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Funding to Boost Brands with Logistics Engine

Posted on by David Priestman

The logistics engine of Locad provides a cloud supply chain for brands to store, pack, ship, and track orders for ecommerce and omnichannel retail through a tech platform connecting a network of warehouses and shipping partners. Locad has announced it has raised an $11M Series A funding round to expand their supply chain platform that allows modern consumer brands in Asia-Pacific to automatically store, pack, ship and track their orders in a distributed, end-to-end supply chain as-a-service. The $11M Series A raised will be used towards network expansion, product development, and hiring talent across Asia-Pacific. The round was led by Reefknot Investments, a fund anchored by Temasek and logistics powerhouse Kuehne & Nagel.

Locad’s platform, dubbed the logistics engine, syncs inventory across sales channels such as Shopify, Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop, and orchestrates end-to-end order fulfillment for B2C and B2B orders, from storage to delivery, through a network of warehouses and shipping partners. To date, Locad has served over 200 brands across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Australia, and shipped more than 2 million orders while maintaining a 99% same-day order fulfillment rate.

“Ultimately, our goal is to enable a frictionless movement of physical goods and data across the supply chain for any brand and merchant, enabling anyone to sell anywhere, on any sales channel, and deliver seamlessly.” says Locad CEO and Co-founder Constantin Robertz, “As modern consumer brands are transforming to direct-to-consumer and omnichannel retail, we have seen that the supply chain and fulfillment infrastructure is a key barrier to scaling the business for many brands, and the bar is only rising further, due to higher customer expectations for fast delivery, and the complexity driven by an increasing number of sales channels.”

The series A funding round also saw participation from returning investors Sequoia India and Southeast Asia’s Surge, Febe Ventures, Antler, as well as new investors Access Ventures, JG Summit, and WTI.

“We are excited to partner with Locad to bring holistic end-to-end e-commerce logistics solutions to brands across Asia Pacific.” shares Ervin Lim, Vice President of Reefknot Investments, “Locad’s unique operating model of localizing warehouses into the cities ensures that inventory is kept close to the customers thereby enabling significant cost and time savings for both brand and consumer. We believe that Locad’s logistics engine will spur greater participation in the digital economy as consumers outside of Tier-1 cities can now receive their orders 2-3x faster at a fraction of the usual cost.”

Locad’s logistics engine provides the backbone to support the e-commerce and omnichannel growth of global consumer brands such as Havaianas, Reckitt Benckiser, and Emma Sleep in the region, while also expanding access to best-in-class logistics infrastructure to growing D2C brands and mid-market merchants.

“Success in omnichannel commerce for modern consumer brands requires a powerful supply chain orchestrated by software that seamlessly integrates the infrastructure of warehouses and shipping carriers. And that’s what we’re building here at Locad” added Constantin Robertz.

Committed to democratizing the back-end supply chain of e-commerce, Locad will use its $11M Series A funding towards building the region’s largest fulfillment network. The company is adding warehouses, partnering with transport operators, and hiring talent across the region to scale in Southeast Asia and Australia.

“Over the next 5 years, we expect to build the region’s largest network of warehouses, enabling next-day delivery in Tier 1 to 3 cities across the region, and make this available to brands and merchants in one integrated platform” concluded Constantin Robertz.

Locad is a logistics engine enabling e-commerce brands with a cloud supply chain to grow their omnichannel business and automatically store, pack, ship, and track orders across Asia-Pacific.

Locad’s tech platform syncs inventory across online channels and organizes end-to-end order fulfillment through their reliable network of warehouses and carriers across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Australia, with more locations opening soon. Through this, brands and merchants get a geographically distributed warehousing infrastructure that allows them to stock goods closer to customers, enabling faster delivery at lower cost.

 

Home Delivery: Competitive Difference

Posted on by David Priestman

Peak season home delivery is more complex than ever. Andrew Tavener of Descartes explains how businesses should address the critical challenges.

In the face of peak season order volumes, last-mile delivery has become a trigger point for defining the customer experience. Unfortunately, as consumers head into the holiday shopping season, many are frustrated and taking action against poor performers.

A recent study of 8,000 European and North American consumers found that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of consumers experienced delivery problems in the October–December 2021 holiday shopping period. The top three issues (see illustration) were related to timeliness: deliveries were late (26 percent); deliveries didn’t arrive when promised (22 percent); and time windows for deliveries were too long and inconvenient (22 percent). Plus, a disgruntled 16 percent didn’t receive their delivery.

