Last Mile City

The last mile: intelligent solutions for urban logistics

The “last mile” (final leg of the delivery process from distribution center to end recipient) is one of the greatest challenges of modern logistics in megacities. It requires smart, future-oriented concepts in order to function efficiently and sustainably.

How can deliveries in megacities be made as resource-efficient and reliable as possible? Innovative approaches such as micro-hubs, self-driving delivery vehicles, and electric cargo bikes could play a key role here by helping to reduce traffic volumes while ensuring delivery quality on the final leg of the journey to the customer.

Logistical challenges in city centers: targeting last mile deliveries

Inner-city areas are already overloaded with traffic. And even though low-traffic zones have been established in many neighborhoods, home and office deliveries remain a challenge,

with parcel couriers and the boom in e-commerce contributing significantly to traffic congestion. Even if private transport were completely banned in city centers, the volume of traffic caused by delivery vehicles would remain extremely high.

Deliveries on the last mile (the journey from logistics centers on the outskirts to end recipients) pose a significant challenge. These journeys account for around two-thirds of the total logistics cost. And that doesn’t factor in the hidden costs for the public, such as environmental pollution, time lost due to traffic congestion, and risks to the safety of road users.

As the demand for e-commerce services continues to grow, the need for innovative, sustainable solutions for urban logistics is becoming more urgent than ever.

According to a study by the McKinsey Global Institute, 50 % of delivery costs for standard packages are attributable to the last mile, that is, the journey required to deliver the package directly to the recipient’s door.

Micro fulfillment centers in urban areas can cut last-mile delivery costs by up to 30%.

Efficient logistics solutions with intelligent parking systems

To provide an efficient solution to the challenge of last-mile deliveries in large cities, our innovative parking systems can be flexibly configured to function as small, decentralized logistics distribution centers.

The concept: Instead of transporting goods through crowded city streets during the day, the goods are stored at night in our parking systems (which are used as logistics hubs). The distance between the outskirts and the city center can be covered much faster and more cost-effectively at this time of day.

After the goods are delivered at night by large trucks, they are repacked in the parking system (which functions as a logistics hub) onto smaller means of transport, such as electric vans, cargo bikes, or other environmentally friendly vehicles. These vehicles are already parked in the system and ready to be loaded.

The next morning, delivery drivers can easily retrieve their vehicles from the system and start their inner-city route directly.

Current situation

At present, delivery vehicles have to drive into the city during rush hour traffic, which not only leads to considerable delays but also makes route planning more difficult.
The time lost due to traffic jams and slow-moving traffic adds up, significantly reducing the efficiency of delivery processes. The high personnel costs incurred during these waiting times, during which no productive journeys can take place, are especially problematic. In addition, frequent stop-and-go driving consumes more fuel, which not only drives up operating costs but also harms the environment. An optimized solution could remedy this situation by using alternative delivery times or innovative logistics strategies to save time and money.

Our solution

Our idea involves using our parking systems not only as car parks, but also as innovative logistics hubs. They can be used as central distribution points to make inner-city delivery traffic more efficient and save valuable resources.
A large truck takes over the inefficient daytime journey from the outskirts to the city center and transports the goods in bundles to multiple parking systems/logistics hubs, where the parked delivery vehicles are loaded overnight.

The next morning, the delivery vehicles leave directly from the city, without time-consuming journeys or detours through heavy rush-hour traffic. This not only saves considerable time and personnel costs, but also significantly reduces inner-city traffic and CO₂ emissions. This smart approach provides a sustainable solution for urban logistics and significantly improves last-mile efficiency.

How it works:

Trucks deliver goods to the various logistics hubs (parking systems) at night.

Trucks drive into the underground car park to distribute the goods to small delivery vans parked in our systems.

Goods are unloaded from the trucks and stored in the small delivery vans.

The trucks leave the underground car park again.

The next morning, the small delivery vans leave the underground car park in the city and start their route.

The advantages of our solution at a glance:

Time savings

Delivery vehicles can set off directly in the city, avoiding long journeys and traffic jams.

Cost efficiency

Personnel costs are lower thanks to optimized routes and shorter downtimes.

Reduction in city traffic

Fewer delivery vehicles during rush hour means less congestion and improved traffic flow.

Sustainability

Fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions are reduced thanks to shorter journeys and less stop-and-go driving.

Space savings

Our parking systems use the available space efficiently and prevent unnecessary parking chaos in the city.

Future viability

The concept is ideally tailored to the integration of autonomous delivery vehicles and smarter logistics solutions.

Our solution provides a sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective alternative to conventional inner-city logistics - for the good of companies, cities, and the environment.

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