New Research Finds Autonomous Vehicles Can Reduce Delivery Times by 50%, Increase Public Parking in Urban Environments

INFORMS Journal Management Science Study Key Takeaways:

• In urban environments, autonomous vehicles can reduce delivery times by 50% on average when the time to find parking is high. 
• Increased productivity of the delivery person may result in fewer delivery vehicles on the road. 
• The use of autonomous vehicles eliminates the need for the delivery person to find parking increasing the availability of parking spaces for public use. 

CATONSVILLE, MD, August 2, 2021 – New research published in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds urban delivery services that use autonomous vehicles experience significant time and resource savings that enhance overall business operations and profit. 

With autonomous vehicles, the productivity of the individual delivery driver increases, reducing the length of each route, which results in lower operational costs for the business. This reduction in cost makes it cheaper for businesses to deliver packages. Additionally, fewer vehicles may be needed in these areas to deliver the same number of packages. For each route, the autonomous vehicle may spend more time driving while the delivery person is servicing customers on foot, eliminating the need to park and increasing the availability of parking spaces for public use. 

The study, “The Value of Autonomous Vehicles for Last Mile Deliveries in Urban Environments,” was conducted by Sara Reed of the University of Kansas alongside Ann Melissa Campbell and Barrett Thomas both of the University of Iowa. 

They found that in urban environments, using an autonomous vehicle can reduce the length of the delivery time by 50% on average when the time to find parking is high. When time to find parking is ignored, they found up to 33% time savings for the delivery person.

“This work addresses the challenges of parking in urban areas. The time spent looking for parking creates longer routes for drivers without increasing productivity measures. As companies with customers in urban areas work toward meeting increased demand for package delivery, they should consider the use of autonomous vehicles in their operations,” said Reed, an assistant professor of business analytics at the University of Kansas.  

This work considers the company’s number of customers, driving speed of the vehicle, walking speed of the delivery person and the fixed time for loading packages.

Link to full study.

About INFORMS and Management Science 

Management Science is a premier peer-reviewed scholarly journal focused on research using quantitative approaches to study all aspects of management in companies and organizations. It is published by INFORMS, the leading international association for operations research and analytics professionals. More information is available at www.informs.org or @informs.

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