This poor delivery performance can be catastrophic for retailers during peak season, especially with many online vendors relying on high sales volumes during the holidays to buoy revenues. Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of the study respondents refused to order from poorly performing retailers again; nearly a quarter lost trust in both the delivery company (24 percent) and the retailer (21 percent). Additionally, 17 percent of consumers indicated they advised friends and family to avoid the retailer. E-commerce vendors that accept mediocre delivery quality will likely experience hits to their holiday sales tallies as consumers turn to competitors that do find ways to meet consumers’ expectations.

Meeting the delivery performance expectations of holiday shoppers begins well before the product is loaded onto the truck — with visibility into the warehouse. From an inventory management (and customer trust) perspective, retailers must ensure the products presented online accurately reflect available inventory. Furthermore, consumers should be able to choose from various delivery options at the point of sale (POS).

On the home delivery front, while delivery speed remains – for many consumers – a factor in purchase decisions, notably, consumers place more value on retailers keeping their delivery promise. To meet delivery expectations and keep customers happy (preventing failed deliveries and returning for post-holiday purchases), e-commerce retailers must find ways to boost last-mile efficiency, productivity and reliability.

Sustainable home delivery

If all these factors weren’t challenging enough, further research around home delivery sustainability has revealed its increasing importance to a significant percentage of consumers. Indeed, only 38 percent of over 8000 consumers across nine countries in Europe and North America thought that most retailers were doing a good job of sustainable home delivery.

Furthermore, 60 percent of consumers today have environmental importance expectations for their home deliveries – from combining orders, accepting longer lead times for delivery, to having the retailer recommend the most friendly delivery option. And, if we look five years ahead, there is also a growing trend from consumers that the use of eco-friendly vehicles and a retailer’s ability to show home delivery carbon footprint will play a factor in their purchasing choices.

If a proportion of consumers are willing to compromise on convenience to ensure greater retailer sustainability, then the imperative to get efficiency and reliability right holds even greater emphasis, with a focus on making every mile as green as possible.

Competitive differentiator

While critical to an optimised customer experience, final mile delivery is a complex part of the fulfilment process – and is only becoming increasingly more so.

By implementing technology that creates efficiencies across the delivery lifecycle — from dynamic delivery appointment scheduling, delivery route planning, and continuous route optimisation to GPS-enabled real-time mobile tracking, mobile proof-of-delivery, and delivery status notifications — retailers can give consumers more delivery choices, improve delivery reliability, keep customers informed of delivery status, and – crucially – provide different consumers with parameters for home delivery that suit their specific priorities.

Indeed, gearing up with the right technology tools can help e-commerce retailers keep their delivery promise, whatever that may be — a critical factor in building customer loyalty and driving repeat business — by ensuring customers get the products they want, delivered to their door, at the expected time.

Moreover, these tools can also lay the foundation for agile and dynamic home delivery options that meet consumers’ growing needs for both convenience and sustainability.

www.descartes.com

Technology to Support the Last Mile

Posted on by David Priestman

That last mile in the delivery supply chain is one of the toughest for businesses to master. These days we have all become used to receiving our deliveries at the place of our choosing – home, work or a drop-off smartlocker. All these options mean that delivery drivers, logistics and warehouse workers are now busier and more in demand than ever.

They can often be seen lugging around a bulky handheld device to help them manage their day-to-day supply chain challenges. You will have seen them squinting to read the screen in bright sunlight or bad weather, stabbing clumsily at the display to register something on the app – all while trying to juggle the device and their delivery. But they rely on the technology for their work schedule and recording every aspect of the delivery. There is good news for delivery drivers as they will have a new technology best friend with the introduction of the TOUGHBOOK N1 Flat handheld device.

It’s a flat version of Panasonic’s already popular TOUGHBOOK N1 rugged Android handheld. It has an integrated camera-based barcode scanner that can recognise a variety of different barcode types and is one of the thinnest and lightest handheld devices in the 4.7″ category – making it ideal for mobile workers in the postal and courier services, transportation and logistics. With its handy form, the device can be easily paired via Bluetooth as part of a dedicated scanning solution, for example, for those using wearable barcode readers in a warehouse.

Delivery workers will also love it because there will be no more struggling to read the screen and record information. The HD capacitive multi-touch daylight readable display is designed for use by workers in bright sunlight or in the rain and those wearing gloves. The device can also be used with an optional Pen, for more accurate signature recording and recognition capabilities.

