[ { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2806974714", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejor.2018.05.058", "title": "Scheduling last-mile deliveries with truck-based autonomous robots", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-06-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Nils Boysen", "Stefan Schwerdfeger", "Felix Weidinger" ], "first_author": "Nils Boysen", "venue": "European Journal of Operational Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Robot", "Computer science", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Transport engineering", "Fleet management", "Delivery Performance", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Automotive engineering", "Industrial engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 293, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2018.05.058" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2984182507", "doi": "10.1016/j.apm.2019.11.020", "title": "A truck and drones model for last-mile delivery: A mathematical model and heuristic approach", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-11-18", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mohammad Moshref‐Javadi", "Ahmad Hemmati", "Matthias Winkenbach" ], "first_author": "Mohammad Moshref‐Javadi", "venue": "Applied Mathematical Modelling", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "We present a mathematical formulation and a heuristic solution approach for the optimal planning of delivery routes in a multi-modal system combining truck and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations. In this system, truck and UAV operations are synchronized, i.e., one or more UAVs travel on a truck, which serves as a mobile depot. Deliveries can be made by both UAVs and the truck. While the truck follows a multi-stop route, each UAV delivers a single shipment per dispatch. The presented optimization model minimizes the waiting time of customers in the system. The model determines the optimal allocation of customers to truck and UAVs, the optimal route sequence of the truck, and the optimal launch and reconvene locations of the UAVs along the truck route. We formulate the problem as a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model and conduct a bound analysis to gauge the maximum potential of the proposed system to reduce customer waiting time compared to a traditional truck-only delivery system. To be able to solve real-world problem size instances, we propose an efficient Truck and Drone Routing Algorithm (TDRA). The solution quality and computational performance of the mathematical model and the TDRA are compared together and with the truck-only model based on a variety of problem instances. Further, we apply the TDRA to a real-world case study for e-commerce delivery in São Paulo, Brazil. Our numerical results suggest significant reductions in customer waiting time to be gained from the proposed multi-modal delivery model.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Heuristic", "Drone", "Computer science", "Integer programming", "Last mile (transportation)", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Operations research", "Real-time computing", "Transport engineering", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 232, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0307904X19306936/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2998391831", "doi": "10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.107598", "title": "Two echelon vehicle routing problem with drones in last mile delivery", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-12-27", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "Byung‐Cheol Min", "Seokcheon Lee" ], "first_author": "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "venue": "International Journal of Production Economics", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Heuristics", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Swap (finance)", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Integer programming", "Operations research", "Mathematical optimization", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 333, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.107598" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3049753201", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2020.102049", "title": "Optimization and analysis of a robot-assisted last mile delivery system", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-08-14", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Michele D. Simoni", "Erhan Kutanoğlu", "Christian G. Claudel" ], "first_author": "Michele D. Simoni", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Robot", "Computer science", "Heuristic", "Delivery Performance", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Drone", "Transport engineering", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Industrial engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 200, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2020.102049" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3135084312", "doi": "10.1002/net.22030", "title": "Cost‐optimal truck‐and‐robot routing for last‐mile delivery", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-03-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Manuel Ostermeier", "Andreas Heimfarth", "Alexander Hübner" ], "first_author": "Manuel Ostermeier", "venue": "Networks", "publisher": "Wiley", "abstract": "Abstract During recent years, several companies have introduced small autonomous delivery robots and evidenced their technical applicability in field studies. However, a holistic planning framework for routing and utilizing these robots is still lacking. Current literature focuses mainly on logistical performance of delivery using autonomous robots, ignoring real world limitations, and does not assess the respective impact on total delivery costs. In contrast, this paper presents an approach to cost‐optimal routing of a truck‐and‐robot system for last‐mile deliveries with time windows, showing how to minimize the total costs of a delivery tour for a given number of available robots. Our solution algorithm is based on a combination of a neighborhood search with cost‐specific priority rules and search operators for the truck routing, while we provide and evaluate two alternatives to solve the robot scheduling subproblem: an exact and a heuristic approach. We show in numerical experiments that our approach is able to reduce last‐mile delivery costs significantly. Within a case study, the truck‐and‐robot concept reduces last‐mile costs by up to 68% compared to truck‐only delivery. Finally, we apply sensitivity analyses to provide managerial guidance on when truck‐and‐robot deliveries can efficiently be used in the delivery industry.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Robot", "Vehicle routing problem", "Computer science", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Heuristic", "Delivery Performance", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Last mile (transportation)", "Total cost", "Operations research", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 108, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/net.22030" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3009632634", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2020.01.019", "title": "Joint optimization of customer location clustering and drone-based routing for last-mile deliveries", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-03-06", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mohamed Salama", "Sharan Srinivas" ], "first_author": "Mohamed Salama", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Computer science", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Cluster analysis", "Heuristic", "Operations research", "Key (lock)", "Real-time computing", "Mile", "Artificial intelligence", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 241, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2020.01.019" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3123290426", "doi": "10.1287/msom.2017.0683", "title": "Shared Mobility for Last-Mile Delivery: Design, Operational Prescriptions, and Environmental Impact", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-06-07", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Wei Min Qi", "Lefei Li", "Sheng Liu", "Zuo‐Jun Max Shen" ], "first_author": "Wei Min Qi", "venue": "Manufacturing & Service Operations Management", "publisher": "Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences", "abstract": "Two socioeconomic transformations, namely, the booms in the sharing economy and retail e-commerce, lead to the prospect where shared mobility of passenger cars prevails throughout urban areas for home delivery services. Logistics service providers as well as local governments are in need of evaluating the potentially substantial impacts of this mode shift, given their economic objectives and environmental concerns. This paper addresses this need by providing new logistics planning models and managerial insights. These models characterize open-loop car routes, car drivers’ wage-response behavior, interplay with the ride-share market, and optimal sizes of service zones within which passenger vehicles pick up goods and fulfill the last-mile delivery. Based on theoretical analysis and empirical estimates in a realistic setting, the findings suggest that crowdsourcing shared mobility is not as scalable as the conventional truck-only system in terms of the operating cost. However, a transition to this paradigm has the potential for creating economic benefits by reducing the truck fleet size and exploiting additional operational flexibilities (e.g., avoiding high-demand areas and peak hours, adjusting vehicle loading capacities, etc.). These insights are insignificantly affected by the dynamic adjustment of wages and prices of the ride-share market. If entering into this paradigm, greenhouse gas emissions may increase because of prolonged car trip distance; on the other hand, even exclusively minimizing operating costs incurs only slightly more emissions than exclusively minimizing emissions. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0683 .", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Boom", "Business", "Service (business)", "Service provider", "Last mile (transportation)", "Environmental economics", "Incentive", "Crowds", "Transport engineering", "Industrial organization", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 219, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/bitstreams/918c4222-b1d7-4e11-bf65-4bd1d3100705/download" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3117135908", "doi": "10.1002/net.22015", "title": "Trucks and drones cooperation in the last‐mile delivery process", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-12-24", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese", "Giusy Macrina", "Francesca Guerriero" ], "first_author": "Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese", "venue": "Networks", "publisher": "Wiley", "abstract": "Abstract We address the problem of routing a fleet of trucks equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, to perform deliveries in last‐mile delivery process. The customers can be served by either a truck or a drone within the respective time window of each. Each capacitated truck carries drones that can be launched to perform deliveries. The drone takes off from a truck located either at a customer or at the depot and it must land on the same truck after visiting a customer to be served. The aim is to serve all customers at minimum cost, under time window, capacity, and flying endurance constraints. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer linear program (MILP) and develop a heuristic procedure where a two‐phase strategy is embedded in a multi‐start framework. The computational results are carried out on instances generated by starting from vehicle routing problem with time windows benchmarks. We analyze the behavior of the considered transportation system by mean of the solutions provided by the MILP. The proposed formulation is able to solve instances with up to 15 customers. The solutions of the MILP are used as benchmark to assess the effectiveness of the proposed heuristic procedure.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Drone", "Vehicle routing problem", "Computer science", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Heuristic", "Last mile (transportation)", "Integer programming", "Process (computing)", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Integer (computer science)", "Linear programming" ], "cited_by_count": 56, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/net.22015" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4361286064", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejor.2023.03.031", "title": "The multi-vehicle truck-and-robot routing problem for last-mile delivery", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-03-29", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Manuel Ostermeier", "Andreas Heimfarth", "Alexander Hübner" ], "first_author": "Manuel Ostermeier", "venue": "European Journal of Operational Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Vehicle routing problem", "Robot", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer science", "Delivery Performance", "Transport engineering", "Cluster analysis", "Heuristic", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 69, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/files/103374/103374.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2765355161", "doi": "10.1007/978-3-319-67308-0_56", "title": "Last-Mile Deliveries by Using Drones and Classical Vehicles", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese", "Francesca Guerriero" ], "first_author": "Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese", "venue": "Springer proceedings in mathematics & statistics", "publisher": "Springer International Publishing", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Process (computing)", "Operations research", "Service (business)", "Aeronautics", "Mile", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Real-time computing" ], "cited_by_count": 106, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67308-0_56" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3185448537", "doi": "10.1016/j.scs.2021.103167", "title": "Efficiency of light electric vehicles in last mile deliveries – Szczecin case study", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-07-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Stanisław Iwan", "Mariusz Nürnberg", "Mariusz Jedliński", "Kinga Kijewska" ], "first_author": "Stanisław Iwan", "venue": "Sustainable Cities and Society", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "City users gladly apply comfortable and time-saving e-commerce solutions as an alternative to traditional purchase. The present pandemic crisis made this issue even more important. It significantly increased the number of transport operations within the city area, as each order has to be delivered directly to the purchaser. Consequently, city authorities are confronted with the important challenge: how to fulfil the expectations and needs of city users in the context of transport system functioning in view of reducing the negative impacts of urban freight transport in terms of safety, air pollution or noise. This is one of the most important elements of social sustainability in cities. One of the solutions that help reduce the negative environmental impacts of urban freight transport is making use of vehicles that produce less air pollution, such as electric vans. It proved to be very effective in decreasing transportation footprint by reducing local emissions of e.g. PM or NOx. However, one of the key limitations is the potential short driving range of such vehicles, which results from the battery capacity and charging infrastructure availability. In recent years, some analyses related to that issue have been made. Nevertheless, the studies have taken into account passenger cars only. This paper presents the results of the research study aimed at verification of electric vans energy efficiency in real-life conditions, i.e. when delivering courier consignments. The electric van used for the purposes of the experiment was Nissan eNV200. This paper fulfils the important knowledge gap and could be helpful from both theoretical and practical perspectives. It should be emphasised that the experiment was carried out in real-life conditions, i.e. in the course of performing business processes in one of the worldwide known CEP companies. The research study was carried out under the EUFAL international project, funded under the Electric Mobility Europe programme. The results of the research shown high potential of electric vehicles and usefulness of electromobility in last mile deliveries. The business partner of the research is now on the stage of electric freight vehicles implementation into vehicles fleets.", "keywords": [ "Context (archaeology)", "Last mile (transportation)", "Transport engineering", "Sustainability", "Electric vehicle", "Sustainable transport", "Mile", "Environmental economics", "Business", "Environmental science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 101, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210670721004480/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4296767464", "doi": "10.1016/j.engappai.2022.105439", "title": "Machine learning approach for truck-drones based last-mile delivery in the era of industry 4.0", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-09-20", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ali Arishi", "Krishna Krishnan", "Majed Arishi" ], "first_author": "Ali Arishi", "venue": "Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Travelling salesman problem", "Cluster analysis", "Last mile (transportation)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Mile", "Operations research", "Artificial intelligence", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 66, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2022.105439" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4390024498", "doi": "10.1016/j.cie.2023.109849", "title": "Cooperative trucks and drones for rural last-mile delivery with steep roads", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-12-20", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jiuhong Xiao", "Ying Li", "Zhiguang Cao", "Jianhua Xiao" ], "first_author": "Jiuhong Xiao", "venue": "Computers & Industrial Engineering", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Truck", "Drone", "Last mile (transportation)", "Transport engineering", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Forensic engineering", "Business", "Geography", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 47, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2023.109849" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3194590737", "doi": "10.1007/s10957-021-01918-8", "title": "The Last-Mile Delivery Process with Trucks and Drones Under Uncertain Energy Consumption", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-08-23", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese", "Francesca Guerriero", "Maria Grazia Scutellà" ], "first_author": "Luigi Di Puglia Pugliese", "venue": "Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Energy consumption", "Computer science", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Reliability (semiconductor)", "Process (computing)", "Operations research", "Fuel efficiency", "Mathematical optimization", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 51, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10957-021-01918-8" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4319437469", "doi": "10.1080/16258312.2023.2173488", "title": "Innovative solutions in last mile delivery: concepts, practices, challenges, and future directions", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-02-07", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Wassen A. M. Mohammad", "Yousef Nazih Diab", "Adel Elomri", "Chefi Triki" ], "first_author": "Wassen A. M. Mohammad", "venue": "Supply Chain Forum an International Journal", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "In the last decade, e-commerce has been growing consistently. Fostered by the covid pandemic, online retail has grown exponentially, particularly in industries including food, clothing, groceries, and many others. This growth in online retailing activities has raised critical logistic challenges, especially in the last leg of the distribution, commonly referred to as the Last Mile. For instance, traditional truck-based home delivery has reached its limit within metropolitan areas and can no longer be an effective delivery method. Driven by technological progress, several other logistic solutions have been deployed as innovative alternatives to deliver parcels. This includes delivery by drones, smart parcel stations, robots, and crowdsourcing, among others. In this setting, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of the latest trends in last-mile delivery solutions from both industry and academic perspectives (see Figure 1 for overview). We use a content analysis literature review to analyse over 80 relevant publications, derive the necessary features of the latest innovation in the last mile delivery, and point out their different maturity levels and the related theoretical and operational challenges.Innovative solutions in last mile delivery: concepts, practices, challenges, and future directionsAll authorsWassen AM Mohammad, Yousef Nazih Diab, Adel Elomri & Chefi Triki https://doi.org/10.1080/16258312.2023.2173488Published online:07 February 2023Figure 1. Overview and Graphical Abstract.Display full sizeFigure 1. Overview and Graphical Abstract.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Metropolitan area", "Food delivery", "Best practice", "Crowdsourcing", "Computer science", "Business", "Marketing", "Geography", "World Wide Web", "Management" ], "cited_by_count": 96, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/16258312.2023.2173488?needAccess=true&role=button" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2902500308", "doi": "10.3390/su10124563", "title": "A Crowdsourcing Approach for Sustainable Last Mile Delivery", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-12-03", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Adriana Giret", "Carlos Carrascosa", "Vicente Julián", "Miguel Rebollo", "Vicente J. Botti" ], "first_author": "Adriana Giret", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Sustainable transportation is one of the major concerns in cities. This concern involves all type of movements motivated by different goals (mobility of citizens, transportation of goods and parcels, etc.). The main goal of this work is to provide an intelligent approach for Sustainable Last Mile Delivery, by reducing (or even deleting) the need of dedicated logistic moves (by cars, and/or trucks). The method attempts to reduce the number of movements originated by the parcels delivery by taking advantage of the citizens’ movements. In this way our proposal follows a crowdsourcing approach, in which the citizens that moves in the city, because of their own needs, become temporal deliverers. The technology behind our approach relays on Multi-agent System techniques and complex network-based algorithms for optimizing sustainable delivery routes. These artificial intelligent approaches help to reduce the complexity of the scenario providing an efficient way to integrate the citizens’ routes that can be executed using the different transportation means and networks available in the city (public system, private transportation, eco-vehicles sharing systems, etc.). A complex network-based algorithm is used for computing and proposing an optimized Sustainable Last Mile Delivery route to the crowd. Moreover, the executed tests show the feasibility of the proposed solution, together with a high reduction of the CO 2 emission coming from the delivery trucks that, in the case studies, are no longer needed for delivery.", "keywords": [ "Crowdsourcing", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Sustainable transport", "Computer science", "Work (physics)", "Transport engineering", "Intelligent transportation system", "Public transport", "City logistics", "Mile", "Sustainability" ], "cited_by_count": 55, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4563/pdf?version=1543831081" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3017120113", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.191", "title": "Investigating the use of microhubs and crowdshipping for last mile delivery", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Sudheer Ballare", "Jane Lin" ], "first_author": "Sudheer Ballare", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "The rise of e-commerce and same-day delivery services has led to increased freight movement in urban areas adding to negative externalities, including traffic congestion, noise, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This study investigates the performance of a microhub delivery paradigm in combination with crowdshipping. Performance was evaluated by comparing it with the traditional hub-and-spoke delivery service paradigm. The proposed Microhubs with Crowdshipping delivery paradigm aims to reduce the number of trucks and crowdshippers dispatched, their fuel usage and operating costs. The study also investigates the effect of network size on the performance of the proposed paradigm.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Transport engineering", "Mile", "Externality", "Traffic congestion", "Greenhouse gas", "Noise pollution", "Paradigm shift", "Environmental economics", "Computer science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 57, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146520303926/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2894758515", "doi": "10.1002/net.21847", "title": "Drone delivery from trucks: Drone scheduling for given truck routes", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-10-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Nils Boysen", "Dirk Briskorn", "Stefan Fedtke", "Stefan Schwerdfeger" ], "first_author": "Nils Boysen", "venue": "Networks", "publisher": "Wiley", "abstract": "Last mile deliveries with unmanned aerial vehicles (also denoted as drones) are seen as one promising idea to reduce excessive road traffic. To overcome the difficulties caused by the comparatively short operating ranges of drones, an innovative concept suggests to apply trucks as mobile landing and take‐off platforms. In this context, the paper on hand schedules the delivery to customers by drones for given truck routes. Given a fixed sequence of stops constituting a truck route and a set of customers to be supplied, we aim at a drone schedule (i.e., a set of trips each defining a drone's take‐off and landing stop and the customer serviced), such that all customers are supplied and the total duration of the delivery tour is minimized. We differentiate whether multiple drones or just a single one are placed on a truck and whether or not take‐off and landing stops have to be identical. We provide an analysis of computational complexity for each resulting subproblem, introduce efficient mixed‐integer programs, and compare all cases with regard to their potential of reducing the delivery effort on the last mile.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Context (archaeology)", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Schedule", "Last mile (transportation)", "Operations research", "Transport engineering", "Mile", "Engineering", "Operations management" ], "cited_by_count": 226, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/net.21847" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4406342867", "doi": "10.3390/drones9010054", "title": "The Future of Last-Mile Delivery: Lifecycle Environmental and Economic Impacts of Drone-Truck Parallel Systems", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-14", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Danwen Bao", "Yu Hong Yan", "Yuhan Li", "Jiajun Chu" ], "first_author": "Danwen Bao", "venue": "Drones", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "With rapid advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, its integration into logistics operations has emerged as a promising solution for improving efficiency and sustainability. Among the emerging solutions, a collaborative delivery model involving drones and trucks addresses last-mile delivery challenges by leveraging the complementary strengths of both modes of transport. However, evaluating the environmental and economic impacts of this transportation mode requires a systematic framework to capture its unique characteristics and minimize environmental impacts and costs. This paper investigates the Parallel Drone Scheduling Traveling Salesman Problem (PDSTSP) to evaluate the environmental and economic sustainability of a collaborative drone-truck delivery system. Specifically, a mathematical model for this delivery system is developed to optimize joint delivery operations. Environmental impacts are assessed using a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), including emissions and operational noise, while a Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) quantifies economic performance across five cost dimensions. Sensitivity analysis explores factors such as delivery density, traffic congestion, and wind conditions. Results show that, compared to the electric vehicle fleet, the proposed model achieves an approximate 20% reduction in carbon emissions, while delivering a 20–30% cost reduction relative to the fuel truck fleet. Drones’ efficiency in short-distance deliveries alleviates trucks’ load, cutting environmental and operational costs. This study offers practical insights and recommendations for implementing drone-truck parallel delivery systems, particularly in high-demand density areas.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Mile", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Aeronautics", "Environmental science", "Engineering", "Business", "Aerospace engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 44, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/1/54/pdf?version=1736851782" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4381616516", "doi": "10.3390/drones7070407", "title": "Development of Heuristic Approaches for Last-Mile Delivery TSP with a Truck and Multiple Drones", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-06-21", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Marco Rinaldi", "Stefano Primatesta", "Martin Bugaj", "Ján Rostáš", "Giorgio Guglieri" ], "first_author": "Marco Rinaldi", "venue": "Drones", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are gaining momentum in many civil and military sectors. An example is represented by the logistics sector, where UAVs have been proven to be able to improve the efficiency of the process itself, as their cooperation with trucks can decrease the delivery time and reduce fuel consumption. In this paper, we first state a mathematical formulation of the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) applied to logistic routing, where a truck cooperates synchronously with multiple UAVs for parcel delivery. Then, we propose, implement, and compare different sub-optimal routing approaches to the formulated mFSTSP (multiple Flying Sidekick Travelling Salesman Problem) since the inherent combinatorial computational complexity of the problem makes it unattractable for commercial Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) solvers. A local search algorithm, two hybrid genetic algorithms that permutate feasible and infeasible solutions, and an alternative ad-hoc greedy method are evaluated in terms of the total delivery time of the output schedule. For the sake of the evaluation, the savings in terms of delivery time over the well-documented truck-only TSP solution are investigated for each proposed routing solution, and this is repeated for two different scenarios. Monte Carlo simulations corroborate the results.", "keywords": [ "Travelling salesman problem", "Vehicle routing problem", "Truck", "Mathematical optimization", "Computer science", "Traveling purchaser problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Drone", "Schedule", "Heuristic", "Greedy algorithm", "Integer programming" ], "cited_by_count": 34, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/7/407/pdf?version=1687857556" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4301431241", "doi": "10.1016/j.pmcj.2022.101700", "title": "On the Scheduling of Conflictual Deliveries in a last-mile delivery scenario with truck-carried drones", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-10-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Francesco Betti Sorbelli", "Federico Corò", "Sajal Kumar Das", "Lorenzo Palazzetti", "Cristina Maria Pinotti" ], "first_author": "Francesco Betti Sorbelli", "venue": "Pervasive and Mobile Computing", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Drone", "Mile", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Operations management", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 27, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmcj.2022.101700" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2790579773", "doi": "10.3390/su10030653", "title": "Tackling Fragmented Last Mile Deliveries to Nanostores by Utilizing Spare Transportation Capacity—A Simulation Study", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-02-28", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Bram Kin", "Tomas Ambra", "Sara Verlinde", "Cathy Macharis" ], "first_author": "Bram Kin", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Last mile deliveries in urban areas cause a disproportionate unsustainable impact, while it is also the most expensive part of the supply chain. This is particularly true for freight flows that are characterized by fragmentation. Logistically, this becomes apparent in vehicles that are driving around with a low vehicle fill rate, leading to the unnecessary presence of freight vehicles in our cities. This study focuses on the operational feasibility of utilizing the spare transportation capacity of a service-driven company as a potential solution to supply small independent retailers, or nanostores. The aim is to reduce inefficient vehicle movement. Based on a real-life implementation, we use SYnchronization Model for Belgian Inland Transport (SYMBIT), an agent-based model, to simulate various bundling scenarios. Results show the total vehicle kilometers and lead times to supply nanostores for the service-driven company to serve its customers. There is a potential to utilize spare capacity to supply nanostores while maintaining a decent service level. The number of vehicle kilometers driven highly depends on the location of the distribution center where the service-driven company operates. Based on these results, the conditions that have to be met to replicate this solution in other urban areas are discussed.", "keywords": [ "Spare part", "Transport engineering", "Supply chain", "Service (business)", "Vehicle miles of travel", "Business", "Engineering", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 58, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/3/653/pdf?version=1519957134" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4391554721", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejor.2024.01.045", "title": "Fleet resupply by drones for last-mile delivery", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-02-02", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Juan C. Pina-Pardo", "Daniel F. Silva", "Alice E. Smith", "Ricardo A. Gatica" ], "first_author": "Juan C. Pina-Pardo", "venue": "European Journal of Operational Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Drone", "Computer science", "Vehicle routing problem", "Integer programming", "Operations research", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 29, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2024.01.045" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4387539248", "doi": "10.3390/systems11100509", "title": "Evolution, Challenges, and Opportunities of Transportation Methods in the Last-Mile Delivery Process", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-10-11", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Xiaonan Zhu", "Lanhui Cai", "Po‐Lin Lai", "Xueqin Wang", "Fei Ma" ], "first_author": "Xiaonan Zhu", "venue": "Systems", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "The rapid development of modern logistics and e-commerce highlights the importance of exploring various modes of transportation in the last-mile delivery (LMD) process. However, no comprehensive studies exist in the literature exploring all modes of LMD transportation, the changes in these transportation modes, and the commonalities between them. In this study, we address this gap by conducting a systematic review of 150 academic journal articles utilizing a combination of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) content analysis and text mining analysis. Nine primary transportation methods (parcel lockers, autonomous drones, trucks, bicycles, crowd logistics, electric vehicles, tricycles, autonomous robots, and autonomous vehicles) are identified in this research. Additionally, we provide an analysis of the historical changes in these transportation modes in LMD. Using a bottom-up induction method, we identify the three major clusters of scholarly focus in the LMD literature: emphasis on value co-creation between consumers and logistics providers, practical delivery performance (path optimization or algorithms), and environmental friendliness. Further, we analyze the main themes under each cluster, leading to the identification of opportunities, challenges, and future research agendas. Our findings have implications for scholars, policymakers, and other stakeholders involved in LMD transportation modes.