Last Mile Delivery

The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) pilot «Last mile» Delivery is a part of the project portfolio of City & Lab, which is a concept of collaboration where technology is viewed as a tool for sustainable urban development.

For the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, it is the overall goals of the National Transport Plan regarding accessibility, transport safety, climate and the environment that are driving forces for projects undertaken in City & Lab.

The cooperation City & Lab has formulated a number of competence goals within technology and autonomy that will contribute to these goals. Most applicable for this ITS pilot is:

Build experience and knowledge

– with the authorities, relating to the operation of autonomous machines and vehicles

– about the technology and what it can enable in relation to transport in the city and altered use of streets and urban areas

– on data capture using autonomous machines

– about modular system for prediction and learning through sub-contributions to development of Autonomous Mobility Enabler – AME

– about 5G and piloting in collaboration with Telenor, through documentation of experiences and testing of V2X communication with the various vehicles and machines.

– about interaction between technology and urban development through the concept City & Lab.

Give input to

– new road standards for «digital roads» for autonomous transport

– next edition of National Transport Plan in relation to autonomous transportation and city packages

– development of methods for evaluating traffic safety, accessibility, and attractiveness for all road user groups in relation with the implementation of autonomous vehicles and cooperative ITS

– new legislation for autonomous vehicles

Share

– experiences with the Norwegian environment and with project partners in EU projects

– experiences with interaction between technology and urban development through the concept City & Lab

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PILOT

For the project «Last mile» Delivery, the goal is to contribute with expertise and experience for the R&D project City Logistics, relating to autonomous goods delivery in the pedestrian street.

The project will test the delivery of goods with an autonomous bus connected to the 5G project at Telenor – for deliveries to companies residing in the pedestrian street, which is part of the City & Lab – Open test arena.

The project will examine solutions that minimize the need for large delivery vehicles to drive all the way to the city center and thus contribute to increased traffic safety. The project will test various solutions for autonomous and automated goods delivery vehicles in Kongsberg, as well as for various actors at Herøya Industrial Park.

An infrastructure concept for loading/unloading of the vehicles will be tested, in addition to assessing how well the vehicles perform during different seasons. The vehicles will be digitally connected to a control center via high-speed mobile networks where the operation is controlled.

FORMULATED HYPOTHESES 2018-2020

The MCKinseys investigation for Norwegian Transport Plan outlines an assumption that goods transport in cities is among the first transport systems that are fully automated, and that this is first implemented in high-cost countries. They claim that automated vehicles can reduce the cost of «last mile» deliveries by 50%. We assume this is a lot, as «last mile» constitutes 30% of the transportation cost. There is still a great potential with regard to efficiency and cost savings. We want to examine this by testing out autonomous goods delivery in the pedestrian zone in Kongsberg.

Test of goods delivery with autonomous vehicles/machines in the pedestrian zone requires collaboration with a carrier, Posten (Bring) and possibly others.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATIONAL TRANSPORT TARGETS

Accessibility

New smaller transport solutions can minimize the number of large transport vehicles all the way to the individual receiver.

Traffic Safety

Reducing the number of large goods transport vehicles in the pedestrian street or in an industrial park will reduce or eliminate risk situations for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as freeing up area.

Possibility of overnight delivery where appropriate.

Climate and sustainability

Electric small delivery machines facilitates optimization of delivery routes, leading to reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

DESCRIPTION OF EXPECTED WORK PROCESS

Learning and insight through

– Workshops as a knowledge base

– Collaboration across actors in City & Lab

– Utilization of the entire project portfolio in City & Lab

Design and testing in

– City & Lab – Open Test arena

– City & Lab – Closed Test

Evaluation through

– Reporting

– Follow-up research initiated by the R&D program City Logistics

ORGANIZATION

«Last mile» Delivery is a pilot in the ITS program at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. This pilot is also in close cooperation with R&D program City Logistics and the project Smart City- Smart mobility, with project manager Arve Kirkevold. Olav Madland (Applied Autonomy AS) is responsible for implementation through the R&D contract with Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Region South.

«Last mile» Delivery is a pilot in the ITS program Smart Cities in the City and Sustainable Mobility section of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

Olav Madland (Applied Autonomy AS) is responsible for implementation through the R&D contract with Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Region South. Elisabeth Skuggevik reports to the ITS program.

«Last mile» Delivery part of the City & Lab project portfolio. City&Lab is a collaboration concept with a team, with a collective project manager responsibility. The various participants in the team are responsible for carrying out various projects in the project portfolio, depending on academic background and expertise.

Project Manager: Elisabeth Skuggevik, Norwegian Public Roads Administration, elisabeth.skuggevik@vegvesen.no