For those that need to capture documents or use a webcam, there is an 8MP rear and 5MP front camera. Its communication capabilities are also unrivalled in the rugged handheld market with voice and data and roaming WiFi options.

It doesn’t matter how busy the schedule, the device is designed to operate for up to 12 hours with user warm swap battery functionality. It runs the Android 11 operating system with long-term security updates and is equipped with Qualcomm Octa Core processor with a 4GB of RAM memory and 64GB of Flash storage.

And there are no concerns if this device is dropped, falls out of the van or gets a soaking. It’s fully rugged and tested to MIL-STD-810G standards and can survive drops from a height of 2.1m. For those working in cold temperatures, such as frozen and chilled food delivery drivers, the operational temperature range of the device is from -20° to +50°C.

The IT support team will also love this new mobile worker companion. The TOUGHBOOK N1 Flat is Android Enterprise ready and has the support of Panasonic Complete Android Services and Security (COMPASS) – offering everything needed to configure, deploy and manage TOUGHBOOK rugged Android tablets and handhelds securely in the business across the full lifecycle of the solution.

In the busy world of last mile delivery, couriers and logistics, mobile workers need a device that is intuitive to use and tough enough to stand up to the every day knocks and scrapes of the challenging work environment. The TOUGHBOOK N1 Flat is that ideal rugged device from navigating to the next drop-off, through to scanning the barcode, capturing a signature or taking photos of safe delivery. It looks set to become their new best friend.

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Consumers dissatisfied with sustainability of retail delivery

Posted on by David Priestman

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has released findings from its survey ‘Retailers: Sustainability is Not a Challenge, It’s an Opportunity’, which examined consumer sentiment of retailers’ sustainability practices around their delivery operations. The survey found that only 38% of consumers felt retailers were doing a good job of using sustainable delivery practices. Over 50%, however, indicated they were quite/very interested in environmentally friendly delivery methods, and 54% would be willing to accept longer lead times for an environmentally friendly delivery.

The study of over 8,000 consumers across nine European countries, Canada and the United States provides retailers and logistics organisations with critical insights into the importance of sustainability in consumer purchase and delivery decisions and how perspectives vary by age and geography.

“The mistake that many retailers are making is viewing home delivery sustainability as yet another challenge from the consumer instead of an opportunity to capture market share, reduce delivery costs and help the environment,” said Chris Jones, EVP, Industry and Services at Descartes. “The study shows that many consumers prefer to buy more from those retailers with superior sustainable delivery practices and to take eco-friendly delivery options that reduce environmental impact and delivery costs at the same time.”

The study analyses consumer sentiment around the sustainability of retailers’ delivery operations, how this is impacting purchasing decisions, how consumers evaluate retailer delivery sustainability efforts, which goods are most impacted by sustainable delivery performance and how consumers want to receive goods. In addition, it delves into the changes in purchasing and delivery decisions that consumers are willing to make to help the environment. Lastly, it provides insight into how the importance of sustainable delivery varies by geodemographic factors, the influence of geodemographics on buyer behaviour, the delivery decisions consumers are making, and consumer expectations of retailers’ sustainable delivery efforts for the future.

To learn more, CLICK HERE to read the report ‘Retailers: Sustainability is Not a Challenge, It’s an Opportunity’.

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How delivery firms are approaching personnel for peak period

Posted on by David Priestman

With the UK logistics industry preparing for the busiest time of year, many companies are facing more pressure around ensuring their business and workforce are set for the inevitable annual spike in demand. Recruiting and onboarding new subcontractors has always been one of the main areas of strain for the logistics and courier industry. Typically, recruiting new self-employed delivery drivers involves advertising the role, finding the best-suited candidates, contacting them individually and manually sorting out all required documentation such as driving licences, ID, toxicology, tax and right-to-work documents.

All of this can take considerable amounts of time for business owners throughout the year, but this becomes even more of a burden during peak period when delivery firms need to grow their driver workforce. Now, as we move towards the end of summer, UK businesses are harnessing software to improve their processes around personnel and make sure they’re in the best position to manage this year’s Christmas peak.

In order to maximise efforts ahead of the 2022 peak period, many last-mile delivery firms have now opted to use innovative workforce management technology to streamline their processes around onboarding, payments and much more. This use of cutting-edge technology allows business owners to drastically cut down on paperwork and admin whilst freeing them up to focus on growing their businesses.