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Process (computing)", "Identification (biology)", "City logistics", "Drone", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Supply chain", "Computer science", "Mile", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 41, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/11/10/509/pdf?version=1696997115" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2569113864", "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.2859018", "title": "Shared Mobility for Last-Mile Delivery: Design, Operational Prescriptions and Environmental Impact", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "preprint", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Wei Min Qi", "Lefei Li", "Sheng Liu", "Zuo‐Jun Max Shen" ], "first_author": "Wei Min Qi", "venue": "SSRN Electronic Journal", "publisher": "RELX Group (Netherlands)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Medical prescription", "Last mile (transportation)", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Environmental planning", "Engineering", "Environmental science", "Geography", "Medicine", "Nursing" ], "cited_by_count": 43, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2859018" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2034302497", "doi": "10.1109/coase.2014.6899390", "title": "An auction mechanism for the last-mile deliveries via urban consolidation centre", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-08-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Stephanus Daniel Handoko", "Duc Thien Nguyen", "Hoong Chuin Lau" ], "first_author": "Stephanus Daniel Handoko", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "A number of cities around the world have adopted urban consolidation centres (UCCs) to address some challenges of their last-mile deliveries. At the UCC, goods are consolidated based on their destinations prior to their deliveries into the city centre. In many examples, the UCC owns a fleet of eco-friendly vehicles to carry out the deliveries. A carrier/shipper who buys the UCC's service hence no longer needs to enter the city centre where there might be time-window and vehicle-type restrictions. As a result, it becomes possible to retain the use of large trucks for the economies of scale outside the city centre. Furthermore, time which would otherwise be spent in the city centre can then be used to deliver more orders. With possibly tighter regulation and thinning profit margin in near future, requests for the use of the UCC's service shall become more and more common. In this paper, we propose a profit-maximizing auction mechanism for the use of the UCC's service. We first formulate the winner determination problem as mixed-integer program (MIP). Then, we provide a greedy approximation algorithm to solve the MIP in reasonable time. Our experiments indicate that the proposed auction along with the greedy approximation algorithm is able to maximize the UCC's profit to near optimality with reasonable computational budget.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Operations research", "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Profit (economics)", "Profit margin", "Facility location problem", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Economics", "Engineering", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 40, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/3368" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4317254503", "doi": "10.1016/j.iot.2023.100692", "title": "Crowdsourced last mile delivery: Collaborative workforce assignment", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-01-18", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Nada Elsokkary", "Hadi Otrok", "Shakti Singh", "Rabeb Mizouni", "Hassan Barada", "Mohammed Omar" ], "first_author": "Nada Elsokkary", "venue": "Internet of Things", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Task (project management)", "Last mile (transportation)", "Tabu search", "Handover", "Set (abstract data type)", "Operations research", "Quality (philosophy)", "Mile", "Computer network", "Engineering", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 31, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2023.100692" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3006984451", "doi": "10.1016/j.promfg.2020.01.338", "title": "Vehicle Routing Problem with Drones for Last Mile Delivery", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "Seokcheon Lee" ], "first_author": "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "venue": "Procedia Manufacturing", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "E-commerce and retail companies are seeking ways to cut delivery times and costs by exploring opportunities to use drones for making last mile delivery deliveries. In recent years, drone routing and scheduling has become a highly active area of research. This research addresses the delivery concept of a truck-drone combination along with the idea of allowing autonomous drones to fly from delivery trucks, make deliveries, and fly to delivery trucks nearby. The proposed model considers the synchronized truck drone routing model by allowing multiple drones to fly from a truck, serve customers and immediately return to the same truck for the battery swap and package retrieval. The model also takes into account both trucks and drones capacities to ensure that the amount of loads carried by each drone must not exceed its capacity and the total amount of loads in each delivery route must be less than truck’s capacity. The goal is to find the optimal routes of both trucks and drones which minimize the total arrival time of both trucks and drones at the depot after completing the deliveries. The problem can be solved by the formulated mixed integer programming (MIP) for the small size problem. Numerical results in the case study and benchmark problems are presented to show the delivery time improvement over the delivery time from other delivery types.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Swap (finance)", "Computer science", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Integer programming", "Vehicle routing problem", "Transport engineering", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Operations research" ], "cited_by_count": 28, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351978920304054/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3185531855", "doi": "10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128353", "title": "Empirical analysis of the role of incentives in zero-emission last-mile deliveries in California", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-07-16", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Miguel Jaller", "Leticia Pineda", "Hanjiro Ambrose", "Alissa M Kendall" ], "first_author": "Miguel Jaller", "venue": "Journal of Cleaner Production", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Mile", "Incentive", "Transport engineering", "Vehicle miles of travel", "Last mile (transportation)", "Business", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Environmental science", "Automotive engineering", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 39, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128353" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3008289549", "doi": "10.1109/wsc40007.2019.9004811", "title": "A Comprehensive Case Study in Last-Mile Delivery Concepts for Parcel Robots", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-12-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Moritz Poeting", "Stefan Schaudt", "Uwe Clausen" ], "first_author": "Moritz Poeting", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This study was designed to evaluate innovative last-mile delivery concepts involving autonomous parcel robots with simulation and optimization. In the proposed concept, the last mile of parcel delivery is split into a two-tiered system, where parcels are first transported to a transfer point by conventional trucks and then delivered with parcel robots on customer demand. The purpose of this publication is to compare different time slot selection options for customers, namely due window and on demand selection, in the context of city logistics measures such as access regulations and driving bans for city centers. An agent-based simulation model is used, including a Geographic Information System environment and optimization algorithms for allocation and scheduling of delivery robots. The concept is tested in a comprehensive case study located in the city center of Cologne (Germany) based on real data from the parcel delivery company Hermes.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Robot", "Computer science", "City logistics", "Delivery Performance", "Transport engineering", "Context (archaeology)", "Operations research", "Mile", "Engineering", "Industrial engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 34, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/wsc40007.2019.9004811" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412486350", "doi": "10.1139/dsa-2024-0068", "title": "Framework for truck–RPAS hybrid models in last-mile delivery", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Armin Mahmoodi", "Leila Hashemi", "Jeremy F. Laliberté" ], "first_author": "Armin Mahmoodi", "venue": "Drone Systems and Applications", "publisher": "Canadian Science Publishing", "abstract": "This study develops a hybrid optimization framework integrating remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPASs) with conventional truck delivery networks to enhance last-mile logistics efficiency. To balance operating cost, service time, regulatory risk, and energy usage, a novel multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model is developed. High-quality Pareto-optimal solutions are produced by the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II, which methodically manages trade-offs between the conflicting goals. Risk assessment is embedded using specific operations risk assessment principles, and energy consumption is optimized through dynamic battery management strategies for RPASs. Extensive computational experiments demonstrate that the proposed hybrid truck–RPAS system achieves notable operational improvements compared to traditional truck-only models. The model yields an 8.3% reduction in operational costs, an 8.6% decrease in delivery time, an 11.2% reduction in cumulative risk indices, and a 9.4% decrease in overall battery usage. Convergence analysis and scalability evaluation further confirm the robustness and practical viability of the proposed solution approach. By integrating regulatory compliance, energy sustainability, and operational resilience, this research provides a scalable and adaptable framework for the effective deployment of RPAS technologies in urban logistics systems, addressing key challenges of modern supply chains and supporting future sustainable transportation initiatives.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Environmental science", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 15, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2024-0068" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4387331274", "doi": "10.1002/net.22190", "title": "Last‐mile delivery with drone and lockers", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-10-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Marco Antonio Boschetti", "Stefano Novellani" ], "first_author": "Marco Antonio Boschetti", "venue": "Networks", "publisher": "Wiley", "abstract": "Abstract In this article, we define a new routing problem that arises in the last‐mile delivery of parcels, in which customers can be served either directly at home by a capacitated truck, or possibly with a drone carried on the truck, or in a self‐service mode using one of the available lockers. We investigate four different formulations, and for one of them, we propose a branch‐and‐cut approach. We also discuss some possible variants of the original problem. In the computational experiments, we analyze and compare the performance of the four formulations for the problem and its variants, and we provide some useful managerial insights.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Last mile (transportation)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Service (business)", "Operations research", "Mile", "Computer network", "Mathematics", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 21, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://cris.unibo.it/bitstream/11585/945394/4/TSP_with_Drone_and_Lockers_Final_nonetwroks.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3011794261", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2020.02.030", "title": "Truck-drone team logistics: A heuristic approach to multi-drop route planning", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-03-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Pedro Luis González Rodríguez", "David Canca", "José Luis Andrade-Pineda", "Marcos Calle Suárez", "Jose Miguel Leon-Blanco" ], "first_author": "Pedro Luis González Rodríguez", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Computer science", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Simulated annealing", "Truck", "Heuristic", "Operations research", "Mathematical optimization", "Engineering", "Artificial intelligence", "Algorithm" ], "cited_by_count": 247, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hdl.handle.net/11441/167149" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4289755354", "doi": "10.1016/j.eswa.2022.118351", "title": "Improving the efficiency of last-mile delivery with the flexible drones traveling salesman problem", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-08-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Shih‐Hao Lu", "R.J. Kuo", "Yi-Ting Ho", "Anh-Tu Nguyen" ], "first_author": "Shih‐Hao Lu", "venue": "Expert Systems with Applications", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Travelling salesman problem", "Computer science", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Heuristic", "Real-time computing", "Operations research", "Mile", "Engineering", "Artificial intelligence", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 33, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2022.118351" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2063848026", "doi": "10.1080/014416400295347", "title": "An evaluation methodology for city logistics", "year": 2000, "publication_date": "2000-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Eiichi Taniguchi", "R.E.C.M. van der Heijden" ], "first_author": "Eiichi Taniguchi", "venue": "Transport Reviews", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "This paper presents a methodology for evaluating city logistics initiatives using a dynamic traffic simulation with optimal routing and scheduling. This methodology was applied to a test road network. The performance of three city logistics initiatives, advanced routing and scheduling systems, cooperative freight transport systems and load factor controls were assessed in terms of total costs and CO2 emissions by pickup/delivery trucks operations within the network. Results indicated that these initiatives were not only effective for reducing total costs, but also for CO2 emissions. The methodology presented here allows city planners to quantitatively evaluate city logistics initiatives.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Traffic management", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Operations research", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 219, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/014416400295347" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2620920948", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2017.05.014", "title": "Improving mobility by optimizing the number, location and usage of loading/unloading bays for urban freight vehicles", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-06-02", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "André Romano Alho", "João de Abreu e Silva", "Jorge Pinho de Sousa", "Edgar E. Blanco" ], "first_author": "André Romano Alho", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Externality", "TRIPS architecture", "Truck", "Enforcement", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 109, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2017.05.014" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4413513450", "doi": "10.1016/j.cie.2025.111477", "title": "A literature review of collaborative truck and drone in last-mile delivery", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-08-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Milad Faramarzzadeh", "Şener Akpınar" ], "first_author": "Milad Faramarzzadeh", "venue": "Computers & Industrial Engineering", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Drone", "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Transport engineering", "Geography", "Aerospace engineering", "Geodesy", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 13, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2025.111477" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4406269539", "doi": "10.1016/j.eswa.2025.126434", "title": "A multi-objective approach for the integrated planning of drone and robot assisted truck operations in last-mile delivery", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-10", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ali Mokhtari Moghadam", "Abdellah Salhi", "Xinan Yang", "Trung Thành Nguyễn", "Pourya Pourhejazy" ], "first_author": "Ali Mokhtari Moghadam", "venue": "Expert Systems with Applications", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Supply chains are experiencing a major transition driven by changing customer expectations, environmental concerns, and technological development. Considering the surge in e-commerce since the pandemic, the path forward for affordable, responsive supply chains is autonomous last-mile delivery. Drone and robot technologies complement the last-mile delivery's operational requirements and hence should be incorporated to assist truck deliveries. This study develops a bi-objective optimization framework for the integrated planning of Drone-And-Robot-assisted Truck (DART) delivery operations to minimize total delivery cost and maximize customer satisfaction considering a soft time window. Three models, including DART, drone-, and robot-assisted trucks are compared considering different operational situations. The results show that the DART delivery mode outperforms with an increase in the number of demand points. DART is particularly preferred when there is a moderate combination of high-density and distant demand points in last-mile delivery. Numerical experiments confirmed that the robot-assisted delivery model brings about cost-effectiveness in heavily populated areas. On the other hand, the drone-assisted truck model stands out in situations where there is a small number of demand points with high dispersity.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Robot", "Artificial intelligence", "Automotive engineering", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 22, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2025.126434" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2112039414", "doi": "10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2012.05.008", "title": "Understanding urban freight activity – key issues for freight planning", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-07-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Tom Cherrett", "Julian Allen", "Fraser N. McLeod", "Sarah Maynard", "Adrian J. Hickford", "Mike Browne" ], "first_author": "Tom Cherrett", "venue": "Journal of Transport Geography", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Using information gathered from some 30 UK surveys undertaken over the last decade, this paper provides planners with an understanding of road-based urban retail freight transport activity. The findings suggest that the average High Street business could expect up to 10 core goods and 7.6 service visits per week, in non-peak trading periods.with 25% additional activity during the build up to Christmas. Vans (‘light goods vehicles’) were the dominant mode, responsible for 42% of delivery activity with a mean dwell time of 10 minutes. Where possible, load consolidation should be encouraged by methods such as Delivery and Servicing Plans and using out-of-town freight consolidation centres to bring in goods over the last mile in shared vehicles. Where this is not possible, loading bay monitoring and control, and preferred lorry routes can help manage the movement of vehicles in and out of dense urban areas. Service vehicle activity is a significant contributor to urban freight movements and often requires vehicles to be parked close to the premises being served. Centrally coordinating elements of service provision (e.g. for cleaning, equipment maintenance, recyclate collection), or providing improved, more flexible parking provision for service vehicles could be as or more beneficial in reducing overall freight impacts than focusing on core goods deliveries. In the case of the latter, ‘pay-as-you-leave’ car park charging systems could encourage short-stay service vehicles to park off-street.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Truck", "Consolidation (business)", "Business", "Service (business)", "Traffic management", "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Marketing", "Engineering", "Finance", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 252, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2012.05.008" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2153242269", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.097", "title": "Before-After Assessment of a Logistics Trial with Clean Urban Freight Vehicles: A Case Study in London", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jacques Léonardi", "Michael J. Browne", "Julian Allen" ], "first_author": "Jacques Léonardi", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "The paper addresses the potential role that can be played by clean vehicles especially cycles in conjunction with urban consolidation centres (UCCs) in reducing freight traffic and its environmental impacts in towns and cities. A trial is presented in which a major stationery and office supplies company making deliveries to customers in central London replaced their diesel vans with electrically-assisted tricycles and electric vans operating from a urban micro-consolidation centre located in the delivery area. The results show that the total distance travelled and the CO2e emissions per parcel delivered fell by 14% and 55% respectively as a result of this delivery system. The trial proved successful from the company's perspective in transport, environmental and financial terms and it has therefore decided to officially launch and continue the operation.", "keywords": [ "Consolidation (business)", "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Business", "Engineering", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 91, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812005642/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4390750412", "doi": "10.3390/app14020616", "title": "A New Last Mile Delivery Approach for the Hybrid Truck Multi-Drone Problem Using a Genetic Algorithm", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-11", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ebru Karaköse" ], "first_author": "Ebru Karaköse", "venue": "Applied Sciences", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "In this study, the use of drones in transportation and some optimization studies carried out in the literature so far were examined. Based on these investigations, a genetic algorithm-based method has been proposed to solve the hybrid truck multi-drone problem. With the proposed algorithm, scenarios have been created using single or multiple drones and one truck for a certain number of customers to be delivered, and results have been obtained. In these scenarios, the main aim is to minimize delivery time. The results obtained have also been compared with other optimization algorithms and other results in the literature, and in addition, it has been proven that there is an inverse relationship between the number of drones and the delivery time. As a result of the comparisons, it has been clearly seen that the proposed algorithm is quite successful in finding the most suitable route in the shortest time compared to other studies. A solution has been created for a real-world problem with the proposed genetic algorithm-based algorithm, and it has been concluded that it is quite successful here as well.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Genetic algorithm", "Computer science", "Truck", "Mathematical optimization", "Algorithm", "Engineering", "Mathematics", "Machine learning", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 18, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/2/616/pdf?version=1704970493" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4386501103", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2023.104316", "title": "Centralized supply chain network optimization with UAV-based last mile deliveries", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-09-07", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Gabriella Colajanni", "Patrizia Daniele", "Anna Nagurney" ], "first_author": "Gabriella Colajanni", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper proposes a centralized supply chain network optimization model that maximizes the total profit obtained by a company that produces and/or outsources production, stores, ships and sells products to customers using a fleet made up of trucks and, in the last mile, also of drones. The model includes realistic features of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the form of drones with fundamental limitations such as low battery capacities and short delivery ranges. The constrained nonlinear optimization problem is formulated as a variational inequality. Existence and uniqueness results for the solution of the variational inequality are provided along with the results of detailed numerical simulations that emphasize the advantages of the use of a hybrid fleet from enhanced profits to reduction in air pollution. Our quantitative results reveal great promise and insights for the logistics industry in the use of emerging UAV technologies for last mile parcel deliveries as a practical solution within a holistic supply chain network context.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Drone", "Truck", "Supply chain", "Profit (economics)", "Context (archaeology)", "Supply chain network", "Variational inequality", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Nonlinear programming", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 27, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2023.104316" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4224275013", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejtl.2022.100079", "title": "Design of a two-echelon last-mile delivery model", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Juan C. Pina-Pardo", "Matheo Moreno", "Miguel Barros", "Alexandre Magno de Melo Faria", "Matthias Winkenbach", "Milena Janjevic" ], "first_author": "Juan C. Pina-Pardo", "venue": "EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "Due to high congestion in cities and growing demand for last-mile delivery services, several companies have been implementing two-echelon distribution strategies over the past few years. Notably, the installation of urban transshipment points has gained increasing attention, used by logistics operators to transfer goods from large freight trucks to smaller and more agile vehicles for last-mile delivery. Nevertheless, the main challenge is how to decide the number and location of these facilities under the presence of demand uncertainty. In this paper, we develop a two-stage stochastic program to design two-echelon last-mile delivery networks under demand uncertainty. This approach decomposes the problem into strategic decisions (facility location) and operational decisions (daily distribution of goods). To address large-scale instances, we solve the model through the sample average approximation (SAA) technique and estimate the optimal routing costs (of the SAA counterpart) using a continuous approximation method. Using a real-world case study with more than 1300 customers from New York City, our results provide several managerial insights regarding the mix of transportation modes, facility location, and the impact of allowing the outsourcing of customer demand. We provide extensive validation of the two-stage stochastic program results through a simulation-based approach and the calculation of the value of the stochastic solutions.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Facility location problem", "Last mile (transportation)", "Transshipment (information security)", "Operations research", "Agile software development", "Outsourcing", "Computer science", "Automotive industry", "Sample (material)", "Mile", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 19, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2192437622000073/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1978172395", "doi": "10.3141/1790-06", "title": "Modeling City Logistics", "year": 2002, "publication_date": "2002-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "Eiichi Taniguchi", "venue": "Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board", "publisher": "SAGE Publishing", "abstract": "Urban freight systems are experiencing many problems due to higher levels of service and lower costs being demanded by shippers, with carriers having to operate in increasingly congested road conditions. Trucks operating in urban areas produce many negative impacts for society in terms of emissions, crashes, noise, and vibration. City logistics aims to globally optimize urban freight systems by considering the costs and benefits of schemes to the public as well as the private sector. The concepts of city logistics are introduced, and an outline is presented of some models that have recently been developed to predict the consequences of intelligent transportation systems. In particular, a stochastic vehicle routing and scheduling procedure that incorporates the variation of travel times is described. Results indicate that this approach can lead to significant reduction in operating costs by carriers as well as shorter routes with fewer trucks and increased reliability for customers. This procedure also reduces emissions and fuel consumption.