “
“Our autonomous vehicle is a ground vehicle that can drive itself. It can go from one place to another without the need for a driver.”
Ann Melissa Campbell and Barrett Thomas of the University of Iowa
FedEx and Volkswagen have previously used self-driving vehicles in China and Germany. Domino’s Pizza and 7-Eleven are now experimenting with bringing food and items to customers in the United States. The USPS intends to establish this service by 2025, with a projected deployment of 28,000 rural routes. What used to sound like “Jetsons”-era sci-fi is now just around the bend.
Reed, who co-authored the article with Ann Melissa Campbell and Barrett Thomas of the University of Iowa, stressed that this technology should not be confused with flying drones.
“Our autonomous vehicle is a self-driving ground vehicle,” she explained. “It can travel from one location to another without requiring the services of a driver.”
In this investigation, the autonomous vehicle supports the delivery person with delivery.
“The delivery person is dropped off at a single location by the vehicle. They serve consumers by delivering packages on foot and then picking them up at a different location. So, what does this have to do with the delivery driver? Reed stated that it eliminates the need to find parking where you may leave a vehicle alone, as well as the delivery person’s stroll back to the vehicle.
During the holiday season in Baltimore, for example, United Parcel Service took a similar tactic by putting an extra delivery employee onboard their trucks.
Reed’s model, on the other hand, considers updating the vehicle’s technology. But which strategy saves the most money in the long run? On the one hand, there is the added expense of a driver; on the other hand, there is the additional cost of autonomous technology.
“Given the labor cost and enhanced productivity, we show that the autonomous vehicle model is more cost-effective than adding a person to a regular vehicle,” she explained.
According to Reed, this technique is currently prohibitively expensive. As a result, the “per hour” delivery approach is more expensive.
However, these significant reductions in delivery tour time exceed that higher expenditure, she explained. You must also consider the additional benefits brought about by putting self-driving automobiles on the road. They may be driving more, but they are also not parking, which frees up spots for other people to park and walk to downtown businesses. “
Overall, her analysis demonstrates significant time and money savings. In urban areas, the potential savings might be greater than 50%.
On the other hand, there is the possibility of a negative impact on human employment.
“One concern is that autonomous vehicles would eliminate the position of the delivery person,” she warned. From the standpoint of a fully autonomous vehicle—that is, we’ve abolished the driver’s job—our study shows that having a delivery driver on board is really more advantageous in terms of both productivity and cost-effectiveness.
Reed, who is from Des Moines, Iowa, is currently in her first year at KU. Her area of expertise is transportation logistics. Her dissertation included a study of driverless vehicles.
She stated, “The majority of my work is concerned with ‘last-mile delivery,’ which is the concept that if you order a box from Amazon, it may transit to a lot of locations before arriving at your house, and the last mile is the previous destination to your address. I’m concentrating on the difficulties in that area.
Reed recognizes the “future shock” feature of her autonomous subject.
At first, I thought this would signify a “new civilization” and all that sort of stuff, she explained. But, since I began working on this, some things have already been implemented—not necessarily on a large scale in terms of autonomous vehicles, but on college campuses, there are locations where robots bring food to students. I guess it’s strange to see a robot go by, but you’ll probably get used to it. “
Self-driving delivery cars are seen on the streets of Beijing, China. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