These workforce management systems, such as Wise, provide improved clarity to main contractors so that they can see a complete overview of their subcontractors as well as their pipeline of incoming drivers, which is vital at the busiest time of year.

Managing compliance around self-employment is essential for any thriving delivery business and managing everything from contracts to documentation is an integral part of this.

Traditionally, many firms have spent vast amounts of time worrying about everything from IR35 to employment status and potential readiness for an upcoming HMRC audit. Now, with the introduction of user-friendly software, these firms are able to receive expert legal support, sign and share contracts digitally and keep an online record of all documentation ready for any enquiries from the taxman. All of this combines to not only provide stress-relief for the business owners, but means that the subcontractor drivers can be confident that they’re also protected.

Traditionally, self-employed individuals haven’t been able to get some of the perks that are often given to full-time employees. Now, through third party software, many delivery business can offer their subcontractors access to essential products such as accountayc and invoicing support, whilst even getting them access to unique high-street discounts. By providing these different facets to improve the self-employment experience, logistics business owners are able to not only create a more attractive offer than their competitors, but again increase their driver retention rates.

James Orton is Chief Technology Officer at Wise, a tech firm specialising in improving self-employment within the UK delivery sector. He said: “We have seen the key areas main contractors have been struggling with for years in terms of engaging with a self-employed workforce and know how this is only exacerbated during peak period. “Now, with the free Wise platform easing these stress-points for over 250 UK delivery firms, we’re seeing how business owners can not only save time, money and stress for themselves, but create a vastly improved self-employment experience for their drivers at the same time.”

Delivery drivers at heart of heatwave

Posted on by David Priestman

This year, the UK has become subject to heatwaves of record-breaking temperatures, widely attributed to climate change, writes Andrew Tavener, Head of Marketing, Descartes. Over the next week, parts of the UK are expected to hit highs of 30°C once again, encouraging many of the general public to stay indoors, work from home and choose their days out in moderation.

However, for some there is no choice but to endure the heat, despite official warnings. The last few weeks have not been kind to last-mile logistics, with some reports of negligence amongst retailers and their lack of air conditioning in vehicles, down to reasons seemingly as illegitimate as weight issues. During last month’s heatwave, one last mile delivery driver actually collapsed after enduring unbearable conditions.

Heatwaves in the UK are here to stay, so it’s time we looked at how we can adapt fleet management practices, and take better care of our drivers.

A duty of care

Despite a reluctance to implement solutions such as air conditioning in home delivery vans, retailers still have a duty of care when it comes to their workers. From an HR and legal perspective, this becomes even more concerning when there’s a driver shortage.

If they think they’re being driven hard in extreme conditions, workers may be forced to leave their current company and seek employment elsewhere. These businesses therefore should look to retain their employees in any way possible and prevent them from adding detriment to their health when it could be easily avoided.

On top of this, vehicles are more susceptible to issues in extreme weather; drivers have been warned of fires or exploding tyres, so vehicle safety checks need to be up to scratch. This includes checking the vehicle fluids and ensuring they are getting service checks regularly or if the driver suspects that something is wrong.

Embracing the night shift

Even during the peak of summer in the UK, most delivery drivers are expected to work during daylight hours – just as they would during any other month of the year. By comparison, in Spain it’s common for people to work after 4pm because of the temperatures. Perhaps one fleet management solution could be a complete reshuffle of what’s expected in the UK when we’re encroaching on a heatwave; if delivery drivers were enabled to work during the cooler hours of the day and into the evening, the domino-effect would include an easier, cooler environment alongside less congested roads and improved environmental impact.

Since the pandemic, working habits have changed substantially, with many people still working from home or having access to flexible timetables or working hours. On the road, we live in an increasingly congested environment, where the working days could do with a complete overhaul. Not only does this make things easier for delivery drivers, but for each and everybody on the road. Less traffic means less pollution and accidents; and happier workers.

The intervention of innovations in crisis

Some retailers are still behind when it comes to extreme temperatures. If air conditioning isn’t a viable solution in a delivery van then perhaps there are other ways to reduce the struggle for delivery drivers working in these recent hot temperatures.

Alongside factoring in the setbacks caused by such heat, including less productivity and the risks to health, these major players in retail need to be able to understand such complexities before they know how to address them. For example, self-scheduling technologies have been used to improve parts of the process like route density and delivery productivity.