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "City logistics", "Fuel efficiency", "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Reliability (semiconductor)", "Public transport", "Business", "Environmental economics", "Computer science", "Operations research" ], "cited_by_count": 127, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.3141/1790-06" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2050976531", "doi": "10.5198/jtlu.2015.406", "title": "Large urban freight traffic generators: Opportunities for city logistics initiatives", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-02-18", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Miguel Jaller", "Xiaokun Wang", "José Holguín‐Veras" ], "first_author": "Miguel Jaller", "venue": "Journal of Transport and Land Use", "publisher": "University of Minnesota", "abstract": "This paper develops procedures to identify and quantify the role played by large urban freight traffic generators as contributors of truck traffic in metropolitan areas. Although ports, container terminals, and other industrial sites are usually associated with large generations of truck trips, they only represent a small proportion of the total trips produced and attracted in large metropolitan areas. This paper analyzes the importance of other facilities such as ordinary businesses or buildings that individually or collectively (clusters) generate a large proportion of truck traffic. The paper discusses the opportunities of these large traffic generators for city logistics initiatives. In addition, the paper introduces two effective and complementary procedures to identify these generators using freight trip generation models estimated by the authors.", "keywords": [ "Metropolitan area", "Transport engineering", "Truck", "TRIPS architecture", "Trip generation", "City logistics", "Traffic management", "Container (type theory)", "Business", "Engineering", "Geography", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 59, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/download/406/526" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4281255257", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2022.103296", "title": "Truck-based drone delivery system: An economic and environmental assessment", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-05-21", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Andrea Baldisseri", "Chiara Siragusa", "Arianna Seghezzi", "Riccardo Mangiaracina", "Angela Tumino" ], "first_author": "Andrea Baldisseri", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Sustainability", "Greenhouse gas", "Automation", "Environmental economics", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Computer science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 115, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1228778" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4297109112", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2022.103901", "title": "Truck–drone hybrid routing problem with time-dependent road travel time", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-09-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yong Wang", "Zheng Wang", "Xiangpei Hu", "Guiqin Xue", "Xiangyang Guan" ], "first_author": "Yong Wang", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Time travel", "Computer science", "Travel time", "Transport engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Engineering", "Computer network", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 207, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2022.103901" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4399627602", "doi": "10.1016/j.jatrs.2024.100025", "title": "Coordinated last-mile deliveries with trucks and drones: A comparative study of operational modes", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-06-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yida Ding", "Jiaqi Wan", "Lin Qi Wei", "Kai Wang" ], "first_author": "Yida Ding", "venue": "Journal of the Air Transport Research Society", "publisher": null, "abstract": "Throughout the recent decade, drone delivery technology has been developed to address problems such as last-mile delivery and recurrent traffic jams in metropolitan regions. To resolve the relatively short travel range and limited capacity issues of drones, researchers have proposed to further enhance the utility of drones by deploying them with ground vehicles (e.g., trucks) in tandem. This new concept leads to a new transportation planning problem, i.e., coordinated delivery of trucks and drones (CDTD). In this paper, we conduct a comparative study of three representative operational models: the flying sidekick traveling salesman problem (FSTSP), the traveling salesman problem with drone (TSP-D), and the parallel drone scheduling traveling salesman problem (PDSTSP). Metrics including delivery efficiency and vehicle utilization rate are evaluated for the three models under various scenarios, to extract insights on which operational model is advantageous for which scenario. We also benchmark the algorithms for CDTD by various metrics including result quality, runtime and scalability, and conduct sensitivity analysis to assess the performance of the system under various system parameters, including drone speed, drone range and customer geographic distribution. Finally, a case study is conducted to demonstrate the superior performance of CDTD model as compared to classical TSP model based on real-world data. Experimental results demonstrate that the FSTSP and TSP-D highlight superior performance over PDSTSP and truck-only TSP when the majority of customers are out of the flight range of drone and the customer demand is clustered, as a result of the synchronization and compensation for limitations between the two types of vehicles.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Travelling salesman problem", "Truck", "Computer science", "Scalability", "Operations research", "Range (aeronautics)", "Transport engineering", "Real-time computing", "Engineering", "Aerospace engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 12, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jatrs.2024.100025" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4311598161", "doi": "10.3390/s22249858", "title": "Analysis of Modern vs. Conventional Development Technologies in Transportation—The Case Study of a Last-Mile Delivery Process", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-12-15", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mariusz Kostrzewski", "Yahya Abdelatty", "Ahmed Eliwa", "M. Nader" ], "first_author": "Mariusz Kostrzewski", "venue": "Sensors", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Transportation plays a significant role in the global economy and society and takes part in a lot of different processes such as mass transportation and the supply chain. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce modern technologies in this area of the economy in the context of Industry 4.0. The main scope of this study is to develop a model that supports analyzing last-mile logistics modern solutions using the latest technologies such as road autonomous delivery robots (RADRs), civil drones, or smart bikes, and compare them to conventional solutions (delivery vehicles). Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was applied to build a formal comparison model that scores the solutions and weights different criteria according to decision-makers and placeholders, to rank the solutions from the most crucial option to the weakest in a predetermined scenario with set parameters and conditions (three varied scenarios were included in the present investigation). The results of the model were in favor of using civil drones or smart bicycles to perform light deliveries in small urban areas (these key findings support the assumptions that are often manifested in speech in the context of the use of new technologies). The modern solutions scored almost 40-80% higher in total in the conglomeration of assessment criteria (such as safety, economy, laws and regulations, operation time for the delivery, environment, and payload) than the conventional solution, which indicates the importance of studying the implementation of such technologies. An interesting result of the study is the operational cost reduction by ca. 60-74% in favor of autonomous delivery robots, 89-93% in favor of civil delivery drones, and 87-90% in favor of smart bikes vs. conventional delivery trucks/vans. Yet, it should be underlined that the results may vary with different assumptions within the MCDA method.", "keywords": [ "Context (archaeology)", "Scope (computer science)", "Multiple-criteria decision analysis", "Payload (computing)", "Process (computing)", "Drone", "Computer science", "Last mile (transportation)", "Supply chain", "Emerging technologies", "Risk analysis (engineering)", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 33, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/24/9858/pdf?version=1671087119" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4401011187", "doi": "10.1007/s10479-024-06164-5", "title": "Optimizing last-mile delivery services: a robust truck-drone cooperation model and hybrid metaheuristic algorithm", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-07-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Seyed Mohammad Javad Mirzapour Al-e-Hashem", "Taha‐Hossein Hejazi", "Ghazal Haghverdizadeh", "Mohsen Shidpour" ], "first_author": "Seyed Mohammad Javad Mirzapour Al-e-Hashem", "venue": "Annals of Operations Research", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Metaheuristic", "Genetic algorithm", "Last mile (transportation)", "Theory of computation", "Hybrid algorithm (constraint satisfaction)", "Service (business)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Operations research", "Mathematical optimization" ], "cited_by_count": 16, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-024-06164-5" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4366308858", "doi": "10.1109/tits.2023.3266460", "title": "A-VRPD: Automating Drone-Based Last-Mile Delivery Using Self-Driving Cars", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-04-18", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Navid Mohammad Imran", "Sabyasachee Mishra", "Myounggyu Won" ], "first_author": "Navid Mohammad Imran", "venue": "IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems", "publisher": "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", "abstract": "Drone-based last-mile delivery is an emerging technology that uses drones loaded onto a truck to deliver parcels to customers. In this paper, we introduce a fully automated system for drone-based last-mile delivery through incorporation of autonomous vehicles (AVs). A novel problem called the autonomous vehicle routing problem with drones (A-VRPD) is defined. A-VRPD is to select AVs from a pool of available AVs based on crowd sourcing, assign selected AVs to customer groups, and schedule routes for selected AVs to optimize the total operational cost. We formulate A-VRPD as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) and propose an optimization framework to solve the problem. A greedy algorithm is also developed to significantly improve the running time for large-scale delivery scenarios. Extensive simulations were conducted taking into account real-world operational costs for different types of AVs, traveled distances calculated considering the real-time traffic conditions using Google Map API, and varying load capacities of AVs. We evaluated the performance in comparison with two different state-of-the-art solutions: an algorithm designed to address the traditional vehicle routing problem with drones (VRP-D), which involves human-operated trucks working in tandem with drones to deliver parcels, and an algorithm for the two echelon vehicle routing problem (2E-VRP), wherein parcels are first transported to satellite locations and subsequently delivered from those satellites to the customers. The results indicate a substantial increase in profits for both the delivery company and vehicle owners compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Vehicle routing problem", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Schedule", "Real-time computing", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Integer programming", "Linear programming", "Mile", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 26, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/tits.2023.3266460" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3083475893", "doi": "10.1007/s11116-020-10134-8", "title": "Transport carriers’ cooperation on the last-mile delivery in urban areas", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-09-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Julio Montecinos", "Mustapha Ouhimmou", "Satyaveer S. Chauhan", "Marc Paquet", "Ali Gharbi" ], "first_author": "Julio Montecinos", "venue": "Transportation", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Matching (statistics)", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Mile", "City logistics", "Operations research", "Travel time", "Pickup", "Variable (mathematics)", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 18, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-020-10134-8" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4403023691", "doi": "10.1109/icscc62041.2024.10690633", "title": "Smart Last-Mile Delivery with IoT-Connected Robot Vehicles", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-07-25", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "M. Sujatha", "Rajesh Kambattan Kovarasan", "K. Swapna Sudha", "Nilamadhab Mishra", "Gomathi Thiyagarajan", "C. Srinivasan" ], "first_author": "M. Sujatha", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This research discusses using IoT technologies with robot vehicles to improve last-mile deliveries. This novel method optimizes the last stage of the distribution chain, which sometimes presents logistical issues. The system examines robot vehicles' last-mile delivery monitoring, data collecting, and communication capabilities via an Internet of Things connection. These trucks collect and communicate traffic, packaging, and environmental data using sensors and communication equipment. Analyzing and processing this data improves route planning, delivery timing, and performance. Through the IoT, autonomous delivery trucks, a centralized control center, and other components of the delivery ecosystem could operate in combination. This collaborative network helps respond to changing situations such as highway congestion and package urgency by rerouting or raising delivery priority. The potential for delivery trucks to improve productivity, intelligence, and focus on the customer in the last mile of a package's journey. The IoT-driven solutions may be highlighted as major results, advantages, and implications for the logistics sector, addressing urbanization, consumer demands, and environmental concerns in modern delivery systems.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Internet of Things", "Computer science", "Robot", "Mobile robot", "Embedded system", "Computer security", "Artificial intelligence", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 18, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/icscc62041.2024.10690633" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4401883333", "doi": "10.1080/23249935.2024.2392611", "title": "Joint optimization of truck-drone routing for last-mile deliveries in urban areas", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-08-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Meiqi Liu", "Yalan Li", "Xinwei Wang" ], "first_author": "Meiqi Liu", "venue": "Transportmetrica A Transport Science", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "This paper presents a joint routing optimization model to satisfy the on-demand customer requirements by minimising the transportation and time penalty costs of trucks and drones, considering the constraints on paths and delivery time of trucks and drones, the drone battery capacity limit, and the customer demands. The improved genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the optimization model followed by the computational experiments demonstrating the superiority of the improved genetic algorithm over the original genetic algorithm in computational efficiency, economy, and punctuality. Further, the comparative analysis demonstrates that the multi-drone joint delivery mode considering the customer demands performs better than the other delivery modes and that the delivery routes can be re-optimised promptly to satisfy the real-time customer demands. The sensitivity analysis on the drone design parameters provides theoretical insights into deploying the size and speed of drone platoons when promoting truck-drone joint delivery in applications.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Drone", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Joint (building)", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 11, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/23249935.2024.2392611" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4312204563", "doi": "10.1016/j.cor.2022.106123", "title": "Optimization of two-echelon last-mile delivery via cargo tunnel and a delivery person", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-12-21", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Nils Boysen", "Dirk Briskorn", "Johannes Rupp" ], "first_author": "Nils Boysen", "venue": "Computers & Operations Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "More and more people live in urban areas in general and in “megacities”, with 10 million inhabitants and more, in particular. One innovative instrument to reduce surface traffic and its negative impact on health, congestion, environment, and safety when supplying these urban inhabitants with goods is a cargo tunnel. Within the cargo tunnel concept, autonomous rail-bound, maglev, or automated guided vehicles deliver goods underground toward small inner-city hubs, from where the final leg toward customer homes can be executed with environmentally-friendly vehicles such as cargo bikes or electric vans. In addition to the huge investment costs for tunnel boring, this last-mile delivery option faces a challenging operational problem, which is the synchronization of goods arrivals at a capacity-restricted inner-city hub with the delivery tours. We formulate a basic two-echelon optimization problem that captures all main operational challenges of this synchronization task, derive suitable optimization procedures, and apply them in a computational study. The latter explores the interdependence between tunnel throughput, storage capacity at the hub, and vehicle capacity of the delivery person and their impact on delivery performance. An additional benchmark test with conventional truck-based deliveries shows that the reductions of carbon dioxide emissions promised by a cargo tunnel come for the price of excessive cargo bike traffic, especially if large urban regions are to be serviced from a micro hub.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Traffic congestion", "Mile", "Business", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 25, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2022.106123" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4387016402", "doi": "10.1287/msom.2022.0211", "title": "The Driver-Aide Problem: Coordinated Logistics for Last-Mile Delivery", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-09-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Siranjeevi Srinivasa Raghavan", "Rui Zhang" ], "first_author": "Siranjeevi Srinivasa Raghavan", "venue": "Manufacturing & Service Operations Management", "publisher": "Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences", "abstract": "Problem definition: Last-mile delivery is a critical component of logistics networks, accounting for approximately 30%–35% of costs. As delivery volumes have increased, truck route times have become unsustainably long. To address this issue, many logistics companies, including FedEx and UPS, have resorted to using a “driver aide” to assist with deliveries. The aide can assist the driver in two ways. As a “jumper,” the aide works with the driver in preparing and delivering packages, thus reducing the service time at a given stop. As a “helper,” the aide can independently work at a location delivering packages, and the driver can leave to deliver packages at other locations and then return. Given a set of delivery locations, travel times, service times, jumper’s savings, and helper’s service times, the goal is to determine both the delivery route and the most effective way to use the aide (e.g., sometimes as a jumper and sometimes as a helper) to minimize the total routing time. Methodology/results: We model this problem as an integer program with an exponential number of variables and an exponential number of constraints and propose a branch-cut-and-price approach for solving it. Our computational experiments are based on simulated instances built on real-world data provided by an industrial partner and a data set released by Amazon. The instances based on the Amazon data set show that this novel operation can lead to, on average, a 35.8% reduction in routing time and 22.0% in cost savings. More importantly, our results characterize the conditions under which this novel operation mode can lead to significant savings in terms of both the routing time and cost. Managerial implications: Our computational results show that the driver aide with both jumper and helper modes is most effective when there are denser service regions and when the truck’s speed is higher (≥10 miles per hour). Coupled with an economic analysis, we come up with rules of thumb (that have close to 100% accuracy) to predict whether to use the aide and in which mode. Empirically, we find that the service delivery routes with greater than 50% of the time devoted to delivery (as opposed to driving) are the ones that provide the greatest benefit. These routes are characterized by a high density of delivery locations. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0211 .", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Jumper", "Computer science", "Truck", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Operations research", "Set (abstract data type)", "Service (business)", "Work (physics)", "Mile", "Operations management", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 18, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0211" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2014262951", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1451", "title": "Recent Trends and Innovations in Modelling City Logistics", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-03-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Russell George Thompson", "Tadashi Yamada" ], "first_author": "Eiichi Taniguchi", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "There are many challenges associated with moving goods within cities as urban areas become larger and elderly residents require more healthcare in their homes. Air quality is also impacted by urban freight vehicles. This paper presents a review of recent trends and innovations in modelling city logistics. New techniques for modelling city logistics developed in the areas of emissions, healthcare and mega-cities are outlined. This paper describes the formulation, solution methodologies and applications of these models.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Quality (philosophy)", "Megacity", "Health care", "Environmental planning", "Regional science", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Geography", "Economic growth" ], "cited_by_count": 155, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281401489X/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412784404", "doi": "10.1177/03611981251342249", "title": "Optimal Routing Strategies for Last-Mile Delivery with a Fleet of a Single Truck and Multiple Heterogeneous Robots", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-07-31", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yuseon Yun", "Hyeong Suk Na", "Sang Jin Kweon" ], "first_author": "Yuseon Yun", "venue": "Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board", "publisher": "SAGE Publishing", "abstract": "To resolve challenges arising from traditional truck-based delivery systems, the integration of autonomous robots into last-mile delivery operations has recently received attention as a promising solution. This study addresses a hybrid truck-robots last-mile delivery system that encompasses both homogeneous and heterogeneous robots. To discuss battery management strategies for robots returning after rendezvousing with a truck, we propose mixed-integer linear programming models offering two options: battery recharging and battery swapping. We explore optimal solutions for truck and robot routes, as well as various robot combinations aimed at minimizing total delivery time. Additionally, we present a three-phased iterative heuristic algorithm designed to effectively solve large-sized problems. The proposed models are validated with application to Southern District, Ulsan, in the Republic of Korea, and Rapid City, South Dakota, in the U.S., serving as examples of urban and rural areas, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that the proposed truck-robots system, particularly with the battery-swapping option, can achieve up to a 50% reduction in total delivery time compared with traditional truck-only delivery systems, applicable to both urban and rural areas. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of long driving range for the robots in urban areas for enhancing delivery system performance. We also conduct a sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of the following factors on delivery system performance: customer node size, robot speed, number of robots, and various robot ratios. This study helps fill the gap in the literature concerning hybrid truck-robot delivery systems, with implications for improving delivery efficiency and reducing total delivery time in urban areas.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Robot", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Computer network", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 13, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981251342249" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2895688655", "doi": "10.7922/g2jm27tw", "title": "Evaluating the Use of Zero-Emission Vehicles in Last Mile Deliveries", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Miguel Jaller" ], "first_author": "Miguel Jaller", "venue": "eScholarship (California Digital Library)", "publisher": "California Digital Library", "abstract": "While trucks may only represent a small share of the traffic in urban areas, they generate more than half of overall emissions for specific contaminants (Jaller et al., 2016). One of the approaches to contend with such issues is to promote the use of new technologies and alternative fuel pathways. This work conducts an empirical assessment of the economic and driving patterns of trucks used for last mile delivery given the increase in these vehicles serving even more densely populated areas (compared to the long-haul transport). The work concentrates on parcel deliveries, as they are typically used to transport the goods resulting from the rapidly growing e-commerce demand. The authors evaluate the performance by analyzing real driving data from parcel fleets (Walkowicz et al., 2014; Jaller et al., 2017a), and use the data to conduct life-cycle assessments (LCA) to estimate the various impacts. The contributions of the work are: 1) comparison analyses between parcel delivery driving data with other delivery vocations to identify different freight patterns. The analyses show the differences and similarities between the driving patterns when using different drivetrains for a number of parcel delivery vocations. 2) Estimation of delivery tour length distributions (TLDs), and specific fuel consumption (SFC) for different drivetrains and vehicle classes. And, 3) estimate the total cost of ownership (TCO), including externalities, of different truck technologies under numerous scenarios that assume changes in fuel efficiency and incentives of certain drivetrains. Additional sensitivity analyses are conducted to identify the key parameters that affect the TCO. Among these, the analyses show the efficiency of purchase and use incentives for these technologies. The results can be extrapolated to a system-wide scope for similar vocations with common operational variables and explore the benefits and costs of transitioning to zero-emission technologies.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Drivetrain", "Transport engineering", "Fuel efficiency", "Mile", "Work (physics)", "Incentive", "Last mile (transportation)", "Vehicle miles of travel", "Business", "Environmental economics", "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 17, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kr753nm" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2903809262", "doi": "10.1109/tits.2018.2880949", "title": "Monitoring Urban-Freight Transport Based on GPS Trajectories of Heavy-Goods Vehicles", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-12-14", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Sheida Hadavi", "Sara Verlinde", "Wouter Verbeke", "Cathy Macharis", "Tias Guns" ], "first_author": "Sheida Hadavi", "venue": "IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems", "publisher": "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", "abstract": "For designing transport policy measures, it is crucial to base decisions on evidence-based insights regarding transport flows and behavior. This paper introduces practical indicators for urban transport, which can be derived from large collections of GPS trajectories of heavy-goods vehicles. The indicators framework enables cities, municipalities, and regions to gain insights into the urban transport activities in their region. We motivate our indicators based on the objectives and action plans described in the strategic plan for goods traffic of the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium. We provide a case study on data collected from the on-board units of heavy-goods vehicles, which became mandatory in Belgium as part of its dynamic road-pricing scheme in 2016. This paper contributes to the exciting new capabilities that are obtained through GPS trajectories data and the possibilities this offers for smart cities at the tactical, operational, and strategic level.", "keywords": [ "Global Positioning System", "Transport engineering", "Plan (archaeology)", "Action plan", "Business", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Geography", "Telecommunications", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 41, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/tits.2018.2880949" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3135672429", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2021.102742", "title": "Heavy-duty trucks: The challenge of getting to zero", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-03-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Geneviève Giuliano", "Maged M. Dessouky", "Sue Dexter", "Jiawen Fang", "Shichun Hu", "Marshall Miller" ], "first_author": "Geneviève Giuliano", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Greenhouse gas", "Heavy duty", "Investment (military)", "Zero emission", "Subsidy", "Fuel efficiency", "Consumption (sociology)", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Environmental economics", "Natural resource economics" ], "cited_by_count": 118, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.102742" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4280613879", "doi": "10.3390/su14105753", "title": "A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Model to Evaluate Logistics Service Expectations and Delivery Methods in Last-Mile Delivery in Brazil", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-05-10", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Fernanda Alves de Araújo", "João Gilberto Mendes dos Reis", "Márcia Terra da Silva", "Emel Aktaş" ], "first_author": "Fernanda Alves de Araújo", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Nowadays, postal services and third-party logistics services (3PL) have been pressured by the increasing demand for delivery services. Therefore, they need to improve their last-mile delivery strategies to meet customers’ expectations. This paper aims to investigate how logistics service expectations affect the delivery process in urban areas using a multiple-criteria decision support system based on the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). We developed a decision-making model employing six criteria and five delivery methods indicated in the literature and collected information from 27 experts working in academia and local and multinational third-party logistics providers in Brazil to validate this model. The results indicate that cost (21.4%) and tracking and tracing (19.3%) are the most important two criteria in the decision model, and the best delivery methods are smart lockers (21.8%) followed by small trucks (21.3%). Our results suggest that service expectations regarding last-mile delivery are aligned with extensive use of road transport and the increase in e-commerce sales can raise greenhouse gas emissions and compromise the environment in urban areas.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Analytic hierarchy process", "Service delivery framework", "Business", "Purchasing", "Service (business)", "Delivery Performance", "Service provider", "Computer science", "Process (computing)", "Operations research", "Environmental economics" ], "cited_by_count": 30, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/5753/pdf?version=1652173935" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2406405144", "doi": "10.1080/23249935.2016.1189723", "title": "Inverse vehicle routing for activity-based urban freight forecast modeling and city logistics", "year": 2016, "publication_date": "2016-05-17", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Soyoung Iris You", "Joseph Y.J. Chow", "Stephen G. Ritchie" ], "first_author": "Soyoung Iris You", "venue": "Transportmetrica A Transport Science", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "Goods movement is one of the fastest growing transportation sectors, affecting both economic and environmental sustainability, particularly in dense urban areas with traffic congestion and air pollution. To meet this challenge, urban public agencies have paid attention to policies and systems to facilitate efficient and sustainable city logistics. This paper proposes a modeling framework to consider both spatial–temporal constraints and a means to calibrate the model from observable data, based on an adaptation of an activity-based passenger model called the household activity pattern problem. Conceptual comparisons with a state-of-the-art freight forecasting methodology are made using an example. Application of the model is illustrated through formulating and implementing a Sequential Selective Vehicle Routing Problem associated with drayage truck activities at the San Pedro Bay Ports in Southern California.