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Driverless delivery vehicles and specialized distribution centers could form the backbone of a new retail network
TThe recent rapid advances in the development of self-driving cars and aerial drones have made it seem likely that within a short time it will be feasible to have products delivered to the home without human intervention.
This brings an important question to the mind of industrial engineers. Should the existing logistics network for retail products in the United States just be augmented with an automated deliver y option from the existing set of stores and other retail establishments, or are there unique aspects of this new mode of deliver y that warrant the reconsideration and possible redesign of the retail network to better realize the full potential of these automated delivery vehicles?
Logistics networks for home delivery companies like UPS and FedEx are designed to economize on their one big, indivisible cost of operation: the wage paid to the driver of each truck. To use the driver's time best, a large-payload truck is used to make multiple deliveries along a carefully planned route. Of course, this makes it impossible to schedule deliveries for times that are convenient for a person at home, and often products are just left at the door.
More customized delivery
Driverless deliver y vehicles make it cost-effective to provide for direct deliveries to the home at times that are most convenient to the customer, allowing the inclusion of things like hot meals and frozen foods. Having the vehicle make a delivery while a customer is at home makes it possible to address the one step in the deliver y process that, at least for now, would be too costly to automate fully - the unloading of the vehicle at the home.
Without a human driver, the vehicle can have a small enough payload so that it is cost-effective to dedicate it to making deliveries to individual homes and to wait, if necessary, in the driveway to be unloaded manually.
To support this type of direct home delivery, a new type of logistics network is proposed that consists of a network of small distribution centers (DCs) located near the home. Goods would be delivered to the home in reusable standardized containers transported by...