With access to more transport intelligence such as inventory, information, and assets that enable driver efficiency, companies will be able to respond to rapidly changing environmental factors as well as changing market and regulatory conditions, in turn adequately supporting their employees and better serve customers.

Study: mixed consumer sentiment on home deliveries

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has released the results of a consumer sentiment study of ecommerce home delivery. The study of over 8,000 consumers across 10 European and North American countries provides retailers and logistics organisations with critical insights into consumer purchase and delivery preferences and concerns.

“Ecommerce and home delivery present opportunities and challenges to retailers and logistics organisations. In our study, consumers indicated they will increase their ecommerce purchases in the future, but 73% of them said they experienced a delivery failure in the last three months,” said Chris Jones, EVP, Industry and Services at Descartes. “The results of poor delivery performance can be catastrophic for retailers with almost one-quarter of the respondents in our study citing that they did not order from that retailer again.”

The study analyses consumer ecommerce buying behaviour, what is causing ecommerce purchases to increase or decrease, the kinds of goods purchased, their frequency and which ones are being delivered. In addition, it provides insight into delivery services, charges and performance. Most importantly, it analyses the importance that consumers place on delivery performance and the impact of delivery failures on future purchases. To learn more, read the full study: Descartes Research Report: Ecommerce—Is Retailer Fulfilment and Delivery Performance Keeping Up with Sales Growth?

Descartes’ ecommerce logistics solutions help retailers and logistics services providers deliver a superior customer experience. The home delivery solution covers a wide range of critical capabilities including delivery appointment booking, route planning, mobile applications and customer communications. They engage the customer at the point of purchase through order fulfilment and the successful completion of the delivery, provide opportunities to upsell value-added delivery services and keep customers up-to-date with the status of their delivery.

The warehouse management and integrated parcel shipping solutions help small- to mid-size retailers to use the right carrier and service to minimise shipping costs as well as to scale their ecommerce business by improving fulfilment reliability, speed and productivity.

InPost brings lockers to Westfield shopping centres

Posted on by David Priestman

InPost, a leading out-of-home and e-Commerce delivery company, has partnered with Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City, to bring InPost Lockers to both shopping centres.

The shopping centres are two of the largest in the UK, adding to InPost’s network of over 1,000 locker locations in the capital, setting the standard for easier and more environmentally friendly parcel options.

The lockers are located both internally and externally at the two Westfield sites – which together have a combined annual footfall of over 75 million – and will allow local residents, employees and shoppers alike to access the safe and secure lockers, available 24/7 for parcel collection and drop-off.

This deal follows recent partnerships with the likes of London’s transport network TfL and supermarket giant Tesco earlier in the year and will further support InPost’s ambition to reduce emissions and the number of last mile deliveries using London’s streets.

Alyson Hodkinson, General Manager at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the InPost locker service to Westfield Stratford City and Westfield London, offering visitors and employees a convenient way to send and collect parcels, contact-free. Most importantly, the lockers offer a sustainable solution to our customers as they provide the opportunity to save a significant amount of carbon emissions per year.

“Working with partners such as InPost aligns with our ambitions to reduce our carbon emissions by -50% by 2030 and is another step we are taking to encourage responsible consumption and a circular economy. We continue to work toward a greener future and look forward to welcoming and working with more like-minded retailers and brands to drive sustainability across our centres.”

Jason Tavaria, CEO of InPost UK, added: “We’re very proud to have teamed up with Westfield to provide the thousands of people that visit both the Stratford City and London sites every day the most convenient way to collect parcels and make returns. With Christmas just around the corner, we’re keen to make the shopping experience as stress-free as possible, and our quick and easy to use lockers will certainly help with that.”

InPost is now partnered with over 100 retailers including the likes of Missguided, Oh Polly, New Look and Schuh, meaning the Westfield lockers sites will serve the customers of a whole host of brands.

Sorted acquires returns specialist Clicksit

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Sorted, the Delivery Experience Platform, has closed its Series C funding round for $40m and acquired Clicksit, an automated returns company. This acquisition will enable all retailers, ranging from large enterprises to small and medium businesses, to have access to next-generation post-purchase experiences for the first time.

The acquisition sees Sorted transform into a unique all-in-one, end-to-end, Delivery Experience Platform – bridging the gap between post-purchase and returns experiences in one ecommerce platform. It is also a testament to UK innovation, with both Manchester-HQ’d companies joining forces to deliver the best in ecommerce delivery on a global scale.