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Traffic congestion", "Sustainability", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Traffic management", "Vehicle routing problem", "City logistics", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Business", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 57, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/23249935.2016.1189723" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1977319619", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2015.03.005", "title": "The flying sidekick traveling salesman problem: Optimization of drone-assisted parcel delivery", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-03-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Chase C. Murray", "Amanda Chu" ], "first_author": "Chase C. Murray", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Heuristics", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Travelling salesman problem", "Vehicle routing problem", "Operations research", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Engineering", "Operations management" ], "cited_by_count": 1726, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2015.03.005" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4306632378", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejor.2022.10.015", "title": "Drone location and vehicle fleet planning with trucks and aerial drones", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-10-17", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Alexander Rave", "Pirmin Fontaine", "Heinrich C. Kuhn" ], "first_author": "Alexander Rave", "venue": "European Journal of Operational Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Payload (computing)", "Context (archaeology)", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Computer security", "Geography", "Network packet", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 113, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2022.10.015" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4321506317", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2023.02.253", "title": "Analysis of Service Efficiency of Parcel Locker in Last-mile Delivery: A Case Study in Norway", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Bo Ya Dong", "Inger Beate Hovi", "Daniel Ruben Pinchasik" ], "first_author": "Bo Ya Dong", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "The rapid growth of e-commerce is challenging last-mile parcel delivery services. Traditionally, parcel delivery is done using vans which deliver individual parcels to customers’ home (“home deliveries”) or by trucks to collection points, often situated in grocery stores. An alternative last-mile delivery solution is to deliver parcels to lockers where customers can pick them up. “Home deliveries” are known to be an expensive part of the supply chain, and cost and service efficiency vary with (uncertainty about) customers being present at home. Stores have their opening times, while parcel lockers can provide 24/7 access and also have higher potential to achieve a more economic and environmental sustainable solution, compared to home deliveries. This paper evaluates the cost and emissions implications of alternative solutions for last-mile delivery. A case study proposes and analyzes alternative expansion plans for a parcel locker distribution network in Norway. Results indicate that using parcel lockers is beneficial and the usage of more parcel locker delivery can improve service efficiency in last-mile delivery as it creates both the economic and environmental savings compared to home deliveries. An extended parcel locker network seems to be able to provide the optimal future delivery model that can operate more cost-efficiently and more sustainably than the delivery model under the current situation.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Food delivery", "Service (business)", "Mile", "Sustainability", "Service delivery framework", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Operations management", "Engineering", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 20, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2023.02.253" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4293499165", "doi": "10.1109/access.2022.3202895", "title": "Hybrid Truck-Drone Delivery Systems: A Systematic Literature Review", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-01-01", "type": "review", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Batool Madani", "Malick Ndiaye" ], "first_author": "Batool Madani", "venue": "IEEE Access", "publisher": "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", "abstract": "Owing to the continued development of e-commerce, logisticians now have an outstanding obligation to tackle last-mile delivery challenges. A number of logistics providers have suggested the incorporation of drones with trucks to provide a more flexible delivery system. This paper analyzes the content of 95 publications related to hybrid truck-drone delivery systems (HTDDS) in the context of last-mile delivery. First, a brief overview of the potential implementation of drone delivery systems is presented, including their integration with other vehicles. The overview aims to demonstrate the operational characteristics of such systems and their implications. Then, the surveyed literature is classified based on vehicles roles, system configuration, problem formulation, and solution methods. In relation to this research, several key findings and potential research directions are discussed. Despite the high level of interest in HTDDS research, it is still in its early phases and requires improvements in various areas. The payload capacity, speed, range, and energy consumption are all factors that must be considered in the modeling of drone characteristics. Almost all studies identify customer requests before the delivery operation begins. However, customer demands for immediate delivery present an opportunity for real-time optimization to provide solutions for e-commerce activities. Environmental issues are developing, as the last-mile delivery problem is regarded as the most polluting portion of the supply chain. Thus, more consideration should be given to the environmental impact of HTDDS. Finally, research on drone routing related to air traffic management has received relatively little attention.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Computer science", "Truck", "Engineering", "Aerospace engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 89, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/6287639/6514899/09869811.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W582118599", "doi": null, "title": "Innovations in City Logistics", "year": 2008, "publication_date": "2008-12-30", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "E Taniguchi", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "E Taniguchi", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Preface Modelling the behavior of stakeholders in city logistics City access restrictions and the implications for goods deliveries City logistics over the years -- Lessons learned, research directions and interests An investigation into the attitudinal factors determining participation in cooperative multi-carrier delivery initiatives Economy of scale and the role of publicly available congestion information for the local delivery industry: an agent-based simulation approach The potential use of urban consolidation centres in the hotel industry in London Revival of cost benefit analysis for evaluating the city distribution center concept? 8 Sustainable goods supply and transport in conurbations: Freight patterns and developments in Switzerland Challenging the traditional scope of solving vehicle routing and scheduling A hybrid genetic algorithm for VRPSTW using column generation Provision of real-time traffic information for VRPTW model A macroscopic traffic simulator for evaluating urban transport measures for heavy vehicles Urban freight policy-oriented modelling in Europe Melbourne freight movement model Modeling logistics location choice and truck route choice behavior by Tokyo metropolitan region freight survey A hybrid microsimulation model of freight flows An investigation into the delivery of goods to the city centre of Liege Typology of efforts by Japanese companies to address logistics-related environmental issues Policy making in Germany -- Integrated commercial traffic concept of Berlin An evaluation of recent pick-up point experiments in European cities: The rise of two competing models? Reserved areas for logistics activities in the metropolitan zone of Mexico city Customized policies for sustainable urban distribution Metropolitan freight distribution by railways A practical approach to solving the just in time periodic transportation problem Quantifying the effects of community level regulation on city logistics Urban freight transport and logistics: Retailers choices Studying distribution in Tokyo metropolitan region using a local freight survey An analysis on bottlenecks for domestic vehicular transportation of international maritime container cargos in Japanese hinterland Citylog(c), a software tool for city logistics operation: Testing and validation activities Supply-chain logistics for retailing, from the standpoint of resource productivity: Researching a comprehensive evaluation method Light freight transport in urban areas Elements for a master plan in urban logistics New trends on distribution in the metropolitan zone of Mexico city A centre for eco-friendly city freight distribution: Urban logistics innovation in a mid-size historical city in Italy The conditions of modal shift in dense urban areas A case study of urban freight in Mexico A probabilistic bi-level optimization approach to highway infrastructure maintenance in urban areas Index.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Metropolitan area", "Traffic management", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Microsimulation", "Scope (computer science)", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Supply chain", "Regional science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 88, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:443/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=016956363&sequence=000002&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4410445584", "doi": "10.3390/electronics14102026", "title": "Machine Learning-Driven Truck–Drone Collaborative Delivery for Time- and Energy-Efficient Last-Mile Deliveries", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-05-16", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Didem Cicek", "Murat Şimşek", "Burak Kantarcı" ], "first_author": "Didem Cicek", "venue": "Electronics", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Truck–drone collaboration in urban last-mile deliveries offers an innovative solution to address inefficiencies in modern supply chain networks. This work leverages real drone flight data to train a machine learning-based drone energy model that accurately estimates the time and energy consumption of drones to support resource-related decisions. An AI engine is proposed that integrates the drone energy model with a self-organizing feature map algorithm, ensuring continuous drone operation without reliance on charging infrastructure. A total of 93 comprehensive scenario-based simulations over 1 week of delivery data in MATLAB offers actionable insights into resource allocation, demonstrating that deploying three drones at five truck stops results in the most energy-efficient delivery scenario, reducing energy consumption by 36% compared to the least efficient outcome, in which a single drone is deployed at four stops. The holistic and data-driven approach to truck-drone collaboration presented in this work has the potential to bridge the gap between theoretical models and real-world applications.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Simulation", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 11, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/14/10/2026/pdf?version=1747384676" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2749368853", "doi": "10.3390/su9081453", "title": "Multi-Criteria Analysis of Electric Vans for City Logistics", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-08-17", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jarosław Wątróbski", "Krzysztof Małecki", "Kinga Kijewska", "Stanisław Iwan", "Artur Karczmarczyk", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "Jarosław Wątróbski", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Atmospheric emissions of anthropogenic origin are one of the most important problems in cities. A particularly discrete ecological footprint in urban environment is made by urban freight transport. This problem has become the key challenge for all stakeholder groups involved in freight transport in urban areas. Over the recent years, there has been a growing interest in using alternative fuel vehicles in urban logistics, including those equipped with electric drive systems. This paper presents a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) of selected electric vehicles (EVs) in the context of their application for the purposes of deliveries in cities. In methodological terms, we present a unique MCA-based approach for evaluation of Electric Freight Vehicles (EFVs). A successful attempt is made to build a multistep MCA procedure based on two carefully selected MCDA methods (PROMETHEE II and fuzzy TOPSIS) to handle both certain and uncertain data sets in a single decision process. In practical terms, we successfully demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach by creating a set of decision maker’s preference models (based on certain and uncertain data) of carefully selected EFVs and provide sensitivity and robustness analyses of the obtained solutions.", "keywords": [ "Multiple-criteria decision analysis", "City logistics", "Computer science", "Robustness (evolution)", "TOPSIS", "Context (archaeology)", "Transport engineering", "Process (computing)", "Operations research", "Stakeholder", "Decision maker", "Environmental economics" ], "cited_by_count": 131, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1453/pdf?version=1503393207" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412935324", "doi": "10.1016/j.sftr.2025.101089", "title": "Optimizing energy and CO2 efficiency in last-mile delivery using hybrid fleet models", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-08-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Armin Mahmoodi", "Leila Hashemi", "Jeremy F. Laliberté", "Seyed Mojtaba Sajadi" ], "first_author": "Armin Mahmoodi", "venue": "Sustainable Futures", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Effective urban delivery systems demand innovative approaches to reduce energy use and lower CO 2 . This study compares the environmental performance of hybrid and diesel trucks with quadcopter and fixed-wing remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), employing a multi-objective optimization approach non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) to identify optimal delivery routes balancing operational efficiency and sustainability. Given that existing solutions like e-bikes or electric vans may not be feasible everywhere, this research evaluates different vehicle types under various urban delivery scenarios. Using a synthetic dataset that simulates realistic conditions, the findings reveal that fixed-wing RPAS excel in long-range efficiency, while quadcopters perform better in short-range deliveries. Hybrid trucks are advantageous for larger loads, reducing emissions compared to diesel trucks. The results highlight key trade-offs in energy use and emissions, advocating for a mixed-fleet strategy tailored to specific logistics needs. This study provides actionable insights for sustainable urban freight planning and policymaking.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Environmental science", "Computer science", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 16, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2025.101089" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4391258698", "doi": "10.3390/su16031060", "title": "Integrating Cargo Bikes and Drones into Last-Mile Deliveries: Insights from Pilot Deliveries in Five Greek Cities", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Κωνσταντίνος Αθανασόπουλος", "Ioannis Chatziioannou", "A.-M. Boutsi", "Georgios Tsingenopoulos", "Sofia Soile", "Regina Chliverou", "Zoe Petrakou", "Efstathios Papanikolaou", "Christos Karolemeas", "Efthymia Kourmpa", "Kalliοpi Papadaki", "Eleftheria Tzika", "Charalabos Ioannidis", "Chryssy Potsiou", "Thanos Vlastos" ], "first_author": "Κωνσταντίνος Αθανασόπουλος", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Currently, there is a growing consensus that the use of more sustainable urban freight transportation has the potential to offer major energy and efficiency benefits which can be achieved through the appropriate combination of cargo bikes and the integration of drones into the urban logistics system. This study presents the results of a stepwise regression analysis that examines the role, benefits, and impact of electric vehicles such as e-bikes, cargo bikes, and drones for intermodal freight transportation in five Greek cities to support the green logistics paradigm. The results show that between routes of almost equal length, the most bicycle-friendly routes, such as routes along pedestrian areas or residential streets, should be avoided, as they reduce delivery speed and increase delivery costs in terms of energy and time expenditure. In addition, priority roads, which usually have higher traffic speeds and more trucks, are preferred by cyclists due to the quality of the road surface, even though the feeling of safety is lower on such roads. Finally, regarding drones, energy consumption is relatively low in the 0–5 mph and 6–10 mph wind speed ranges, indicating efficient energy use. In the 11–15 mph and 16–20 mph wind speed ranges, energy efficiency is significantly lower than the battery capacity, indicating that the cargo drone exhibits excessive energy consumption under these conditions.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Drone", "Last mile (transportation)", "Aeronautics", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Geography", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Agricultural economics", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 21, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1060/pdf?version=1706241861" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1998501276", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2013.12.014", "title": "Urban freight demand forecasting: A mixed quantity/delivery/vehicle-based model", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-01-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Agostino Nuzzolo", "Antonio Comi" ], "first_author": "Agostino Nuzzolo", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "City logistics", "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Computer science", "Sustainability", "Scale (ratio)", "Operations research", "Order (exchange)", "Service (business)", "Sustainable transport", "Discrete choice" ], "cited_by_count": 144, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2013.12.014" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2945640949", "doi": "10.1016/j.procs.2019.04.115", "title": "How Driving Multiple Tours Affects the Results of Last Mile Delivery Vehicle Routing Problems", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kai Martins-Turner", "Kai Nagel" ], "first_author": "Kai Martins-Turner", "venue": "Procedia Computer Science", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Solving Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs) is one very important step for modeling and simulating urban freight transportation and especially urban last-mile delivery. It is observed in several studies, that tour plans consist of a very high number of vehicles needed because vehicles only drive one tour. For the next tour, a new vehicle with new fixed costs is needed. This also starts in the beginning of its temporal availability. This article intends to answer the question: how tour plan and fleet size changes when vehicles can reload at the depot and run another tour within its temporal availability. The possible effects are shown in two studies for Berlin: (i) food retailing delivery and (ii) parcel delivery for one district of Berlin. The studies have different designs and policy cases to see the effects under different situations. The present research shows that reloading within the delivery tour leads to a significant reduction of vehicles needed and therefore to lower costs for the carrier. If one tour is not limited by the vehicle’s capacity but by the vehicle’s temporal availability no saving can be observed. This was the case for parcel delivery with light parcel delivery trucks. When using smaller vehicles, e.g. cargo bicycles for last mile delivery from local city hubs, vehicle capacity is the limiting factor and therefore also significant saving can be observed. As another consequence it is possible to get rid of artificially inserted breaks in time-windows for more realistic traffic. The article also critically addresses the problem of increasing computation time.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Vehicle routing problem", "Transport engineering", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Mile", "Plan (archaeology)", "Limiting", "Food delivery", "Operations research", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 18, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050919305794/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4400346561", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2024.104306", "title": "Exploring noise reduction strategies: Optimizing drone station placement for last-mile delivery", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-07-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Qichen Tan", "Jiafan Hou", "Yuhong Li", "Renhao Qu", "Peng Zhan Zhou", "Siyang Zhong", "Hong Kam Lo", "Xin Zhang" ], "first_author": "Qichen Tan", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Noise reduction", "Reduction (mathematics)", "Computer science", "Noise (video)", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Marine engineering", "Telecommunications", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 17, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2024.104306" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2073621157", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.04.014", "title": "Evaluating city logistics measures using a multi-agent model", "year": 2010, "publication_date": "2010-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Dai Tamagawa", "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Tadashi Yamada" ], "first_author": "Dai Tamagawa", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper presents a methodology for evaluating city logistics measures considering the behaviour of several stakeholders associated with urban freight transport using a multi-agent model. The model constructed consists of a learning model and a model for vehicle routing and scheduling problem with time window-forecasted (VRP-TW-F). We used a method of Q-learning, a technique of reinforcement learning, in constructing a learning model. We implemented the model on a test road network representing an urban area. The results indicate that implementing a truck ban directly to environmentally damaged areas and discounting motorway tolls entirely in the urban motorway network together has large environmental effects, and leads to an acceptable environment for all stakeholders.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "City logistics", "Computer science", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Reinforcement learning", "Transport engineering", "Discounting", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 138, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810010670/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4281672706", "doi": "10.1080/24725854.2022.2060535", "title": "Branch-price-and-cut for trucks and drones cooperative delivery", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-05-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Lu Zhen", "Jiajing Gao", "Zheyi Tan", "Shuaian Wang", "Roberto Baldacci" ], "first_author": "Lu Zhen", "venue": "IISE Transactions", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "The truck and drone-based cooperative model of delivery can improve the efficiency of last mile delivery, and has thus increasingly attracted attention in academia and from practitioners. In this study, we examine a vehicle routing problem and apply a cooperative form of delivery involving trucks and drones. We propose a mixed-integer programming model and a branch-price-and-cut-based exact algorithm to address this problem. To reduce the computation time, we design several acceleration strategies, including a combination of dynamic programming and calculus-based approximation for the pricing problem, and various effective inequalities for the restricted master problem. Numerical experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed solution.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Drone", "Computer science", "Aeronautics", "Business", "Automotive engineering", "Engineering", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 78, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk/bitstream/10397/99079/1/trucks%20and%20drones.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4406788321", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejor.2024.12.047", "title": "Integrating public transport in sustainable last-mile delivery: Column generation approaches", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-24", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Diego Delle Donne", "Alberto Santini", "Claudia Archetti" ], "first_author": "Diego Delle Donne", "venue": "European Journal of Operational Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "We tackle the problem of coordinating a three-echelon last-mile delivery system. In the first echelon, trucks transport parcels from distribution centres outside the city to public transport stops. In the second echelon, the parcels move on public transport and reach the city centre. In the third echelon, zero-emission vehicles pick up the parcels at public transport stops and deliver them to customers. We introduce two extended formulations for this problem. The first has two exponential sets of variables, while the second has one. We propose column generation algorithms and compare several methods to solve the pricing problems on specially constructed graphs. We also devise dual bounds, which we can compute even when the graphs are so large that not a single pricing round completes within the time limit. Compared to previous formulations, our models find 16 new best known solutions out of an existing dataset of 24 instances from the literature.", "keywords": [ "Column generation", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Column (typography)", "Computer science", "Public transport", "Environmental science", "Operations research", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 15, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2024.12.047" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1917632675", "doi": "10.3141/2379-04", "title": "Best Practices in Urban Freight Management", "year": 2013, "publication_date": "2013-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Lætitia Dablanc", "Geneviève Giuliano", "Kevin Holliday", "Thomas O’Brien" ], "first_author": "Lætitia Dablanc", "venue": "Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board", "publisher": "SAGE Publishing", "abstract": "Freight movement is essential to the function of metropolitan areas, yet generates many externalities, including congestion, air pollution, noise, and greenhouse gas emissions. Metropolitan areas around the world are seeking ways to manage urban freight and its impacts. This paper presents the results from a comprehensive international survey of urban freight management strategies. The objective was to examine the effectiveness of alternative strategies and assess their transferability for U.S. implementation. Three categories were used to describe urban freight strategies: last-mile or first-mile deliveries and pickups, environmental mitigation, and trade node strategies. Many possibilities were found for the improved management of urban freight and its impacts; these possibilities included labeling and certification programs, incentive-based programs for voluntary emissions reduction, local land use and parking policies, and more stringent national fuel efficiency and emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks. More research is needed on intrametropolitan freight movements and on the effectiveness of existing policies and strategies.", "keywords": [ "Business", "Metropolitan area", "Truck", "Incentive", "Transport engineering", "Greenhouse gas", "Environmental planning", "Certification", "Traffic congestion", "Traffic management", "Externality", "Environmental economics" ], "cited_by_count": 102, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hal.science/hal-00854997" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4396571543", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2024.103536", "title": "Quantification of truck accessibility in urban last-mile deliveries using GPS probe data", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-05-02", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Arnav Choudhry", "Sean Qian" ], "first_author": "Arnav Choudhry", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This study presents the Urban Freight Mobility Energy Productivity (UF-MEP), a novel metric that evaluates the performance of last-mile urban freight delivery systems. Incorporating factors like delivery frequency, operational costs, and energy intensity, UF-MEP uses a data-centric approach for estimations. We introduce a pipeline that derives truck activity from GPS data, enabling the calculation of accessible delivery opportunities and UF-MEP. The work emphasizes the importance of comprehensive data collection in less populated areas and the critical role of GPS and link speed data in isochrone generation. Applied to Philadelphia’s large-scale network, our methodology demonstrates decreasing UF-MEP with rising residential and industrial delivery frequencies, while an increase is seen with commercial deliveries. Operational costs and energy intensity negatively impact UF-MEP. Our study suggests the highest potential for UF-MEP improvement lies in enhancing energy efficiency for medium and heavy-duty vehicles.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Truck", "Global Positioning System", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Geography", "Automotive engineering", "Telecommunications" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2024.103536" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4224309848", "doi": "10.1007/s40305-021-00383-4", "title": "A Survey of Truck–Drone Routing Problem: Literature Review and Research Prospects", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-04-06", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yijing Liang", "Zhixing Luo" ], "first_author": "Yijing Liang", "venue": "Journal of the Operations Research Society of China", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Vehicle routing problem", "Travelling salesman problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 90, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s40305-021-00383-4" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1549231257", "doi": "10.3390/su7066610", "title": "Urban Freight Truck Routing under Stochastic Congestion and Emission Considerations", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-05-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Taesung Hwang", "Yanfeng Ouyang" ], "first_author": "Taesung Hwang", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Freight trucks are known to be a major source of air pollutants as well as greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. metropolitan areas, and they have significant effects on air quality and global climate change. Emissions from freight trucks during their deliveries should be considered by the trucking service sector when they make routing decisions. This study proposes a model that incorporates total delivery time, various emissions including CO2, VOC, NOX, and PM from freight truck activities, and a penalty for late or early arrival into the total cost objective of a stochastic shortest path problem. We focus on urban transportation networks in which random congestion states on each link follows an independent probability distribution. Our model finds the best truck routing on a given network so as to minimize the expected total cost. This problem is formulated into a mathematical model, and two solution algorithms including a dynamic programming approach and a deterministic shortest path heuristic are proposed. Numerical examples show that the proposed approach performs very well even for the large-size U.S. urban networks.