The fridge will place the order itself, the courier will be a robot. This is what the future of delivery will look like
According to Dr. Hab. Arkadiusz Kawa, professor at the Poznań University of Economics, in the decade to 2035, automation will cease to be a curiosity and will become an everyday reality.
He adds that the reasons will be rising labor costs and demographic changes, i.e. an aging society and a growing number of single-person households. As a result, robots and drones will be increasingly used in deliveries to customers.
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Prof. Coffee and platform Pyszne.pl in the “Future of Deliveries” report talks about several fundamental trends in the delivery industry;
- Intelligent optimization: Artificial intelligence will become the brain of logistics operations, planning routes in real time, combining orders and predicting demand to minimize empty runs.
- Green fleet: In 2030, up to 45 percent last-mile deliveries in large cities will be carried out by light electric vehicles (including delivery vans and e-cargo bicycles). This is the result of the rapid development of technology and a response to the increasingly restrictive clean transport zones.
- Micro-hubs and the “ship-from-store” model: City centers will be filled with small, local warehouses from which couriers will deliver parcels over short distances. At the same time, stationary stores themselves will become mini logistics centers, fulfilling online orders from local branches.
“In recent years, there has been a dynamic increase in demand for on-demand deliveries. Consumers who have access to music or movies here and now increasingly expect not only a wide selection of physical products, but also quick or even immediate delivery,” adds Dr. Arkadiusz Kawa.
In 15 years – according to the professor – we should enter an era in which logistics will become a process that should intelligently support the urban tissue. Further greenhouse gas emissions regulations will put pressure on delivery companies to switch to zero-emission fleets.
Pyszne.pl delivery drone tests
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Pyszne.pl
This is how the report predicts trends for the next 15 years;
- Climate neutrality: The entire delivery fleet will be zero-emission – fully electric with hydrogen vehicle elements.
- Delivery vehicle convoys and multi-level traffic: Deliveries between neighborhoods can be made at night using autonomous vehicles moving in convoys on dedicated lanes or even in underground tunnels.
- The new role of the courier: The human will not disappear from the system. His role is evolving into an operator and controller of a fleet of autonomous vehicles. Couriers will intervene in problematic situations and handle deliveries requiring human contact.
Pyszne.pl representatives add that tests of autonomous deliveries are becoming more and more advanced.
“Our tests of the autonomous robot in Warsaw and Katowice and the drone tests at Lake Zegrze showed one thing: the technology is ready, the problem lies in the regulatory and infrastructure environment,” comments Robert Schmidt, Country Manager Logistics Poland at Pyszne.pl. “The robot has proven that it can support couriers over short distances during rush hours, and the drone has shown the potential of deliveries to hard-to-reach places, such as beaches or recreational areas. It is not a replacement for humans, but their support. We are ready for the autonomous revolution, but we know that in addition to technology, we need a legal ecosystem and social change, which we want to co-create,” he added.