The next generation of Sorted sees its existing products – including leading post-purchase tracking and communications product, SortedREACT – undergo considerable development to further enhance the platform. Having recently announced the appointment of new CEO Carmen Carey, the acquisition also marks Sorted’s continued expansion into the US market with Clicksit’s growing number of US returns management customers.

The acquisition will bring further international presence and accessibility of Sorted’s products, increasing the breadth of the market the company can serve. Whereas Sorted’s heritage lies in the large enterprise space, currently enabling 5* delivery experiences for enterprises like ASOS, Asda and more, the acquisition will bring industry-leading delivery experiences to the SMB market for the first time.

Carmen Carey, CEO at Sorted, commented: “Our acquisition of Clicksit marks an important milestone in the company’s rapid expansion journey. Returns is, now more than ever, a crucial step in the ecommerce customer journey, and we are excited to power returns innovation as part of our full Delivery Experience Platform.”

Carey added: “With such experiences being the sole privilege of large enterprises for many years, this next stage in Sorted’s evolution is set to provide the SMB market with industry-leading delivery and returns experience capabilities for the very first time. We’re looking forward to driving the company’s growth, enabling a unified delivery and returns experience for all customers, and marking an acceleration into serving the US retail landscape.”

Thomas Hill, CEO at Clicksit, adds: “Sorted’s acquisition of Clicksit has come at a pivotal moment for the retail industry. Customers are now expecting – and demanding – faultless delivery and returns experiences as standard, regardless of whether they order from a large multinational brand or a small business. Sorted’s acquisition of Clicksit will empower retailers and brands to provide industry-leading customer experiences at a time when the trading environment is more competitive than ever.”

Shaz Sulaman, Founder at Solid Bond Capital, and Chairman and main investor in Clicksit, commented: “News of the investment and the partnership between Sorted and Clicksit is a great fit for both businesses, and I am proud of Thomas’ journey so far. As new shareholders in Sorted Group, we very much look forward to seeing Carmen and the team grow the business and serve the new growing global customer base.”

Cleveron moves towards autonomous delivery in NL

Posted on by David Priestman

Estonia-based technology company Cleveron‘s unmanned autonomous vehicle took on the city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to be part of a 5-day pilot project carried out by DPD Netherlands and Cleveron. This marks the start of bringing autonomous delivery services to the public streets of the Netherlands.

The rapid growth of e-commerce has changed the playing field for companies operating in the retail and logistics sector. Keeping up with consumer trends requires a modern approach; thus, adopting new technologies and clever solutions is essential. Cleveron and its robot courier, Cleveron 701, offers just that.

Cleveron 701 is the first unmanned autonomous delivery vehicle in Europe with a license to operate on public streets. It’s designed as a multi-purpose delivery platform to which the operator can add suitable modifications for serving different delivery needs.

So, how does a robotic courier service differ from a conventional service? For the consumers, the ordering process stays similar to any other service. However, on the operational side, while the delivery process is autonomous, each robot is supervised remotely by a teleoperator. Teleoperators assist autonomous robots in managing tricky situations in traffic, resulting in a safe and steady journey through the city.

As Cleveron’s technology evolves, a ratio of 1:10 will be achieved. This means that just one teleoperator will monitor a fleet of 10 autonomous delivery vehicles. This drastically reduces last-mile delivery costs and resolves the challenges of driver shortages in the logistics industry.

“DPDgroup is an innovation leader in the logistics sector, and we are delighted to have performed an exploratory pilot together with DPD Netherlands, advancing the development of robotic courier services,” explained the CEO of Cleveron, Arno Kütt. “We will continue developing and improving our solutions to make last-mile delivery quicker, more efficient, and sustainable. This will benefit both companies and consumers alike.”

Jorin Aardoom, Manager of Data & Innovation at DPD Netherlands, added: “At DPD Netherlands, we strive every day to do better for our parcel senders and receivers. We are proud to experiment with innovative solutions for a sustainable future in parcel delivery. The pilot of autonomous delivery together with Cleveron showed promising results. DPD Netherlands is excited to explore more innovative solutions supporting a future in green, sustainable delivery and mobility.”

Thus far, the vehicle had been driving on Estonian city streets; this is the vehicle’s first experience driving and delivering parcels abroad. As it turns out, home-field advantage is not a significant factor. The vehicle can drive anywhere successfully and be safeguarded by a teleoperator even from Estonia, some 1,500km away from the Netherlands.

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

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