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Metropolitan area", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Transport engineering", "Shortest path problem", "Computer science", "Heuristic", "Greenhouse gas", "Traffic congestion", "Vehicle routing problem", "Air quality index", "Operations research" ], "cited_by_count": 32, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/6610/pdf?version=1432639963" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4321487121", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejor.2023.02.031", "title": "Planning robust drone-truck delivery routes under road traffic uncertainty", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-02-22", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yu Long Yang", "Chiwei Yan", "Yufeng Cao", "Roberto Roberti" ], "first_author": "Yu Long Yang", "venue": "European Journal of Operational Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Last mile (transportation)", "Profit (economics)", "Robust optimization", "Variance (accounting)", "Mathematical optimization", "Business", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 103, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2023.02.031" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7127588952", "doi": "10.3390/logistics10020038", "title": "Sustainable and Safe Last-Mile Delivery: A Multi-Objective Truck–Drone Matheuristic", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-02-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Armin Mahmoodi", "Mehdi Davoodi", "Said M. Easa", "Seyed Mojtaba Sajadi" ], "first_author": "Armin Mahmoodi", "venue": "Logistics", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Background: The rapid growth of e-commerce has intensified the need for last-mile delivery systems that can navigate urban congestion while minimizing environmental impact. Hybrid truck–drone networks offer a promising solution by combining heavy-duty ground transport with aerial flexibility; however, their deployment faces significant challenges in jointly managing operational risks, energy limits, and regulatory compliance. Methods: This study proposes a hybrid matheuristic framework to solve this multi-objective problem, simultaneously minimizing transportation cost, service time, energy consumption, and operational risk. A two-phase approach combines a metaheuristic for initial truck routing with a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation for optimal drone assignment and scheduling. This decomposition strikes a balance between exact optimization and computational scalability. Results: Experiments across various instance sizes (up to 100 customers) and fleet configurations demonstrate that integrating MILP enhances solution diversity and convergence compared to standalone strategies. Sensitivity analyses reveal significant impacts of drone speed and endurance on system efficiency. Conclusions: The proposed framework provides a practical decision-support tool for balancing complex trade-offs in time-sensitive, risk-constrained delivery environments, thereby contributing to more informed urban logistics planning.", "keywords": [ "Software deployment", "Truck", "Drone", "Convergence (economics)", "Linear programming", "Traffic congestion", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Service (business)", "Vehicle routing problem" ], "cited_by_count": 6, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/10/2/38/pdf?version=1770201784" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2084724891", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.105", "title": "The Waste Collection Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows in a City Logistics Context", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Katja Buhrkal", "Allan Larsen", "Stefan Røpke" ], "first_author": "Katja Buhrkal", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Collection of waste is an important logistic activity within any city. In this paper we study how to collect waste in an efficient way. We study the Waste Collection Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window which is concerned with finding cost optimal routes for garbage trucks such that all garbage bins are emptied and the waste is driven to disposal sites while respecting customer time windows and ensuring that drivers are given the breaks that the law requires. We propose an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm for solving the problem and illustrate the usefulness of the algorithm by showing that the algorithm can improve the objective of a set of instances from the literature as well as for instances provided by a Danish garbage collection company.", "keywords": [ "Garbage", "Truck", "Vehicle routing problem", "Garbage collection", "Waste collection", "Computer science", "Context (archaeology)", "Operations research", "Set (abstract data type)", "Data collection", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 177, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812005721/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2953134621", "doi": "10.1080/01605682.2019.1621671", "title": "Cooperative route planning for the drone and truck in delivery services: A bi-objective optimisation approach", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-06-17", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kangzhou Wang", "Biao Yuan", "Mengting Zhao", "Yuwei Lu" ], "first_author": "Kangzhou Wang", "venue": "Journal of the Operational Research Society", "publisher": "Palgrave Macmillan", "abstract": "The deployment of drones to support the last-mile delivery has been initially attempted by several companies such as Amazon and Alibaba. The complementary capabilities of the drone and the truck pose an innovative delivery mode. The relevant optimisation problem associated with this new mode, known as the travelling salesman problem with drone (TSP-D), aims to find the coordinated routes of a drone and a truck to serve a list of customers. In practice, managers sometimes intend to attain a compromise between operational cost and completion time. Therefore, this article addresses a bi-objective TSP-D considering both objectives. An improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (INSGA-II) is proposed to solve the problem. Specifically, the label algorithm-based decoding method, the fast non-dominated sorting approach, the crowding-distance computation procedure, and the local search component are devised to accommodate the features of the problem. Furthermore, the first Pareto front obtained by the INSGA-II is improved by a post-optimisation component. Computational results validate the competitive performance of the proposed algorithm. Meanwhile, the trade-off analysis demonstrates the relationship between operational cost and completion time and provides managerial insights for managers designing reasonable compromise routes.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Computer science", "Compromise", "Operations research", "Genetic algorithm", "Software deployment", "Truck", "Sorting", "Travelling salesman problem", "Component (thermodynamics)", "Last mile (transportation)", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 106, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://ir.lzu.edu.cn/handle/262010/295466" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2793789770", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2018.02.022", "title": "Assessing the sustainability of mobile depots: The case of urban freight distribution in Rio de Janeiro", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-03-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Lino Guimarães Marujo", "George Vasconcelos Góes", "Márcio Almeida D'Agosto", "Amanda Fernandes Ferreira", "Matthias Winkenbach", "Renata A.M. Bandeira" ], "first_author": "Lino Guimarães Marujo", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Traffic congestion", "Sustainability", "Environmental economics", "Greenhouse gas", "Public transport", "Business", "Engineering", "Mile", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 89, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.02.022" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2281100108", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2016.02.055", "title": "Possibilities and Barriers for Using Electric-powered Vehicles in City Logistics Practice", "year": 2016, "publication_date": "2016-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Hans J. Quak", "Nina Nikolaevna Nesterova", "T. van Rooijen" ], "first_author": "Hans J. Quak", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper discusses the current developments, as well as the barriers and opportunities for using electric freight vehicles in daily city logistics operations based on the experiences from a number of running demonstrations. This paper discusses results from other studies and demonstrations that were published on electro mobility in city logistics in the last three years, as an update of an earlier state of the art review. Next, we present recent narratives based on the more than 100 electric freight vehicles (EFVs) deployed in the European project FREVUE and the experiences of TransMission in using four battery electric Cargohoppers to perform their urban deliveries in Amsterdam. Over the years the attention shifted from a focus on the limitations of EFVs in comparison to conventional vehicles, such as the limited range, towards the question how to better adapt the operations to deal with the EFV characteristics. Although, the business case for using EFVs, in comparison to conventional vehicles, is still suffering from high vehicle purchase price and uncertainty about its residual value, the use of EFVs in daily operations shows that in the majority of cases the current generation of EFVs have a good technical performance. Companies using EFVs are generally satisfied with these vehicles. Obviously still a number of barriers has to be levelled, but large scale EFV usage seems more feasible than before.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Transport engineering", "Battery (electricity)", "Electric vehicle", "Driving range", "Computer science", "Scale (ratio)", "Business", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Power (physics)" ], "cited_by_count": 161, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146516000569/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2783817616", "doi": "10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.047", "title": "The identification of truck-related greenhouse gas emissions and critical impact factors in an urban logistics network", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-01-09", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mi Gan", "Xiaobo Liu", "Si Chen", "Ying Yan", "Dandan Li" ], "first_author": "Mi Gan", "venue": "Journal of Cleaner Production", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Greenhouse gas", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Population", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 43, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.047" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4399094864", "doi": "10.1177/03611981241248156", "title": "Literature Synthesis of Emerging Last-Mile Delivery Technologies and their Applications to Rural Areas: Drones, Autonomous Delivery Vehicles, and Truck-Drones", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-05-28", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Marcella Kaplan", "Kevin P. Heaslip" ], "first_author": "Marcella Kaplan", "venue": "Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board", "publisher": "SAGE Publishing", "abstract": "Rural areas have the distinct opportunity to become trendsetters of innovation and technology, molding and optimizing delivery advances to operate in a way that meets their needs. Drones, autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs), and truck-drones have the potential to improve rural delivery services significantly. However, rural environments have considerably different characteristics than urban or suburban areas. Therefore, delivery services must be evaluated specifically for the rural use case because the outcome of rural drone delivery is likely different from urban. This study conducted a systematic literature review about the current state-of-the-art drone, ADV, and truck-drone package delivery in rural areas (excluding medical or healthcare delivery). Drones can significantly reduce rural delivery emissions and costs while increasing efficiency. ADVs have the potential to greatly improve rural delivery efficiency. The truck-drone solution is one of the best mode choices for rural delivery because the truck can travel longer distances while the drone can cross challenging geography without delay. The literature review identified a general need for more drone, ADV, and truck-drone delivery research focusing on rural locations. There also is a need for research about the specific economic, environmental, and societal impacts of drone, ADV, and truck-drone delivery in rural areas. There is a significant gap in the literature on realistic rural delivery modeling and gaps about attitudes and perceptions of drone, ADV, and truck-drone delivery services in rural areas. With additional research, innovative delivery modes and technologies can become more cost-effective, accessible, and efficient in rural areas.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Aeronautics", "Business", "Automotive engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 11, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981241248156" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3186565431", "doi": "10.1016/j.rtbm.2021.100695", "title": "Identifying large freight traffic generators and investigating the impacts on travel pattern: A decision tree approach for last-mile delivery management", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-07-15", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Aitichya Chandra", "Agnivesh Pani", "Prasanta K. Sahu", "Bandhan Bandhu Majumdar", "Sushant Sharma" ], "first_author": "Aitichya Chandra", "venue": "Research in Transportation Business & Management", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "CHAID", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Identification (biology)", "Transport engineering", "Commodity", "Business", "TRIPS architecture", "Decision tree", "Externality", "Interdependence", "City logistics" ], "cited_by_count": 18, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2021.100695" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2972522542", "doi": "10.23919/acc.2019.8815099", "title": "The Multi-objective Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem: Last Mile Delivery with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Assistance", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-07-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ben Remer", "Andreas A. Malikopoulos" ], "first_author": "Ben Remer", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "In this paper, we present an approach to optimizing the last-mile delivery route of a truck using coordination with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). First, a traveling salesman problem is formulated to determine the truck's route. Then, a scheduling problem is formulated to determined the routes for the UAVs. A genetic algorithm is used to solve these problems, and simulated results are presented.", "keywords": [ "Travelling salesman problem", "Mile", "Computer science", "Last mile (transportation)", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Geography", "Algorithm", "Geodesy" ], "cited_by_count": 16, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.23919/acc.2019.8815099" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2142204832", "doi": null, "title": "Urban freight transport demand modelling : a state of the art", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-03-14", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Antonio Comi", "Paolo Delle Site", "F. Filippi", "Agostino Nuzzolo" ], "first_author": "Antonio Comi", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The paper provides a review of freight transport demand models for applications in urban and metropolitan areas. The perspective adopted is the short-term one of public decision-makers involved in transport planning and traffic management. The paper recalls the general methodology to be used for assessing the city logistics scenario and the features of models in relation to the planning horizons: strategic, tactical and operative. The focus is on the transport demand models able to support the assessment of short-term policies/measures. Several models and methods have been proposed. They usually refer to the multi-stage modelling approach and can be classified in terms of reference unit: truck/vehicle, commodity/quantity, delivery and mixed. The paper offers an analysis of pros and cons of each above classes of models. The research prospects are also identified.", "keywords": [ "Metropolitan area", "Truck", "Traffic management", "City logistics", "Relation (database)", "Commodity", "Public transport", "Transport engineering", "Transportation planning", "Term (time)", "Operations research", "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 91, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.openstarts.units.it/bitstream/10077/6123/1/ET_2012_51_7%20-%20Comi%20et%20al.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4412980560", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2025.104344", "title": "On the optimal micro-hub locations in a multi-modal last-mile delivery system", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-08-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Patrick Stokkink", "Nikolas Geroliminis" ], "first_author": "Patrick Stokkink", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Last-mile delivery is one of the most polluting parts of the supply chain. This is partially caused by increased congestion in urban areas and repetitive stop-and-go traffic. One possible alternative to this is to use micro-mobility to replace large motorized vehicles. However, these vehicles are usually slower and have lower capacity. In this work, we propose a multi-modal logistics system for last-mile delivery that combines the use of trucks, metro and micro-mobility. This innovative type of system uses the metro to distribute the parcels to micro-hubs across the network and uses micro-mobility only for the final part of the parcel’s itinerary from the micro-hub to the front door of the customer. We focus on finding the optimal micro-hub locations in such a system. We use a continuum approximation of the operational and tactical decisions which includes routing of the micro-mobility vehicles. The whole problem is then modeled as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model for the strategic decisions regarding the micro-hubs, which include location, capacity, and fleet-assignment decisions. We evaluate the results of a case study of the city of Madrid, which illustrates that a multi-modal last-mile delivery system can significantly improve a traditional last-mile delivery system in terms of operational costs and pollution.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Modal", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Business", "Geography", "Geodesy" ], "cited_by_count": 12, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2025.104344" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4389262413", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2023.104442", "title": "Structure and dynamics of urban freight truck movements: A complex network theory perspective", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-12-02", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yitao Yang", "Bin Jia", "Xiao-Yong Yan", "Yan Chen", "Lóránt Antal Tavasszy", "Michiel de Bok", "Zhuotong Bai", "Erjian Liu", "Ziyou Gao" ], "first_author": "Yitao Yang", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Sustainability", "Core (optical fiber)", "Traffic management", "System dynamics", "Perspective (graphical)", "Urban planning", "Field (mathematics)", "Economic geography", "Regional science", "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 30, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2023.104442" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4386310557", "doi": "10.2139/ssrn.4557554", "title": "Last Mile Delivery with Drones and Sharing Economy", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-01-01", "type": "preprint", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Mehdi Behroozi", "Dinghao Ma" ], "first_author": "Mehdi Behroozi", "venue": "SSRN Electronic Journal", "publisher": "RELX Group (Netherlands)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Sharing economy", "Business", "Computer science", "Geography", "World Wide Web" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4557554" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3016410622", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.157", "title": "Modelling city logistics using recent innovative technologies", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Russell George Thompson", "Ali Gul Qureshi" ], "first_author": "Eiichi Taniguchi", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Recently a range of new information based technologies have been developed that create opportunities to implement more integrated and dynamic City Logistics solutions. Sensor networks and demand models can assist in advancing understanding and the prediction the negative impacts of freight on human health that can be used in evaluation. Advances in autonomous and electric freight vehicles have good potential for improving the efficiency and sustainability of urban freight systems. This paper presents an overview of how models can be used to promote the adoption of advanced technologies for enhancing City Logistics.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Sustainability", "Traffic management", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Systems engineering", "Risk analysis (engineering)", "Business", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 96, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146520303574/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2121464626", "doi": "10.11175/easts.6.3062", "title": "EVALUATING CITY LOGISTICS MEASURES CONSIDERING THE BEHAVIOR OF SEVERAL STAKEHOLDERS", "year": 2005, "publication_date": "2005-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Dai Tamagawa" ], "first_author": "Eiichi Taniguchi", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Abstract: In this paper, we examined a methodology for evaluating city logistics measures while considering the behavior of several stakeholders associated with urban freight transport. We considered five stakeholders of administrators, residents, shippers, freight carriers and urban expressway operators. We assumed that they behaved on the basis of their own criteria for evaluating the effects of city logistics measures, and organized the interaction among these stakeholders. We performed simulation on test road network and implemented truck ban and tolling of urban expressway as city logistics measures. Results indicated that implementation of these measures did not improve the conditions of all stakeholders exactly but it was favorable for them approximately. Also, we could point out that truck ban had an effect to disperse the zones that residents make a complaint and provide an equal environment for residents.", "keywords": [ "Complaint", "Truck", "City logistics", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Point (geometry)", "Test (biology)", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 97, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.583.7868" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3016304506", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.189", "title": "Last mile delivery activities in the city centre – Insights into current practices and characteristics of delivery trips", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Khalid Aljohani", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "Khalid Aljohani", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Efficient and reliable freight delivery and pickup services are important for the functioning of businesses in the inner-city area as well as consumption of product and services for residents, visitors and employees. The study investigated the delivery activities of freight carriers in Melbourne, Australia. Responses were collected from 55 freight carriers that provided detailed and up-to-date description of their delivery fleets and characteristics of their delivery trips. The collected responses expand the knowledge about parcel deliveries to receivers in inner-city areas. The acquired insights enable policy makers and scholars to be well-informed on the current state of last mile freight in the inner-city area. This contributes to proposing practical policy suggestions for balancing the competing needs for space and access for freight vehicles and liveability in the inner-city area.", "keywords": [ "TRIPS architecture", "Last mile (transportation)", "Business", "Food delivery", "Transport engineering", "Mile", "Delivery system", "City logistics", "Product (mathematics)", "Kilometer", "Marketing", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 13, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146520303902/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3006014023", "doi": "10.1016/j.cor.2020.104919", "title": "The two-echelon vehicle routing problem with covering options: City logistics with cargo bikes and parcel lockers", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-02-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "David L.J.U. Enthoven", "Bolor Jargalsaikhan", "Kees Jan Roodbergen", "Michiel A.J. uit het Broek", "Albert H. Schrotenboer" ], "first_author": "David L.J.U. Enthoven", "venue": "Computers & Operations Research", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Vehicle routing problem", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Truck", "Heuristic", "Computer science", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "City logistics", "Operations research", "Integer programming", "Transport engineering", "Mathematical optimization", "Mathematics" ], "cited_by_count": 197, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305054820300368" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1958518881", "doi": null, "title": "Freight transport for development toolkit : urban freight", "year": 2009, "publication_date": "2009-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Lætitia Dablanc" ], "first_author": "Lætitia Dablanc", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Cities need freight but they tend to ignore this specific category of urban transport. Freight transport, despite providing thousands of jobs and services to the urban economy, has been neglected by transport surveys and models, transport strategies and regional master planning. In the meanwhile, freight operators have carried on their businesses, which is to provide the goods required by shops, companies and households at the right place and the right time. In most cases, they succeed, but not always in a good environmental or social manner. In large cities, one fourth of carbon dioxide (CO2), one third of nitrate oxides and half of the particulates that are emitted by transport are generated by trucks and vans! Municipalities, today, have to target freight transport as one of their priorities in order to make it more efficient and sustainable. A methodological foreword will briefly present issues of urban freight data collection and comparison and show the diversity of urban freight situations in the world (section one). Major features of urban freight are then presented including its environmental impacts, followed by a description of policies undertaken by cities around the world (section two). Some selected issues are discussed in order to show the main challenges local governments face on urban freight (section three). Policy recommendations to local and regional governments are then provided as a conclusion, with examples of best practice (section four).", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Order (exchange)", "Traffic management", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Multimodal transport", "Section (typography)", "Urban planning", "Sustainability", "Environmental planning", "Regional science", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 84, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://documentos.bancomundial.org/curated/es/863741468333611288/Freight-transport-for-development-toolkit-urban-freight" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4293765590", "doi": "10.1109/tits.2021.3119080", "title": "Hybrid Multi-Objective Optimization Approach With Pareto Local Search for Collaborative Truck-Drone Routing Problems Considering Flexible Time Windows", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-10-20", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Qizhang Luo", "Guohua Wu", "Bin Ji", "Ling Wang", "Ponnuthurai Nagaratnam Suganthan" ], "first_author": "Qizhang Luo", "venue": "IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems", "publisher": "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", "abstract": "The collaboration of drones and trucks for last-mile delivery has attracted much attention. In this paper, we address a collaborative routing problem of the truck-drone system, in which a truck collaborates with multiple drones to perform parcel deliveries and each customer can be served earlier and later than the required time with a given tolerance. To meet the practical demands of logistics companies, we build a multi-objective optimization model that minimizes total distribution cost and maximizes overall customer satisfaction simultaneously. We propose a hybrid multi-objective genetic optimization approach incorporated with a Pareto local search algorithm to solve the problem. Particularly, we develop a greedy-based heuristic method to create initial solutions and introduce a problem-specific solution representation, genetic operations, as well as six heuristic neighborhood strategies for the hybrid algorithm. Besides, an adaptive strategy is adopted to further balance the convergence and the diversity of the hybrid algorithm. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by using a set of benchmark instances. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms three competitors. Furthermore, we investigate the sensitivity of the proposed model and hybrid algorithm based on a real-world case in Changsha city, China.", "keywords": [ "Vehicle routing problem", "Pareto principle", "Truck", "Computer science", "Mathematical optimization", "Hybrid algorithm (constraint satisfaction)", "Genetic algorithm", "Drone", "Local search (optimization)", "Heuristic", "Greedy algorithm", "Multi-objective optimization" ], "cited_by_count": 122, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/tits.2021.3119080" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2903872273", "doi": "10.1109/itsc.2018.8569747", "title": "Next-generation freight vehicle surveys: Supplementing truck GPS tracking with a driver activity survey", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-11-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "André Romano Alho", "Linlin You", "Fangping Lu", "Lynette W. Cheah", "Zhao Fang", "Moshe E Ben-Akiva" ], "first_author": "André Romano Alho", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Freight road vehicle operations vary widely depending on a multitude of factors such as industry type, commodities transported or geographical scope. Vehicle tracking is one of the most common approaches to understand operation patterns and it has been facilitated by the increasing availability of GPS-enabled devices. We describe a method that supplements vehicle tracking data with day-to-day driver activity surveys to collect static and dynamic data related to freight vehicle operations. The survey was designed to enable innovative data analysis and modelling. We detail the data collection method demonstrated in Singapore and illustrate three data-driven insights which are of interest in the urban freight domain: (1) freight vehicle overnight parking, (2) tour patterns and associated vehicle usage characteristics, and (3) commodity flow patterns. The unique insights demonstrated by the analyses corroborate the potential of the described data collection method to further understand freight vehicle operations.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Global Positioning System", "Transport engineering", "Scope (computer science)", "Data collection", "Vehicle tracking system", "Computer science", "Track (disk drive)", "Commodity", "Domain (mathematical analysis)", "Tracking (education)", "Fleet management" ], "cited_by_count": 27, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/itsc.2018.8569747" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2341734315", "doi": "10.1108/9781781902868-021", "title": "Tactical and Operational City Logistics: Freight Vehicle Flow Modelling", "year": 2013, "publication_date": "2013-05-14", "type": "book-chapter", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Agostino Nuzzolo", "Antonio Comi" ], "first_author": "Agostino Nuzzolo", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This paper first classifies city logistics measures that city administrators can use to reduce the negative impacts of urban freight transport, in relation to planning (i.e. strategic and tactical/operational). The focus then shifts onto models developed to support the assessment of tactical and operational measures. The assessment procedures require the simulation of freight transport demand and hence the estimation of freight vehicle origin-destination (O-D) flows. These O-D flows can be obtained from the simulation of delivery tours. Therefore, the paper presents a system of models able to simulate delivery tours using an aggregate approach. Such models allow us to capture actors’ choices which can be influenced by tactical and operational measures. They were calibrated and tested using the surveys carried out in the inner area of Rome, where more than 500 truck drivers were interviewed. Some results of the validation of the models are also presented.