Autonomous cars could prove to be the future model for delivery options, Studies reveal

Autonomous cars Image Credit

The concept of self-driving cars is currently received with equal parts excitement and anxiety. However, a new study shows how the benefits may outweigh the cons of a business model.

The impact of autonomous vehicle-assisted last-mile delivery in urban to rural settings is determined in an article titled "Impact of Autonomous Vehicle Assisted Last-Mile Delivery in Urban to Rural Settings." This technology reduces delivery tour completion time and provides the most cost-effective business model. It was published in the journal Transportation Science.

"The United States Postal Service announced its intention to begin employing autonomous cars in rural routes as the beginning point for this paper," said Sara Reed, assistant professor of business analytics at the University of Kansas.

"We discovered that autonomous vehicles are cost-effective across all consumer geographies, but that the greatest benefits will be seen in metropolitan areas, where parking is an issue and customers are closer together. In metropolitan areas, serving clients on foot is more advantageous than serving customers in rural areas, where one may have to walk great distances between customers after parking."

FedEx and Volkswagen have already used self-driving vehicles in China and Germany. Domino's Pizza and 7-Eleven are now experimenting with bringing food and products to customers in the United States. The USPS intends to implement 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 corner.

This technology should not be mistaken for flying drones, according to Reed, who co-wrote the article with Ann Melissa Campbell and Barrett Thomas of the University of Iowa.

"Our autonomous vehicle is a self-driving ground vehicle," she explained. "It can travel from one location to another without requiring the support of a driver."

The autonomous vehicle in this investigation supports the delivery person in making deliveries.

"The delivery person is dropped off at a specific location by the vehicle. Customers are served by having packages delivered on foot and subsequently picked up by a car at a different place. So, how does this affect the delivery driver? It eliminates the need to find parking for a car that is left alone, as well as the delivery person's trek back to the vehicle "Reed said.

Autonomous delivery vehicles are being used on the streets of Beijing, China. Image Credit: Wikimedia

During the holiday season in Baltimore, for example, the United Parcel Service took a similar approach by putting an extra delivery person onboard its trucks. Instead, Reed's model considers upgrading the vehicle's technology. But which method saves the most money in the long run? On the one hand, there is the additional cost of the additional driver; on the other hand, there is the additional cost of autonomous technology.

"Given the wage cost and increased productivity, we show that the autonomous vehicle model is more cost-effective than adding a person to a traditional vehicle," she explained.

This technology is currently prohibitively expensive, according to Reed. As a result, the "per hour" delivery model is more expensive.

"However, these significant reductions in delivery tour time outweigh that increased expenditure," she explained. "You must also consider the additional benefits brought about by putting self-driving vehicles 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 report reveals significant time and money savings. In urban areas, the savings could 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 will eliminate the role of the delivery person," she said. "From the standpoint of a fully autonomous vehicle—that is, we've eliminated the driver job—our paper shows that having a delivery driver on board is actually 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 autonomous vehicles.

She stated, "The majority of my work is concerned with 'last-mile delivery,' which is the concept that if you order a package from Amazon, it may go to a variety of locations before arriving at your address, and the last mile is the previous destination to your address. I'm concentrating on the difficulties in that area."

Reed is aware of the "future shock" factor of her autonomous subject.

"At first, I thought this might represent a 'new society,' and that sort of thing," 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 places where robots deliver food to students. I imagine it's strange to see a robot passing by, but you'll probably get used to it."

Source: Sara Reed