Solving the problems around last mile deliveries

When we are standing waiting on a train platform we feel more comfortable knowing how many minutes away the next train is.?

Unfortunately, when waiting at home for a package delivery, we don't yet live in a world where we can expect to know the precise minute it will arrive—in fact, most of the time, we're fortunate just to know which week it might show up!

When logistics and delivery service providing companies offer last mile delivery, I’m sure they would love to be able to provide the best service possible to their customers by bringing the item as quickly as possible right to their doorstep. But of course, they cannot guarantee that. The supply chain is long, and there is lots of friction and waste along the way.?

I just read a McKinsey article saying that these inefficient interactions add up to $95 billion in losses a year—in the United States economy alone.

Of course this reflects the whole journey of the package potentially starting in a different continent, but there is data to show that inefficiencies in the “last mile”—after the package has arrived in the country, and even in the city—can be quite significant.

I am talking about this because as the CEO of a visual positioning company, I believe that our technology has the power to help reduce some of those inefficiencies.?

First, the problem

When I lived in Hong Kong, I noticed firsthand the challenges of receiving efficient courier delivery services in such a densely populated urban environment. The city is characterized by its tightly packed apartment blocks, where multiple high-rise residential buildings are clustered closely together. In addition to this there are mixed-use developments that combine residential units with commercial spaces, such as shops, restaurants, and offices, all within the same plaza. In many cases they all share the same street address, which can create significant confusion!

This is why, after traveling across the globe relatively quickly, the last mile has become a challenge for the important package.?

Next, the solution

Visual Positioning System (VPS) is a technology that uses computer vision to determine an object's precise location and orientation in the physical world by analyzing visual data from the surrounding environment.?

VPS can be used to build solutions that guide couriers through complex urban environments. It can provide real-time visual cues and navigation instructions to help them find specific entrances, elevators, or units within large buildings. This would greatly reduce time spent traveling and searching.

In areas with poor GPS signals, such as narrow alleys or inside buildings, VPS can offer precise indoor navigation, helping couriers avoid delays and efficiently complete their routes.

With the increasing use of autonomous delivery robots or drones, VPS plays a huge part in making machines “see.”?

Only when machines understand visual data from their surroundings, can they navigate dense urban areas and pinpoint precise drop-off locations?

The future

In this report McKinsey lays out 4 phases of technological change coming to last mile delivery:

• First, we will see EVs and the increased presence of unattended delivery technology.?
• Second, we will start to see large, semi autonomous delivery vehicles that follow parcel delivery staff.
• Third, in the near future, there will be autonomous delivery vehicles unaccompanied by human delivery staff.
• And fourth, in the relatively distant future, robots will take packages right to customers’ front doors.?

At Immersal, we have built the most versatile Visual Positioning System in the world. That means, whether human couriers or autonomous vehicles are doing most of the delivery work, we have the technology to reduce efficiencies.

And as the transport market moves further into the era of autonomous vehicles as projected by McKinsey and other analytics, it is clear that VPS will become even more indispensable as a powerful and cost effective solution.

“Logistics operators have begun exploring tech-based solutions to these problems resulting in a rapidly expanding market for such solutions.”

There is no doubt that computer vision technology will develop at a very fast pace. I’m looking forward to seeing Visual Positioning Systems helping more and more machines navigate the world and bring more benefit to humanity.