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "City logistics", "Transport engineering", "Relation (database)", "Traffic management", "Operations research", "Aggregate (composite)", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 21, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1108/9781781902868-021" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4414826128", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2025.104427", "title": "Optimizing autonomous multimodal last-mile delivery systems with time windows: Analyzing trade-offs between drones, robots, and trucks", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-10-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Giovanni Campuzano", "Eduardo Lalla‐Ruiz", "Martijn Mes" ], "first_author": "Giovanni Campuzano", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper studies multi-modal last-mile delivery systems. More specifically, it introduces the Drone-Assisted Vehicle Routing Problem with Robot Stations and Time Windows (VRPD-RS-TW) to face exigent delivery schedules in last-mile logistics. The VRPD-RS-TW applies to highly populated city centers, where due to infrastructural issues, customers might be hard to reach by conventional trucks. This problem is characterized by utilizing three transportation modes: trucks, drones, and robots collaborating to deliver parcels and meet time window requirements. To solve this problem, we develop a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation, valid inequalities to strengthen the linear relaxation, and a Three-Phased Granular Multi-Start Iterated Local Search (3P-GMS-ILS) metaheuristic algorithm. A computational study on instances of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) demonstrates that the 3P-GMS-ILS outperforms the MILP formulation and state-of-the-art metaheuristic approaches in terms of both objective function values and computational times. Furthermore, we provide insights into the effectiveness of the VRPD-RS-TW, showing that, under various cost scenarios, the combination of trucks, drones, and robots outperforms scenarios with fewer transportation modes. Across the studied cost scenarios, the VRPD-RS-TW simultaneously coordinates a higher volume of delivery operations, with 48.75 % performed by drones and robots, resulting in better objective function values than the related transportation systems. In scenarios where truck routing costs are lower than those of drones and robots, the VRPD-RS-TW still achieves better objective function values compared to the related transportation systems, although the share of drone and robot deliveries drops to 14.78 %. This shows that adding drones is not necessarily beneficial when trucks carry drones, as trucks should wait for drones, which might result in higher costs related to drone routing and drivers’ wages.", "keywords": [ "Iterated local search", "Metaheuristic", "Vehicle routing problem", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Truck", "Integer programming", "Linear programming", "Routing (electronic design automation)" ], "cited_by_count": 8, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2025.104427" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2187778886", "doi": "10.1016/j.cstp.2015.11.005", "title": "Freight data collection using GPS and web-based surveys: Insights from US truck drivers’ survey and perspectives for urban freight", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-12-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Moshe E Ben-Akiva", "Tomer Toledo", "Jorge Oliveira Santos", "Nathanael Christopher James Cox", "Fang Zhao", "Yin Jin Lee", "Vittorio Marzano" ], "first_author": "Moshe E Ben-Akiva", "venue": "Case Studies on Transport Policy", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Context (archaeology)", "Global Positioning System", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Data collection", "Vehicle routing problem", "Survey data collection", "Focus (optics)", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 44, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2015.11.005" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2810391212", "doi": "10.1002/9781119425472.ch2", "title": "Optimizing the Establishment of a Central City Transshipment Facility to Ameliorate Last‐Mile Delivery: a Case Study in Melbourne CBD", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-05-30", "type": "other", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Khalid Aljohani", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "Khalid Aljohani", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This chapter highlights the results of an observational study undertaken in Melbourne's CBD for the use of on-street loading zones by freight vehicles. The observational study aimed to develop a better understanding of the usage and efficiency of parking and loading activities by freight vehicles, especially light commercial vehicles in the central city area. The results raise the need to establish suitable sorting and consolidation facilities in the congested central city area to alleviate the negative impacts of last-mile delivery. The chapter proposes an integrated framework for facilitating the sustainable establishment of transshipment facilities in the central city area that enable consolidating last-mile freight and enhancing amenity of the central city area. The integrated framework of the central city transshipment facility (CCTF) is applicable for large cities with congested central city areas due to the inclusion of operational and locational requirements of the urban freight industry, and perspectives of all stakeholders involved in last-mile freight.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Transshipment (information security)", "City logistics", "Transport engineering", "Central city", "Amenity", "Mile", "Business", "Environmental planning", "Geography", "Engineering", "Operations research" ], "cited_by_count": 12, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119425472.ch2" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2095130594", "doi": "10.1080/13675567.2011.641525", "title": "Loading bay booking and control for urban freight", "year": 2011, "publication_date": "2011-12-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Fraser N. McLeod", "Tom Cherrett" ], "first_author": "Fraser N. McLeod", "venue": "International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "This paper investigates the concept of a loading bay advance booking and control system for delivery and service vehicle drivers. A case study of Winchester High Street is presented to illustrate the potential impact of such a system. A number of operating scenarios were considered based on the punctuality of deliveries and service visits, using a comprehensive database of vehicle arrival patterns. The main performance measures used were adherence to schedule, delivery time and the use of unloading points, with reference to their desirability, both from the freight vehicle drivers’ and other road users’ viewpoints. The research has highlighted the different factors that would need to be taken into account when evaluating a managed loading bay system, from the standpoints of the various actors involved, including the traffic authority, freight operator, driver, retailer and other road users.", "keywords": [ "Punctuality", "Schedule", "Transport engineering", "Control (management)", "Bay", "Service (business)", "Viewpoints", "Computer science", "Business", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Civil engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 74, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2011.641525" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2964433174", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2019.07.025", "title": "Effects of ambient temperature on the route planning of electric freight vehicles", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-08-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Sina Rastani", "Tuğçe Yüksel", "Bülent Çatay" ], "first_author": "Sina Rastani", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Driving range", "Range (aeronautics)", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Energy consumption", "Computer science", "Vehicle routing problem", "Solver", "Fuel efficiency", "Automotive engineering", "TRIPS architecture", "City logistics", "Routing (electronic design automation)" ], "cited_by_count": 76, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.07.025" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1760846734", "doi": "10.1108/s2044-994120140000006011", "title": "Towards Zero Emission Urban Logistics: Challenges and Issues for Implementation of Electric Freight Vehicles in City Logistics", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-12-03", "type": "book-chapter", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Hans J. Quak", "Nina Nikolaevna Nesterova" ], "first_author": "Hans J. Quak", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "Abstract Purpose Electric freight vehicles (EFVs) are one of the solutions to improve city logistics’ sustainability. EFVs, that are electric powered light and heavy vehicles with a number plate, have the potential to make zero emission city logistics possible within the urban area. However, although trials have been undertaken for the last years, large-scale usage of EFVs in city logistics does not occur yet. EFVs are technically possible, but the implementation of EFVs in practice is relatively limited. Design This chapter examines by reviewing current and past EFV implementations, what are the challenges, barriers and success factors for EFVs in city logistics operations. EFVs have especially positive environmental effects, but are overall usually more expensive (especially in procurement) than conventional vehicles. Besides, other technical and operational issues remain to be solved, and many uncertainties still exist on long-term usage. Findings Three main barriers for large-scale EFV uptake are identified. The current logistics concepts are developed for conventional vehicles and should be redesigned to fit EFVs better. Local authorities’ support is essential in order to find a positive (or not too negative) business case. And EFV implementation requires companies that want to be sustainable. This contribution presents examples of how some companies or authorities deal with these barriers. Value This chapter concludes by identifying elements that are necessary for acceleration of EFV uptake in city logistics operations.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Zero emission", "Sustainability", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Scale (ratio)", "Green logistics", "Environmental economics", "Engineering", "Geography", "Waste management" ], "cited_by_count": 15, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1108/s2044-994120140000006011" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W257682929", "doi": "10.1016/j.tra.2007.10.008", "title": "Necessary conditions for off-hour deliveries and the effectiveness of urban freight road pricing and alternative financial policies in competitive markets", "year": 2008, "publication_date": "2008-01-30", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "José Holguín‐Veras" ], "first_author": "José Holguín‐Veras", "venue": "Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Toll", "Road pricing", "Incentive", "Business", "Finance", "Truck", "Marginal cost", "Economics", "Industrial organization", "Transport engineering", "Microeconomics", "Traffic congestion" ], "cited_by_count": 158, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2007.10.008" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4307078345", "doi": "10.1016/j.ejtl.2022.100094", "title": "Exact and heuristic approaches to Truck–Drone Delivery Problems", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-10-22", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Júlia Cária de Freitas", "Puca Huachi Vaz Penna", "Túlio A. M. Toffolo" ], "first_author": "Júlia Cária de Freitas", "venue": "EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "Collaborative delivery employing drones in last-mile delivery has been an extensively studied topic in recent years. In this paper, it is studied Truck–Drone Delivery Problems (TDDPs) in which a traditional delivery truck is gathered with a drone to cut delivery times and costs. The vehicles work together in a hybrid operation involving one drone launching from a larger vehicle that operates as a mobile depot and a recharging platform. The drone launches from the truck with a single package to deliver to a customer. Each drone must return to the truck to recharge batteries, pick up another package, and launch again to a new customer location. This work proposes a novel Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) formulation and a heuristic approach to address the problem. The proposed MIP formulation yields better linear relaxation bounds than previously proposed formulations for all instances, and was capable of optimally solving several unsolved instances from the literature. A hybrid heuristic based on the General Variable Neighborhood Search metaheuristic combining Tabu Search concepts is employed to obtain high-quality solutions for large-size instances. The efficiency of the algorithm was evaluated on 1415 benchmark instances from the literature, and over 80% of the best known solutions were improved.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Tabu search", "Benchmark (surveying)", "Computer science", "Metaheuristic", "Heuristic", "Mathematical optimization", "Integer programming", "Variable neighborhood search", "Engineering", "Operations research" ], "cited_by_count": 49, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S219243762200019X/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4406825736", "doi": "10.1186/s12544-025-00706-z", "title": "Analysis of logistics measures of CEP service providers for the last-mile delivery in small- and medium-sized cities: A case study for the Aachen city region", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Abdulrahmon Ghazal", "Santhanakrishnan Narayanan", "Ibraheem Oluwatosin Adeniran", "Carina Kehrt", "Constantinos Antoniou" ], "first_author": "Abdulrahmon Ghazal", "venue": "European Transport Research Review", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "Abstract The e-commerce sector’s rapid expansion has led to an increase in delivery activities both within and across cities, fuelling the growth of the courier, express, and parcel (CEP) services. CEP service providers are crucial for the distribution of goods across all types of cities, especially for last-mile delivery. However, CEP service providers need innovative approaches for their last-mile distribution in small- and medium-sized cities to reduce transport costs and negative environmental impacts. For this reason, this paper analyses the quantitative impacts of logistics measures of CEP service providers for last-mile delivery in small- and medium-sized cities, especially the resulting transport costs and environmental impacts, in the framework of a case study for the investigation area of the Aachen city region. A simulation-based analysis was conducted using the agent-based transport simulation MATSim and the linked route optimisation Jsprit. The results revealed that electric trucks are not cost-effective as a stand-alone logistics measure for last-mile delivery in small- and medium-sized cities. However, combining electric trucks with other sustainable logistics measures, such as parcel shops and parcel lockers, results in a viable logistics measure for last-mile delivery. It is possible to reduce total transport costs by at least 5.4% and CO2 emissions by at least 61.1%. Hence, CEP service providers should replace diesel trucks with a mix of sustainable logistics measures for last-mile delivery in small- and medium-sized cities to achieve better operational efficiency and lesser environmental impacts.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Service provider", "City logistics", "Service (business)", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Service delivery framework", "Engineering", "Operations management", "Marketing", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 16, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://etrr.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12544-025-00706-z" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2953791940", "doi": null, "title": "Comparative Evaluation of Drone Delivery Systems in Last-Mile Delivery", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Oriol Garcia", "Antonius Santoso" ], "first_author": "Oriol Garcia", "venue": "DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)", "publisher": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology", "abstract": "With the latest technological advancement, the use of drones has emerged as an innovative and viable business solution for last-mile distribution. An efficient drone delivery system has to address the classic vehicle routing problem (VRP): \"What is the optimal set of routes for a fleet of drones to serve a given set of customers?.\" The goal of this research project is to evaluate the optimal design and operational performance of four different drone delivery systems, using real-life last-mile truck delivery data. The authors quantitatively model four different drone delivery systems, from a pure drone delivery system to an unsynchronized drone-truck system and compare their relative benefits and shortcomings under various scenarios. A Memetic Algorithm, an extension of a Genetic Algorithm, is developed and used to optimize delivery routes of truck and drones for all the four delivery models. Our research shows that Memetic Algorithm is quite robust handling VRP with 50 customers, yielding only 3.7% gap from the optimal solution. Among the four considered delivery models in this research, the Delivery System model 4 - where truck and drone share same area of service - performs superior than other three models, providing 100% coverage to all customers and reducing minimum tour time as high as 80%. The outcome of this research will help shape the quantitative and qualitative comparison of drone delivery systems and set the foundation for modelling and analysis of more advanced systems (e.g. synchronized truck-drone delivery system). It also helps industry to understand the possible use cases for drones in last-mile delivery and the most crucial levers of these models to maximize the performance of such drone delivery systems.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Delivery system", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Geography", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 6, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121319" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4236682781", "doi": "10.7708/ijtte.2020.10(2).04", "title": "LOGISTICS HUB LOCATION-SCHEDULING MODEL FOR INNER-CITY LAST MILE DELIVERIES", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-04-02", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [], "first_author": null, "venue": "International Journal for Traffic and Transport Engineering", "publisher": null, "abstract": "Logistics play a vital role in the prosperity of today's cities, but current urban logistics practices are proving problematic, causing negative effects such as traffic congestion and environmental impacts.This paper proposes an alternative urban logistics system, leasing hubs inside cities for designated time intervals and using handcarts for last mile deliveries.A mathematical model for selecting the locations of hubs and allocating customers, while also scheduling the optimal times during the day for leasing hubs is developed.The proposed model is compared to current delivery methods requiring door-to-door truck deliveries.It is shown that truck traveled distances decrease by more than 60%.In addition, analysis shows that in certain conditions the approach can be economically competitive and successfully applied to address real problems.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Inner city", "City logistics", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Environmental science", "Operations management", "Engineering", "Geography", "Geodesy" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.7708/ijtte.2020.10(2).04" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2020972374", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.123", "title": "New Subway-Integrated City Logistics Szystem", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jun Kikuta", "Tatsuhide Ito", "Izuru Tomiyama", "Shu Yamamoto", "Tadashi Yamada" ], "first_author": "Jun Kikuta", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "In this paper, we propose a new city logistics system by integrating public subway service with conventional freight vehicle operation to transport goods effectively from the suburbs to the city center. This system mitigates urban transport problems, such as traffic congestion, environmental impact, and delivery delay, particularly during winter when heavy snowfall impairs traffic operation. To verify the effectiveness of this system, we conducted a pilot project. From our pilot project, we found that this system can be expected to enhance the smooth flow of goods, reduce the number of on-street unloading vehicles, and protect the environment. We also confirmed that the public positively accepted this project.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Public transport", "Traffic congestion", "Service (business)", "Business", "Engineering", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 81, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812005903/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4313244217", "doi": "10.3390/su15010376", "title": "Pricing of the Bus-Truck Co-Delivery Mode of Last Mile Delivery Considering Social Welfare Maximization", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-12-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yunzhu He" ], "first_author": "Yunzhu He", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "In order to solve the problems of low delivery efficiency and high cost at the end of express delivery, and the impact of express trucks on urban road traffic, the co-delivery mode of trucks and buses is proposed. In this mode, without affecting the normal operation of the bus, it uses the idle resources of the bus to cooperate with the trucks to complete the delivery. The express company pays the bus delivery service fee to the bus operator, so as to improve the revenue of the bus operator. At the same time, the delivery efficiency can be improved, the express delivery cost can be reduced, and the impact of express trucks on urban traffic can be lower. A two-layer optimization model is constructed to solve the bus delivery service pricing and express space-time path selection scheme under the co-delivery mode. An example analysis is carried out through the actual bus routes and express delivery demand in Dalian. The results show that the co-delivery mode can provide consumers with more efficient services, reduce costs for express companies, provide additional revenue for bus operators, and improve social welfare. Unless the timeliness of delivery is extremely considered, the measure of using the co-delivery mode is better than the measure of relaxing restrictions on express delivery vehicles.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Revenue", "Last mile (transportation)", "Mode (computer interface)", "Computer science", "Business", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Mile", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 5, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/1/376/pdf?version=1672053042" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4392565526", "doi": "10.54033/icmr-003", "title": "STRATEGIC ANALYSIS FOR A TRUCK-DRONE HYBRID MODEL IN LAST MILE DELIVERY", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-09", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "José Francisco Tezei", "Claudia Regina De Freitas", "Antonio Lombardi Neto", "Paulo Cesar Chagas Rodrigues", "José Roberto Dale Luche" ], "first_author": "José Francisco Tezei", "venue": "International Contemporary Management Review", "publisher": null, "abstract": "The delivery sector, already on an upward trend prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, experienced a significant boost in demand for its services during the pandemic. However, the most expensive aspect for companies in this domain is the 'last mile' delivery costs, which can account for up to 45% of total logistics expenses. In light of this, our paper presents a study aiming to leverage this market trend to reduce company costs. We propose a hybrid model combining trucks and drones for last-mile delivery and conduct a market analysis for a company interested in developing this model. Drone deliveries are anticipated to grow at an annual rate of approximately 45%, outpacing the overall sector. This market outlook presents a compelling opportunity for entrepreneurs: the market is nascent, with a noticeable upward trend in both demand and investment. The truck-drone hybrid model, being up to 70% faster and 60% less expensive compared to traditional methods, offers dual benefits: enhanced customer satisfaction with lower expenditure, and reduced operational costs for companies while improving service quality. Despite pending regulatory challenges, the prevailing trend in technology advancements and major retailers' interest suggests a favorable outlook for legal approvals. As a novel technology, it naturally encounters some skepticism. Furthermore, drone usage has positive environmental implications, whether through alternative energy sources or traffic reduction, aligning well with the current ESG-driven market trends.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Aeronautics", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Business", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://icmreview.com/icmr/article/download/65/39" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2781622569", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2017.12.011", "title": "Predicting travel pattern changes of freight trucks in the Tokyo Metropolitan area based on the latest large-scale urban freight survey and route choice modeling", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-01-02", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Hideki Oka", "Yasukatsu Hagino", "Takeshi Kenmochi", "Ryota Tani", "Ryuta Nishi", "Kotaro Endo", "Daisuke Fukuda" ], "first_author": "Hideki Oka", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Metropolitan area", "Transport engineering", "Scale (ratio)", "Ring road", "Geography", "Engineering", "Cartography", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 45, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2017.12.011" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2466552080", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2016.05.115", "title": "Zero Emission City Logistics: Current Practices in Freight Electromobility and Feasibility in the Near Future", "year": 2016, "publication_date": "2016-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Hans J. Quak", "Nina Nikolaevna Nesterova", "T. van Rooijen", "Yanjie Dong" ], "first_author": "Hans J. Quak", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper examines the feasibility of using electric powered vehicles in urban freight transport from a carrier's perspective, including their attitudes towards electric freight vehicles (EFVs) and all relevant elements affecting this business case, such as: technological features, existing restricting and promoting policies, financial and non-financial incentives, type of operations, urban settings and logistics organization. We look at the business cases for different truck sizes, varying from small vans to large trucks, in relation to the logistics requirements. This contribution combines the relevant urban freight transport solution directions: technology (both for the vehicle and the supporting IT), logistics and policy. The attitudes of the different EFVs user groups are also taken into account. Only if all these elements support each other, a feasible case can be possible at this moment. We look at the current business case and make conclusions on where it is necessary to act in the near future in order to increase an uptake of electric freight vehicles. For this analysis we use the data collected from current demonstrations that are actually running in the European FP7 project FREVUE, which includes over 100 electric-powered vehicles in the cities of Amsterdam, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Oslo, Rotterdam, and Stockholm. This data includes operational, attitudinal and financial data for the before situation in which conventional vehicles were used and for the first year(s) where electric vehicles were operated.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Zero emission", "Incentive", "Order (exchange)", "City logistics", "Traffic management", "Business", "Finance", "Engineering", "Economics", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 76, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146516301168/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2917505233", "doi": "10.1186/s12544-019-0349-5", "title": "Measuring delivery route cost trade-offs between electric-assist cargo bicycles and delivery trucks in dense urban areas", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-02-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Manali Sheth", "Polina Butrina", "Anne Goodchild", "Edward D. McCormack" ], "first_author": "Manali Sheth", "venue": "European Transport Research Review", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "Completing urban freight deliveries is increasingly a challenge in congested urban areas, particularly when delivery trucks are required to meet time windows. Depending on the route characteristics, Electric Assist (EA) cargo bicycles may serve as an economically viable alternative to delivery trucks. The purpose of this paper is to compare the delivery route cost trade-offs between box delivery trucks and EA cargo bicycles that have the same route and delivery characteristics, and to explore the question, under what conditions do EA cargo bikes perform at a lower cost than typical delivery trucks? The independent variables, constant variables, and assumptions used for the cost function comparison model were gathered through data collection and a literature review. A delivery route in Seattle was observed and used as the base case; the same route was then modelled using EA cargo bicycles. Four separate delivery scenarios were modeled to evaluate how the following independent route characteristics would impact delivery route cost - distance between a distribution center (DC) and a neighborhood, number of stops, distance between each stop, and number of parcels per stop. The analysis shows that three of the four modeled route characteristics affect the cost trade-offs between delivery trucks and EA cargo bikes. EA cargo bikes are more cost effective than delivery trucks for deliveries in close proximity to the DC (less than 2 miles for the observed delivery route with 50 parcels per stop and less than 6 miles for the hypothetical delivery route with 10 parcels per stop) and at which there is a high density of residential units and low delivery volumes per stop. Delivery trucks are more cost effective for greater distances from the DC and for large volume deliveries to one stop.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Food delivery", "Engineering", "Computer science", "Business", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 122, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12544-019-0349-5" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2809183503", "doi": "10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.125", "title": "Dynamic management of loading bays for energy efficient urban freight deliveries", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-06-19", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Tomislav Letnik", "Alessandro Farina", "Matej Mencinger", "Marino Lupi", "Stanislav Božičnik" ], "first_author": "Tomislav Letnik", "venue": "Energy", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer science", "Environmental science", "Fuzzy logic", "Operations research", "Civil engineering", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 55, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544218311903" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2990601306", "doi": "10.1287/trsc.2017.0791", "title": "Optimization Approaches for the Traveling Salesman Problem with Drone", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-04-06", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Niels A.H. Agatz", "Paul Bouman", "Marie Evans Schmidt" ], "first_author": "Niels A.H. Agatz", "venue": "Transportation Science", "publisher": "Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences", "abstract": "The fast and cost-efficient home delivery of goods ordered online is logistically challenging. Many companies are looking for new ways to cross the last mile to their customers. One technology-enabled opportunity that recently has received much attention is the use of drones to support deliveries. An innovative last-mile delivery concept in which a truck collaborates with a drone to make deliveries gives rise to a new variant of the traveling salesman problem (TSP) that we call the TSP with drone. In this paper, we model this problem as an integer program and develop several fast route-first, cluster-second heuristics based on local search and dynamic programming. We prove worst-case approximation ratios for the heuristics and test their performance by comparing the solutions to the optimal solutions for small instances. In addition, we apply our heuristics to several artificial instances with different characteristics and sizes. Our experiments show that substantial savings are possible with this concept compared to truck-only delivery. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2017.0791 .", "keywords": [ "Travelling salesman problem", "Drone", "Heuristics", "Truck", "Computer science", "Mathematical optimization", "Vehicle routing problem", "Local search (optimization)", "Operations research", "Lin–Kernighan heuristic", "2-opt", "Routing (electronic design automation)" ], "cited_by_count": 1037, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://repub.eur.nl/pub/78472/ERS-2015-011-062016.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3007159332", "doi": "10.3390/wevj11010016", "title": "Are Battery-Electric Trucks for 24-Hour Delivery the Future of City Logistics?