– This is a new concept in our industry – said Dr. Keith Ulrich, Head of Technology & Innovation Management at Deutsche Post DHL. – This is the first system that records real-time traffic information, such as traffic jams or roadworks, and adjusts the vehicle’s route accordingly.
This is possible thanks to the monitoring of DHL vehicles and nearly 500 Berlin taxis via the Global Positioning System (GPS), which provides measurements of traffic flow in the city center and allows for appropriate responses.
The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is supporting the project, which is part of the initiative “Intelligent logistics in goods transport and commercial transactions – an innovation offensive for the markets of tomorrow” (Intelligente Logistik im Güter- und Wirtschaftsverkehr – Innovationsoffensive für die Märkte von morgen). The goal of SmartTruck, a publicly funded research project, is to demonstrate how intelligent technologies can be used to reduce traffic in city centers while increasing the efficiency of logistics companies. This is part of a series of actions by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology aimed at promoting intelligent logistics.
SmartTrucks were designed not only to protect the environment. They also improve the process of sending and receiving shipments. The transported parcels have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. This enables their registration and ongoing monitoring. Thanks to SmartTruck, DHL can ensure greater precision in parcel collection and delivery, respond faster to urgent orders, and determine the exact time of parcel collection. Customers will be notified via SMS about the planned collection time of their shipments.
The SmartTruck technology was developed at the DHL Innovation Center. In addition to the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, other partners involved in the project include: the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz), Motorola, and Quintiq. During the three-month pilot, both SmartTrucks will perform approximately 500 parcel collections and deliveries daily. If the tests are successful, there are plans to install SmartTrucks on approximately 160 express routes in Berlin and other locations.