—A German Case Study", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-02-17", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Cornelius Moll", "Patrick Plötz", "Karsten Hadwich", "Martin Wietschel" ], "first_author": "Cornelius Moll", "venue": "World Electric Vehicle Journal", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Especially in urban areas, a large proportion of air pollution can be attributed to road traffic. Thus, in many countries, bans are being discussed on diesel vehicles in inner cities. These diesel bans pose a severe threat to logistics service providers (LSPs) that are active in city logistics, since their fleets are based on diesel-powered vehicles. One solution for LSPs is to introduce battery-electric heavy-duty trucks (HDTs). However, this is rarely done at present, due to high investment costs of such trucks. In order to compensate these high investments, high mileages are required in order to benefit from such vehicles’ low operating costs. Implementing 24-hour delivery would increase the daily mileage of HDTs. Because of noise emission regulations, 24-hour delivery could only be performed using battery-electric HDTs. In this study, we explore whether using battery-electric HDTs for 24-hour delivery is economical for LSPs. We use data from a German LSP in food logistics, develop a system dynamics model, and integrate a total cost of ownership calculation along with an LSP and a retail store discrete choice model to determine whether 24-hour delivery with battery-electric HDTs is profitable for the LSP, and how it might be accepted and diffused among stores. We find that 24-hour delivery using battery-electric HDTs is immediately profitable. This is due to the almost 50% increase in the daily trip potential of battery-electric HDTs in comparison to diesel HDTs, which leads to a lower required total number of HDTs in the fleet. Lower transportation costs, increased delivery quality, and decreased risk lead to rapid adoption of 24-hour delivery among stores, while lower total costs of ownership (TCO) accelerate the adoption by the LSP. Diffusion through the fleet and stores takes only slightly longer than one HDT lifetime. Consequently, 24-hour delivery with battery-electric HDTs is a promising solution for innovative and sustainable city logistics.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Total cost of ownership", "Battery (electricity)", "Order (exchange)", "Business", "Battery electric vehicle", "Transport engineering", "Environmental economics", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Finance", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 25, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2032-6653/11/1/16/pdf?version=1585221161" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3173554082", "doi": "10.1186/s12544-021-00491-5", "title": "Assesment of the potential of cargo bikes and electrification for last-mile parcel delivery by means of simulation of urban freight flows", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-06-17", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Carlos Llorca", "Rolf Moeckel" ], "first_author": "Carlos Llorca", "venue": "European Transport Research Review", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "Abstract Background The paper presents a simulation model for freight. In the paper, this model is applied to understand the impacts of electric vans and cargo bikes for the last-mile delivery of parcels. Cargo bikes are electrically assisted vehicles that distribute parcels from micro depots located close to the final customers by means of short tours. The parcels are sent from the major distribution center to micro depots in vans (called feeders). Materials and methods An agent-based model is used for the purpose of the paper. The model is based on the disaggregation of commodity flows to represent trucks (for all commodities) and individual shipments (for parcel deliveries). The model represents microscopically every freight vehicle in the study area. Results The simulation of various scenarios with different shares of cargo bikes and electric vans assesses the impacts of electrification and cargo bikes. The use of cargo bikes to deliver parcels allows to reduce the number of motorized vehicles, although the presence of large parcels requires that at least half of deliveries by vans are still required. The shift to cargo bikes represents a slight increase in the total operating time to deliver the parcel demand. With low shares of cargo bikes, the total distance traveled increases, since the reduction of van tours cannot compensate the additional feeder trips from distribution centers to micro depots. The cargo bikes also do not reduce the number of vehicles for the served area, but modify the composition of vehicle types. Low noise, smaller, low emission vehicles increase, while delivery vans are reduced. Conclusion Both cargo bikes and electric vans are able to reduce CO2 emissions, even after accounting for the emissions related to electricity production.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Electrification", "Transport engineering", "Last mile (transportation)", "TRIPS architecture", "Mile", "Vehicle miles of travel", "Rush hour", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Electricity", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 77, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://etrr.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12544-021-00491-5" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4394008312", "doi": "10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2024.103854", "title": "Estimation of stops of last-mile delivery vehicles: An application in the food industry in the city of Santiago de Chile", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-04-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Franco Basso", "Matías Núñez", "Germán Paredes-Belmar", "Raúl Pezoa", "Mauricio Varas" ], "first_author": "Franco Basso", "venue": "Journal of Transport Geography", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Food delivery", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Business", "Geography", "Advertising" ], "cited_by_count": 9, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2024.103854" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2560223518", "doi": "10.3846/transport.2018.6593", "title": "MULTI-STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION IN URBAN FREIGHT CONSOLIDATION SCHEMES: DRIVERS AND BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTATION", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-12-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniela Paddeu", "Graham Parkhurst", "Gianfranco Fancello", "Paolo Fadda", "Miriam Ricci" ], "first_author": "Daniela Paddeu", "venue": "Transport", "publisher": "Vilnius Gediminas Technical University", "abstract": "Due to the motivations of climate change, the health impacts of poor air quality, and the importance of cities for economic growth, transport policy at all levels of governance places emphasis on reducing and managing urban traffic and congestion. Whilst the majority of urban traffic is created by personal travel, freight vehicles make a relatively large contribution per vehicle to congestion, pollution and severe accidents. The European Commission (EC 2011) estimates that 6% of all EU transport carbon emissions are from urban freight. For these reasons, a well-structured portfolio of measures and policies oriented towards more sustainable and efficient management of supply chain activities carried out in urban areas is needed, in order to reduce negative externalities related to urban mobility and improve economic performance. In recent years, there has been enthusiasm amongst commentators that shared-resource economic models can both create new commercial opportunities and address policy problems, including in the transport sector. Within the city logistics subsector, this new model is exemplified by the emergence of Urban freight Consolidation Centres (UCCs). UCCs replace multiple ‘last-mile’ delivery movements, many of which involving small consignments, by a common receiving point (the consolidation centre), normally on the periphery of a city, with the final part of the delivery being shared by the consignments in a small freight vehicle. Such arrangements can represent a good compromise between the needs of city centre businesses and their customers on the one hand (i.e. high availability of a range of goods) and local and global sustainability objectives on the other. At the same time, by sharing logistics facilities and delivery vehicles, UCCs offer added-value services to both urban economic actors, such as retailers, and network logistics providers. However, UCCs add to the complexity of logistics chains, requiring additional contracts, communications and movement stages. These arrangements also introduce additional actors within the supply of delivery services, notably local authorities present as promoters and funders, rather than simply as regulators, companies specialised in the UCC operation, and companies, which provide specialist technologies, such as electric delivery vehicles. UCCs therefore also represent an example of multi-stakeholder collaboration. Drawing on the results of a 2013 survey in Bristol (United Kingdom) and a further survey carried out in 2015 in Cagliari (Italy), the present paper will provide an in-depth comparison of the differences in the perceptions of urban freight users and stakeholders towards UCCs. Retailers involved in the survey carried out in Bristol showed high satisfaction with the delivery service provided by the UCC. Different topic areas (e.g. timeliness, reliability, safety) are examined through analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data. The survey carried out in Cagliari investigated the inclination of potential users to join a UCC scheme. The comparison between the two cities considers factors such as the nature of business holding (e.g. SME versus multiple retailers), operational practices (e.g. pattern of deliveries) and operating subsector (e.g. food versus no food). An analysis on the barriers to the implementation of UCCs in Bristol and in Cagliari is provided at the end of the paper.", "keywords": [ "Business", "Externality", "Traffic congestion", "Sustainability", "Sustainable transport", "Consolidation (business)", "Transport engineering", "Environmental planning", "Finance", "Economics", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 66, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://journals.vgtu.lt/index.php/Transport/article/download/6593/5708" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4399209191", "doi": "10.1016/j.trb.2024.102970", "title": "Hybrid truck–drone delivery under aerial traffic congestion", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-05-31", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ruifeng She", "Yanfeng Ouyang" ], "first_author": "Ruifeng She", "venue": "Transportation Research Part B Methodological", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper focuses on a hybrid truck–drone delivery system, in which a truck carries goods and a fleet of drones around the neighborhoods of customers, while the drones are dispatched from the truck to perform the last-mile delivery. We formulate a continuous traffic equilibrium model in the form of partial differential equations (PDEs) to describe the optimal drone routing and truck–drone synchronization strategies when low-altitude aerial traffic congestion arises in large-scale steady-state operations. A customized solution algorithm is then developed, using a physics-informed neural network framework and various enhancement techniques, to efficiently solve the PDEs. The PDE solution is then used to evaluate the operational cost of a truck–drone delivery system, through a dimensionless surrogate model, which further provides the basis for optimizing several service design decisions, such as truck speed, truck routing plan and delivery headway. Numerical experiments are conducted to show the applicability of the proposed modeling framework, and to draw managerial insights for logistics carriers.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Traffic congestion", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Aeronautics", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 44, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2024.102970" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2171277685", "doi": null, "title": "Micro-Simulation Model for Modeling Freight Agents Interactions in Urban Freight Movement", "year": 2007, "publication_date": "2007-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kazushi Sano", "Shoji Matsumoto" ], "first_author": "Kazushi Sano", "venue": "Transportation Research Board 86th Annual MeetingTransportation Research Board", "publisher": null, "abstract": "This paper proposed a micro-simulation model for urban freight movement, in which the behavior of freight agents and their interaction in supply chains are incorporated. The proposed model is a modification of the traditional four-step approach in that it considers the behavior of each freight agent individually. This paper covers three of the four steps of the traditional approach, including commodity production and consumption, commodity distribution, and conversion of commodity flows to truck flows. The results from the model will be truck OD matrices and the approximated VKT of trucks by each truck type. The proposed model utilizes the concepts on logistics and operation research to explain the behavior of each freight agent while dealing with freight movement. This paper will discuss the issues on the model framework, model formulations, and validation results of the model applying to analyze the urban freight movement in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Metropolitan area", "Commodity", "Transport engineering", "Supply chain", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Engineering", "Business", "Automotive engineering", "Geography", "Marketing" ], "cited_by_count": 73, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://www.laet.science/IMG/pdf/28-1.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4390796367", "doi": "10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2024.01.014", "title": "Numerical modelling of a single-compression multi-temperature ejector-supported R744 refrigeration unit for last mile delivery", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-12", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Francesco Fabris", "Jakub Bodys", "Sergio Marinetti", "Silvia Minetto", "Jacek Smołka", "Antonio Rossetti" ], "first_author": "Francesco Fabris", "venue": "International Journal of Refrigeration", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "A novel R744 vapor-compression refrigeration system has been developed to meet the cooling needs of a medium-size refrigerated truck at two temperature levels: 4-5 kW for medium-temperature (MT) refrigeration at 0°C and 1-2 kW for low-temperature (LT) refrigeration at -20°C. This system is designed for transporting chilled and frozen goods efficiently during last-mile deliveries in urban areas. The key innovation of this system lies in its single compression stage with two different evaporation levels. Firstly, the unit incorporates an MT ejector to enhance energy efficiency by reducing the compressor pressure ratio. Furthermore, an LT ejector is employed to allow providing LT cooling with a single-stage compressor by pre-compressing vapor before it enters the compressor, avoiding excessive compression ratios. This extends the LT operational range with a single stage of compression from 34°C to 40°C ambient temperature. When the ambient temperature is not sufficient to sustain the ejector cycle, the system can switch to a back-pressure cycle. A numerical model of this refrigeration system has been developed to evaluate its steady-state and dynamic performance in both back-pressure and ejector configurations. For a specific cooling effect production (3.8 kW in MT, 1.1 kW in LT operation), the ejector cycle increases the COP by 25.8% for MT and 42.0% for LT operation compared to the back-pressure cycle. However, the back-pressure cycle offers greater flexibility in cooling power production, ranging from -32.8% to +8.2% for MT and -8.9% to +82.5% for LT, making it useful for pulldown and part-load operations.", "keywords": [ "Refrigeration", "Injector", "Gas compressor", "Cooling capacity", "Vapor-compression refrigeration", "Overall pressure ratio", "Nuclear engineering", "Coefficient of performance", "Back pressure", "Environmental science", "Automotive engineering", "Materials science" ], "cited_by_count": 10, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140700724000239/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2771137816", "doi": null, "title": "Drones for Commercial Last-Mile Deliveries: A Discussion of Logistical, Environmental, and Economic Trade-Offs", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Miguel Figliozzi" ], "first_author": "Miguel Figliozzi", "venue": "PDXScholar (Portland State University)", "publisher": "Portland State University", "abstract": "There are no studies that model the potential effectiveness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones to reduce CO2e lifecycle (including both utilization and vehicle phase) emissions when compared to conventional diesel vans, electric trucks, electric vans, and tricycles. This study presents a novel analysis of lifecycle UAV and ground commercial vehicles CO2e emissions.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Drone", "Last mile (transportation)", "Business", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1430&context=cengin_fac" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4313017794", "doi": "10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.10.212", "title": "Optimal models for autonomous trucks and drones resupply for last-mile delivery in urban areas", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Zhe Yuan", "Simon HERVE" ], "first_author": "Zhe Yuan", "venue": "IFAC-PapersOnLine", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "The last-mile delivery in urban areas is the biggest challenge for carriers. In recent years, e-commerce has experienced strong growth, which has caused an explosion in the number of packages to be delivered. Businesses no longer hesitate to invest in new technologies such as artificial intelligence and drones. In this paper, we present a model of autonomous truck delivery resupply by drones, introducing the concept of transshipment point. Through comparisons with other delivery models, we show that our solution can be economically viable and improve the lives of inhabitants and customers.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Transshipment (information security)", "Mile", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Point (geometry)", "Business", "Engineering", "Computer security", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.10.212" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4406978973", "doi": "10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101303", "title": "The impacts of alternative last mile delivery networks: Exploring the options besides zero emission technology", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-01-30", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Bram Kin", "Hans J. Quak" ], "first_author": "Bram Kin", "venue": "Research in Transportation Business & Management", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Zero (linguistics)", "Zero emission", "Environmental science", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Geography", "Waste management" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101303" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4383894985", "doi": "10.59973/emjsr.11", "title": "Last mile delivery Optimisation model for drone-enabled Vehicle Routing Problem", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-07-11", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ismail Tausif" ], "first_author": "Ismail Tausif", "venue": "Emerging Minds Journal for Student Research", "publisher": null, "abstract": "In light of e-commerce's exponential growth trajectory over recent years, it has never been more critical to evaluate the last-mile delivery segment for its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Autonomous vehicles (drones) offer considerable promise as potential solutions with ongoing investigations into emerging technologies in this context. To address problems related to last mile-delivery in logistics operations, the practicality of adopting a hybrid truck-drone delivery system is examined through this study. The researchers utilized Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP)and Gurobi optimization solvers both for optimizing performance as well as facilitating execution. While testing a drone dataset of a well-known logistics company as part of their research using an optimization model, the findings suggested that were remarkable competitive advantages including significant gains in reduction of timing. Nevertheless, there are several constraints like maintenance, recharging, difficult weather conditions & traffic congestion-necessitating focused innovative AI-based approaches. In spite of these impediments, a hybrid truck-drone’s potential applicability can remarkably boost the efficiency of last-mile delivery operations.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Context (archaeology)", "Integer programming", "Mile", "Vehicle routing problem", "Operations research", "Transport engineering", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Linear programming" ], "cited_by_count": 6, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://ipipublishing.org/index.php/emjsr/article/download/11/14" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4414449054", "doi": "10.1080/00207543.2025.2557530", "title": "An innovative framework integrating MILP and a parallel optimal algorithm for UAV-Enabled last-Mile delivery", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-09-23", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Arash Amirteimoori", "Reza Kia", "Moataz Mohamed", "Gerhard‐Wilhelm Weber" ], "first_author": "Arash Amirteimoori", "venue": "International Journal of Production Research", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "Urban last-mile delivery faces scalability, cost, and environmental challenges due to truck-based systems’ congestion and emissions. This study proposes a Customer-Centric UAV Last-Mile Delivery (CULMD) framework, eliminating truck dependency by optimising UAV routing, charging infrastructure, and sequencing for sustainable urban logistics. We introduce the Parallel Optimal Algorithm with MILP (POAM), a novel approach that decomposes the problem into two sub-problems: parallelised exact combinatorial optimisation for tour and parcel allocation, and MILP-based routing. POAM leverages multi-core CPU parallelisation to solve tour allocation across multiple regions and delivery windows concurrently, ensuring global optimality while reducing runtime by 21.5% compared to the Two-Stage Model (TSM) and 16-fold compared to the Integrated Model (IM). It outperforms metaheuristics like the Artificial Lemming Algorithm (ALA) and Hybrid Genetic Algorithm with Type-Aware Chromosomes (HGATAC+) by 12% and 11% in objective value, respectively. Sensitivity analyses show a 20% increase in regions cuts runtime by 68%, and a 20% increase in UAV load capacity reduces it by 22%. The CULMD framework, powered by POAM, advances sustainable logistics by minimising costs and environmental impacts, offering scalable solutions for urban delivery systems.", "keywords": [ "Optimal design", "Production (economics)", "Minification", "Key (lock)", "Algorithm design", "Efficient algorithm" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2025.2557530" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1971162705", "doi": "10.1016/j.rtbm.2014.06.005", "title": "Green city logistics: Systems of Innovation to assess the potential of E-vehicles", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-07-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Athena Roumboutsos", "Seraphim Kapros", "Thierry Vanelslander" ], "first_author": "Athena Roumboutsos", "venue": "Research in Transportation Business & Management", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Externality", "Context (archaeology)", "Order (exchange)", "Business", "Software deployment", "Process (computing)", "Environmental economics", "Industrial organization", "Transport engineering", "Computer science", "Economics", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 78, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2014.06.005" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3019822720", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.116", "title": "Urban Freight Vehicle Flows: an Analysis of Freight Delivery Patterns through Floating Car Data", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Agostino Nuzzolo", "Antonio Comi", "Antonio Polimeni" ], "first_author": "Agostino Nuzzolo", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "The assessment procedures of city logistics scenarios require the simulation of freight transport demand and hence the estimation of freight vehicle origin-destination (O-D) flows. These O-D flows can be obtained from the simulation of delivery tours. Therefore, the paper recalls a system of models able to simulate delivery tours using an aggregate approach proposed by the authors and presents the propaedeutic analysis for setting up such a tool. The data come from a dataset of commercial vehicles operating in the Veneto Region (Italy) for which floating car data (FCD) of 60 operating-days were available. The analysis allowed us to investigate the current patters of delivering tours and to point out some evidences on which models for delivering simulation can be based.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Aggregate (composite)", "Point (geometry)", "Computer science", "Traffic management", "Operations research", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 21, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146520303136/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2982680779", "doi": "10.25046/aj040534", "title": "Proposal Methodology of Planning and Location of Loading/Unloading Spaces for Urban Freight Vehicle: A Case Study", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Imane Moufad", "Fouad Jawab" ], "first_author": "Imane Moufad", "venue": "Advances in Science Technology and Engineering Systems Journal", "publisher": "Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal (ASTESJ)", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Business", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 23, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.25046/aj040534" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2592575999", "doi": "10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.03.001", "title": "Spatial reorganization of urban logistics system and its impacts: Case of Tokyo", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-03-08", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Takanori Sakai", "Kazuya Kawamura", "Tetsuro Hyodo" ], "first_author": "Takanori Sakai", "venue": "Journal of Transport Geography", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Metropolitan area", "Decentralization", "Truck", "Restructuring", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "City logistics", "Offset (computer science)", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Geography", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 73, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://oacis.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2206/files/AA11009374_60-110.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1997676153", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.127", "title": "A GPS Analysis for Urban Freight Distribution", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Julio Comendador", "María Eugenia López Lambas", "Andrés Monzón de Cáceres" ], "first_author": "Julio Comendador", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Daily life in urban centers has led to increasing and more demanding freight requirements. Manufacturers, retailers and other urban agents have thus tended towards more frequent and smaller deliveries, resulting in a growing use of light freight vehicles (<3.5 ton). This paper characterizes and analyzes urban freight distribution in order to generate new ways of understanding the phenomenon. Based on a case study of two different-sized Spanish cities using data from GPS, a vehicle observation survey and complementary driver's interviews, the authors propose a categorization of urban freight distribution. The results confirm GPS as a useful tool that allows the integration of dynamic traffic assignment data and diverse traffic operation patterns during different day periods, thereby improving delivery performance.", "keywords": [ "Global Positioning System", "Transport engineering", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Categorization", "City logistics", "Order (exchange)", "Computer science", "Traffic management", "Business", "Engineering", "Telecommunications" ], "cited_by_count": 46, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812005940/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2621471909", "doi": "10.1016/j.cstp.2017.06.001", "title": "The Bristol-Bath Urban freight Consolidation Centre from the perspective of its users", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-06-10", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Daniela Paddeu" ], "first_author": "Daniela Paddeu", "venue": "Case Studies on Transport Policy", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Consolidation (business)", "City logistics", "Business", "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Last mile (transportation)", "Traffic congestion", "City centre", "Operations management", "Engineering", "Finance", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 59, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/33307/7/The%20Bristol-Bath%20Urban%20freight%20Consolidation%20Centre%20from%20the%20perspective%20of%20its%20users_Last%20version.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3122244196", "doi": "10.3390/su13031169", "title": "From Drive-By-Wire to Autonomous Vehicle: Urban Freight Vehicle Perspectives", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-01-22", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Khayyam Masood", "Matteo Zoppi", "Vincent Frémont", "Rezia Molfino" ], "first_author": "Khayyam Masood", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Freight Urban RoBOTic vehicle (FURBOT) is a complete drive-by-wire vehicle expected to perform autonomously in an urban setting. This upgrading has raised issues that need to be resolved/addressed for the vehicle to achieve a higher level of autonomy. This research addresses two of these main issues. The First is the legal framework/licensing issue necessary to be addressed for the vehicle to be insured and legally drive on public roads. The second is the changes and upgrading the vehicle must go through to become a complete autonomous freight handling vehicle. The outcome of this research led to the decision for correct categorization of the vehicle for resolving its licensing issue and its legal status on the European roads by understanding the limitations of the vehicle, which includes vehicle current state and its structural properties. An additional contribution of this research is identifying the software and hardware changes the vehicle has to go through to be fully autonomous. This includes identification of correct sensors and their placement and quantities. In addition, in-depth study for software identification for the vehicle is provided resulting in favorable choice for an off-the-shelf software. Additionally, foreseeable issues, expectations from the vehicle and requirements (considering its demonstration as an autonomous vehicle) that need to be fulfilled are also highlighted. For demonstration site, use cases and site dynamics are also studied for achieving autonomy. Fulfillment of these requirements is necessary for the vehicle to demonstrate autonomous navigation and freight handling for SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) H2020 project for delivering freight in an urban setting.", "keywords": [ "Identification (biology)", "Automation", "Software", "Autonomy", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Fleet management", "State (computer science)", "Computer science", "Risk analysis (engineering)", "Automotive engineering", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 16, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031169" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4391429228", "doi": "10.1109/peeec60561.2023.00062", "title": "Multiple Optimization Methods of Automatic Application in Last-mile Delivery System", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-09-25", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ruili Yao" ], "first_author": "Ruili Yao", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "The last mile delivery as the significant realized step of parcel reaching to the customer in the supply chain system. As the e-commerce and pandemic affections, the parcel volumes bring hard time for the current freight system. Thus, the alternative delivery methods combine with truck and robotics proposed a feasible solution for the transportation industry. This article is a literature review about the delivery robot’s applications operation methods. Firstly, the significance of robot in the last mile delivery is analyzed. Secondly, the basic operation and delivery methods of the robot are introduced from the ground layer and three-dimensional space respectively. Then the existing robot control application operation and network design models are analyzed. Finally, based on the operational methods and models, this paper analyzes and summarizes the limitations of the last kilometer delivery system, and its future development is prospected.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Delivery system", "System optimization", "Engineering", "Mathematical optimization", "Mathematics", "Geography", "Biomedical engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 5, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/peeec60561.2023.00062" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3130993049", "doi": "10.1016/j.scs.2021.102794", "title": "Understanding barriers and enablers of electric vehicles in urban freight transport: Addressing stakeholder needs in Turkey", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-02-24", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Şükrü İmre", "Dilay Çelebi", "Funda Koca" ], "first_author": "Şükrü İmre", "venue": "Sustainable Cities and Society", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Traffic management", "Business", "Software deployment", "Stakeholder", "Electricity", "Transport engineering", "Early adopter", "Environmental economics", "Marketing", "Engineering", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 78, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.102794" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2973485708", "doi": "10.25394/pgs.8028974.v1", "title": "Analysis of Energy Efficiency in Truck-Drone “Last Mile” Delivery Systems", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-06-10", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Juan Carlos Moreno Orozco" ], "first_author": "Juan Carlos Moreno Orozco", "venue": "Figshare", "publisher": "Figshare (United Kingdom)", "abstract": "Truck-drone delivery systems have the potential to improve how the logistics industry approaches the “last mile problem”. For the purposes of this study, the “last mile” refers to the portion of the journey between the last transportation hub and the individual customer that will consume the product. Drones can deliver packages directly, without the need for an underlying transportation network but are limited by their range and payload capacity. Studies have developed multiple truck-drone configurations, each with different approaches to leverage the benefits and mitigate the limitations of drones. Existing research has also established the drone’s reduction to package delivery time over the traditional truck only model. Two key model factors that have not been considered in previous research are the distribution of package demand, and the distribution of package weight. This study analyzes the drone’s impact to the energy efficiency of a package delivery system, which has taken a backseat to minimizing delivery time. Demand distribution dictates the travel distances required for package delivery, as well as the proportion of delivery locations that are in range for drone delivery. Package weight determines the energy consumption of a delivery and further restricts the proportion of drone eligible packages. The major contributions of this study are the development of a truck-drone tandem mathematical model which minimizes energy consumption, the construction of a population-based package demand distribution, a realistic package weight distribution, and a genetic algorithm used to solve the mathematical model developed for problems that are too computationally expensive to be solved optimally using an exact method. Results show that drones can only have a significant impact to energy efficiency in package delivery systems if implemented under the right conditions. Using truck-drone tandem systems in areas with lower package demand density affords the drone the potential for larger energy savings as larger portions of the truck distance can be replaced. Further, the lower density translates to greater differences between the road-restricted driving distance and the flying distance between delivery points. Finally, energy savings are highly dependent on the underlying package weight distribution of the system. A heavier average package weight increases the energy consumption of the system, but more importantly the portion of packages above the drone’s payload capacity severely limit the savings afforded by the incorporation of drones.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Last mile (transportation)", "Truck", "Energy consumption", "Payload (computing)", "Engineering", "Transport engineering", "Population", "Leverage (statistics)", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 2, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://figshare.com/articles/Analysis_of_Energy_Efficiency_in_Truck-Drone_Last_Mile_Delivery_Systems/8028974" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4391103450", "doi": "10.3390/drones8010027", "title": "Truck-Drone Delivery Optimization Based on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-20", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Zhiliang Bi", "Xiwang Guo", "Jiacun Wang", "Shujin Qin", "Guanjun Liu" ], "first_author": "Zhiliang Bi", "venue": "Drones", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "In recent years, the adoption of truck–drone collaborative delivery has emerged as an innovative approach to enhance transportation efficiency and minimize the depletion of human resources. Such a model simultaneously addresses the endurance limitations of drones and the time wastage incurred during the “last-mile” deliveries by trucks. Trucks serve not only as a carrier platform for drones but also as storage hubs and energy sources for these unmanned aerial vehicles. Drawing from the distinctive attributes of truck–drone collaborative delivery, this research has created a multi-drone delivery environment utilizing the MPE library. Furthermore, a spectrum of optimization techniques has been employed to enhance the algorithm’s efficacy within the truck–drone distribution system. Finally, a comparative analysis is conducted with other multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms within the same environment, thus affirming the rationality of the problem formulation and highlighting the algorithm’s superior performance.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Reinforcement learning", "Computer science", "Food delivery", "Transport engineering", "Simulation", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Artificial intelligence", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 40, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/8/1/27/pdf?version=1705903587" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2076208532", "doi": "10.1016/j.tra.2012.05.005", "title": "Assessing air quality and health benefits of the Clean Truck Program in the Alameda corridor, CA", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-06-14", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Gunwoo Lee", "Soyoung Iris You", "Stephen G. Ritchie", "Jean-Daniel M. Saphores", "R. Jayakrishnan", "Oladele A. Ogunseitan" ], "first_author": "Gunwoo Lee", "venue": "Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Downtown", "Air quality index", "Particulates", "Environmental science", "Transport engineering", "Air pollution", "Pollutant", "Baseline (sea)", "Meteorology", "Environmental engineering", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 61, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2012.05.005" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3120782450", "doi": "10.1109/access.2021.3050658", "title": "A New Truck-Drone Routing Problem for Parcel Delivery Services Aided by Parking Lots", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Javier E. Gómez-Lagos", "Alfredo Candia-Véjar", "Flavio Encina" ], "first_author": "Javier E. Gómez-Lagos", "venue": "IEEE Access", "publisher": "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", "abstract": "Collaborative routing aided by drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) has been an extensively studied topic in recent years. In this article, a new optimization problem for collaborative routing with a truck and a fleet of drones in LMD is introduced. The problem proposes a new strategy to coordinate a truck and a fleet of drones to serve a given set of customers. The plan is based on identifying the locations where the truck can park and where the drones fly to serve the customers. A procedure to locate these parking lots conveniently is given. For the transportation network, which includes these points, a mixed linear integer programming formulation is provided, which aims to minimize the makespan of serving all the customers. Computational experiments on a set of problem instances were conducted to analyze the model solutions' characteristics and find their computational limits. The experiments showed that the proposed model could significantly improve the results obtained when only the truck delivers. Additionally, we propose a GRASP metaheuristic to solve instances of greater size. Its computational performance was studied when applied to a set of instances with different characteristics. The paper discusses some insights obtained from the computational experimentation and presents future research directions.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Drone", "Computer science", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Metaheuristic", "GRASP", "Integer programming", "Vehicle routing problem", "Set (abstract data type)", "Plan (archaeology)", "Job shop scheduling", "Operations research" ], "cited_by_count": 50, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/6287639/9312710/09319131.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4398225846", "doi": "10.1007/978-3-031-60603-8_27", "title": "Online Drone Scheduling for Last-Mile Delivery", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Saswata Jana", "Giuseppe Francesco Italiano", "Manas Jyoti Kashyop", "Athanasios L. Konstantinidis", "Evangelos Kosinas", "Partha Sarathi Mandal" ], "first_author": "Saswata Jana", "venue": "Lecture notes in computer science", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Computer science", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Operations management", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60603-8_27" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2528533023", "doi": "10.1016/j.rtbm.2017.05.002", "title": "Urban freight-parking practices: The cases of Gothenburg (Sweden) and Delhi (India)", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-05-16", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Leeza Malik", "Iván Sánchez-Díaz", "Geetam Tiwari", "Johan Woxenius" ], "first_author": "Leeza Malik", "venue": "Research in Transportation Business & Management", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Parking space", "Traffic management", "Business", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 41, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2017.05.002" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W7135045585", "doi": "10.1109/tase.2026.3672286", "title": "A Digital Twin Approach for Last-Mile Delivery", "year": 2026, "publication_date": "2026-01-01", "type": "article", "language": null, "authors": [ "Maria del Cacho Estil-les", "Wasim A. Ali", "Agostino Marcello Mangini", "Maria Pia Fanti" ], "first_author": "Maria del Cacho Estil-les", "venue": "IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering", "publisher": "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", "abstract": "This study presents a Digital Twin (DT)-based system to solve the last-mile delivery problem. The city is divided in zones, each zone is associated to a hub where the trucks arrive and the last-mile deliveries are performed by a set of robots. The DT architecture is composed of an application layer that optimize the robot initial routes, a simulation layer connected with the physical layer to manage unexpected events, such as traffic congestion and road closures. A Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimization model is designed to determine the optimal routes of the robots and a simulation model is implemented for the rerouting application. The system is validated through two case studies conducted in the city of Bari, Italy, using the MILP model to reduce travel distances and energy consumption of robots and the Simulation of Urban Mobility tool for reproducing the DT physical layer. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and adaptability of the proposed approach.", "keywords": [ "Robot", "Adaptability", "Integer programming", "Energy consumption", "Linear programming", "Truck", "Layer (electronics)", "Set (abstract data type)" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/tase.2026.3672286" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2757788779", "doi": "10.1108/ijlm-05-2016-0123", "title": "Analyzing the diffusion of eco-friendly vans for urban freight distribution", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-09-29", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Anna Corinna Cagliano", "Antonio Carlin", "Giulio Mangano", "Carlo Rafele" ], "first_author": "Anna Corinna Cagliano", "venue": "The International Journal of Logistics Management", "publisher": "Emerald Publishing Limited", "abstract": "Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the diffusion dynamics of electric and hybrid commercial vans and its enabling factors in the city logistics (CL) contexts. The case of parcel delivery in Torino, Italy, is considered. Attention is paid to the influence on the choice of low impact vehicles of not only public strategies but also operational aspects characterizing urban freight distribution systems. Design/methodology/approach A System Dynamics model based on the Bass diffusion theory computes the number of adopters of low-emission vehicles together with the quantity of vans required and the associated economic savings. The model includes variables about freight demand, delivery frequency, van carrying capacity, routes, stops, distances traveled, and vehicle charging stations. A sensitivity analysis has been completed to identify the main diffusion levers. The focus is on advertising and other drivers, such as public contributions, taxes traditional polluting vehicles are subjected to, as well as on routing optimization strategies. Findings Advertising programs, green image, and word-of-mouth drive market saturation, although in a long time period. In fact, low-impact vehicles do not offer any economic advantage over traditional ones requiring higher investment and operating costs. Public incentives to purchase both green vehicles and charging stations, together with carbon taxes and a congestion charge affecting polluting vehicles, are able to shorten the adoption time. In particular, public intervention reveals to be effective only when it unfolds through a number of measures that both facilitate the use of environmentally friendly vehicles and discourage the adoption of traditional commercial vans. Route optimization also hastens the complete market saturation. Research limitations/implications This work fosters research about the mutual relationships between the diffusion of low-emission commercial vehicles and the operational and contextual CL factors. It provides a structured approach for investigating the feasibility of innovative good vehicles that might be part of assessments of CL measures and requirements. Finally, the model supports studies about the cooperation among stakeholders to identify effective commercial vehicle fleets. Practical implications This study fosters collaboration among CL players by providing a roadmap to identify the key factors for the diffusion of environmentally friendly freight vehicles. It also enables freight carriers to assess the operational and economic feasibility of adopting low-impact vehicles. Finally, it might assist public authorities in capturing the effects of new urban transportation policies prior to their implementation. Originality/value Most of the current CL literature defines policies and analyzes their effects. Also, there are several contributions on the diffusion of low emission cars. The present study is one of the first works on the diffusion of low-impact commercial vehicles in urban areas by considering the associated key operational factors. A further value is that the proposed model combines operational variables with economic and environmental issues.", "keywords": [ "Incentive", "Business", "Environmentally friendly", "Public transport", "Congestion pricing", "Transport engineering", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Environmental economics", "Traffic congestion", "Economics", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 59, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1108/ijlm-05-2016-0123" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1983101030", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.113", "title": "Evaluating City Logistics Measure in E-Commerce with Multiagent Systems", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Joel S.E. Teo", "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Ali Gul Qureshi" ], "first_author": "Joel S.E. Teo", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "This paper presents a multi-agent systems (MAS) model to evaluate City Logistics measure for an urban road network in an e-commerce delivery system environment. Most notable contribution of this evaluation methodology is the combination of vehicle routing and scheduling problem with time window (VRPTW), auction theory and reinforcement learning in a multi-agent framework. This approach seeks to represent the behaviour of each stakeholder involved in the delivery of goods between producers and customers. The preliminary results of the model shows that Government-driven City Logistics measures such as freight vehicle road pricing has the potential of reducing truck emission when the administrator learns and price the road links.", "keywords": [ "City logistics", "Truck", "Computer science", "Measure (data warehouse)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Reinforcement learning", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Stakeholder", "Transport engineering", "Multi-agent system", "Operations research", "Routing (electronic design automation)" ], "cited_by_count": 55, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.113" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2008526168", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1471", "title": "Trucks and Bikes: Sharing the Roads", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-03-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "W H Pattinson", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "W H Pattinson", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "More cycling in urban areas could alleviate congestion that would benefit logistics operations as well as provide health and environmental benefits to the community at large. However, cycling within many Australian cities is currently being impeded due to poor road design and the absence of best practice freight vehicle standards (amongst other deterrents). Rising levels of fear and road trauma are creating the opportunity to address safety issues associated with the interaction between trucks and bicycles in urban areas. Those involved in city logistics can help to promote cycling and other forms of active transport by participating in the development and implementation of measures that increase the level of safety for cyclists. Measures that could be supported include: intersection design, design modifications for trucks, education of drivers, cyclists and road managers, enforcement aimed at behavioural change, as well as logistics customers requiring the use of safer trucks. Road management approaches with integrated safety benefits include designating routes and times for the movement of freight vehicles to avoid cyclists and requiring the trucks used in urban areas to have better visibility (e.g. lower driver position). This paper discusses several measures for improving the safety of cyclists including freight vehicle engineering and truck driver training programs as well as environmental management and land use changes.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "SAFER", "Enforcement", "Cycling", "Business", "Visibility", "Best practice", "Engineering", "Computer science", "Computer security", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 23, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814015092/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4414427168", "doi": "10.3390/logistics9040135", "title": "A Holistic Human-Based Approach to Last-Mile Delivery: Stakeholder-Based Evaluation of Logistics Strategies", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-09-23", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Aleksa Maravić", "Vukašin Pajić", "Milan M. Andrejić" ], "first_author": "Aleksa Maravić", "venue": "Logistics", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Background: The growing complexity of last-mile logistics (LML) in urban environments has created an urgent need for sustainable, efficient, and stakeholder-inclusive solutions. This study addresses these challenges by exploring a holistic, human-centered approach to evaluating LML strategies, recognizing the diverse expectations of logistics service providers, delivery personnel, customers, and local authorities. Methods: To capture both subjective and objective factors influencing decision-making, the study employs a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) framework that integrates the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS). Evaluation criteria encompass operational efficiency, environmental impact, social acceptance, and technological feasibility. Results: Six LML solutions were assessed and ranked using this approach. The results indicate that the cargo bike (A2) emerged as the most favorable alternative, while electric freight vehicles (A5) ranked lowest. These findings reflect significant trade-offs between stakeholder priorities and the varying performance of different delivery strategies. Conclusions: The proposed methodology offers practical guidance for designing balanced and socially responsible urban logistics systems. By emphasizing inclusivity in decision-making, this approach supports the development of LML solutions that are not only operationally effective but also environmentally sustainable and broadly accepted by stakeholders.", "keywords": [ "Process (computing)", "Analytic hierarchy process", "Stakeholder", "Fuzzy logic", "Service (business)", "Sustainable development" ], "cited_by_count": 6, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/9/4/135/pdf?version=1758633368" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4308866117", "doi": "10.3390/systems10060214", "title": "Developing a Stochastic Two-Tier Architecture for Modelling Last-Mile Delivery and Implementing in Discrete-Event Simulation", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-11-10", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Zichong Lyu", "Dirk John Pons", "Jiasen Chen", "Yilei Zhang" ], "first_author": "Zichong Lyu", "venue": "Systems", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Modelling freight logistics is challenging due to the variable consignments and diverse customers. Discrete-event Simulation (DES) is an approach that can model freight logistics and incorporate stochastic events. However, the flexible delivery routes of Pickup and Delivery (PUD) are still problematic to simulate. This research aims to develop last-mile delivery architecture in DES and evaluate the credibility of the model. A two-tier architecture was proposed and integrated with a DES model to simulate freight operations. The geographic foundation of the model was determined using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), including identifying customer locations, finding cluster centres, and implementing Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) simulation. This complex model was simplified to the two-tier architecture with stochastic distances, which is more amenable to DES models. The model was validated with truck GPS data. The originality of the work is the development of a novel and simple methodology for developing a logistics model for highly variable last-mile delivery.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Architecture", "Truck", "Event (particle physics)", "Mile", "Discrete event simulation", "Operations research", "Travelling salesman problem", "Last mile (transportation)", "Simulation", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 7, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/6/214/pdf?version=1668071274" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3016666592", "doi": "10.25394/pgs.12132867.v1", "title": "OPTIMIZATION MODELS AND ANALYSIS OF TRUCK-DRONE HYBRID ROUTING FOR LAST MILE DELIVERY", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-04-17", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai" ], "first_author": "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "venue": "Purdue e-Pubs (Purdue University System)", "publisher": "Purdue University System", "abstract": "E-commerce and retail companies are seeking ways to cut delivery time and cost by exploring opportunities to use drones for making last-mile deliveries. In recent years, drone routing and scheduling have become a highly active area of research. This research addresses the concept of a truck-drone combined delivery by allowing autonomous drones to fly from delivery trucks, make deliveries, and fly to delivery trucks nearby. The first part of the research considers the synchronized truck drone routing model by allowing multiple drones to fly from any truck, serve customers and immediately return to any available truck or depot in the system. The goal is to find the optimal routes of both trucks and drones which minimize the arrival time of both trucks and drones at the depot after completing the deliveries. The problem can be solved by the formulated Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) for the small-size problems and our proposed heuristic called Adaptive Insertion Heuristics (ADI) which is based on the insertion technique for the medium/large-size problems. The second part of the research extends the first studied problem by allowing drones to serve multiple customers before merging with trucks as well as considering the capacity requirement for both vehicles. The problem is mathematically formulated and two efficient heuristic algorithms are designed to solve the large-size problems: Drone Truck Route Construction (DTRC) and Large Neighborhood Search (LNS). In the third study, the goal is to study the potential benefits of combining different types of fleet vehicles to deliver packages to the customers. Three types of vehicles are considered in this study including large drones, traditional trucks and hybrid trucks. The problem can be optimally solved by a mathematical formulation on a small scale. Two efficient metaheuristics based on Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) and Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) are proposed to solve for approximate solutions of the large-size problems. A case study and numerical analysis demonstrate the better delivery time of the proposed model when compared with the delivery time of other delivery models with a single fleet type.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Heuristics", "Vehicle routing problem", "Integer programming", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Heuristic", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Operations research", "Last mile (transportation)" ], "cited_by_count": 2, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/OPTIMIZATION_MODELS_AND_ANALYSIS_OF_TRUCK-DRONE_HYBRID_ROUTING_FOR_LAST_MILE_DELIVERY/12132867" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4417381766", "doi": "10.3390/drones9120868", "title": "GIS-Enabled Truck–Drone Hybrid Systems for Agricultural Last-Mile Delivery: A Multidisciplinary Review with Insights from a Rural Region", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-12-16", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Imran Badshah", "Raj Bridgelall", "Emmanuel Anu Thompson" ], "first_author": "Imran Badshah", "venue": "Drones", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Efficient last-mile delivery remains a critical challenge for rural agricultural logistics, globally, particularly in cold-climate regions with dispersed agricultural operations. Truck–drone hybrids can reduce delivery times but face payload limits, cold-weather battery loss, and beyond-visual-line-of-sight regulations. This review evaluates the potential of GIS-enabled truck–drone hybrid systems to overcome infrastructural, environmental, and operational barriers in such settings. This study uses the state of North Dakota (USA) as a representative case because of its cold climate, low density, and weak connectivity. These conditions require different routing and system assumptions than typical regions. The study conducts a systematic review of 81 high-quality publications. It identifies seven interconnected research domains: GIS analytics, truck–drone coordination, smart agriculture integration, rural implementation, sustainability assessment, strategic design, and data security. The findings stipulate that GIS enhances hybrid logistics through route optimization, launch site planning, and real-time monitoring. Additionally, this study emphasizes the rural, low-density context and identifies specific gaps related to cold-weather performance, restrictions to line-of-sight operations, and economic feasibility in ultra-low-density delivery networks. The study concludes with a roadmap for research and policy development to enable practical deployment in cold-climate agricultural regions.", "keywords": [ "Sustainability", "Context (archaeology)", "Agriculture", "Multidisciplinary approach", "Software deployment", "Hybrid system", "Work (physics)" ], "cited_by_count": 4, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/12/868/pdf?version=1765895761" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3165905554", "doi": "10.3390/su13126703", "title": "Dynamic Inventory Routing and Pricing Problem with a Mixed Fleet of Electric and Conventional Urban Freight Vehicles", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-06-12", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Hamid Reza Sayarshad", "Vahid Mahmoodian", "Nebojša Bojović" ], "first_author": "Hamid Reza Sayarshad", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Urban freight transport is essential for supporting our society regarding providing the daily needs of consumers and local businesses. In addition, it allows for the movement of goods, is distributed within urban environments, provides thousands of jobs, and supports economic growth. However, a number of issues are associated with urban freight transport, including environmental impacts, road congestion, and land use of freight facilities that conflicts with residential land use. Electric freight vehicles create zero emissions and provide a sustainable delivery system in comparison with conventional freight vehicles. In this study, a novel dynamic inventory routing and pricing problem under a mixed fleet of electric and conventional vehicles was formulated to minimize the total travel and charging costs. The proposed model is capable of deciding on replenishment times and amounts and vehicle routes. We aimed to determine the maximum social welfare (SW) capable of providing an optimal trade-off between the supplier cost and customer delay that uses a mixed fleet of vehicles. Our computational study was conducted on real data generated from a delivery dataset in Tehran. Under the proposed policy with a fleet of only electric vehicles, the SW increased by 3% while the average customer delay reduced by 15% compared with a fleet of conventional vehicles. The results show that the number of served customers and customer delay would be affected by transitioning conventional urban freight vehicles to electric vehicles. Therefore, the proposed delivery system has a significant impact on energy savings and emissions.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Traffic management", "Business", "Environmental economics", "City logistics", "Vehicle routing problem", "Electric vehicle", "Sustainable transport", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Traffic congestion", "Computer science", "Sustainability" ], "cited_by_count": 19, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6703/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2773646472", "doi": "10.1007/s40864-017-0073-1", "title": "Innovative Interior Designs for Urban Freight Distribution Using Light Rail Systems", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-12-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "J. Andrew Kelly", "Marin Varbanov Marinov" ], "first_author": "J. Andrew Kelly", "venue": "Urban Rail Transit", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "High levels of pollution and congestion in urban centres are an increasing concern for local councils in the UK. Heavy goods vehicles delivering urban freight to city centres are a leading cause of this problem. This paper discusses the concept of using light rail networks to deliver freight to city centres from surrounding businesses. Specifically, various innovative designs are considered for the interior of the metro carriage and developed into visual models using Autodesk Inventor software. A full evaluation of all the designs developed is completed, resulting in a proposed design for consideration. The conclusion reached is that the proposed interior design is viable and coincides with the future metro fleet designs and concepts.", "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Computer science", "Civil engineering", "Engineering", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 61, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40864-017-0073-1.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2971607038", "doi": "10.1080/15389588.2019.1651930", "title": "Urban freight and road safety in the era of e-commerce", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-09-05", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Noreen McDonald", "Quan Yuan", "Rebecca B. Naumann" ], "first_author": "Noreen McDonald", "venue": "Traffic Injury Prevention", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "Objective: E-commerce has increased freight volumes and shifted freight vehicles to local streets and arterials. These changes have caused increasing concern over traffic safety in urban areas, but there has been limited investigation of road safety impacts. To advance understanding of this issue, we examined recent trends in urban freight-related safety in the United States and characteristics of these crashes.Methods: We estimated annual rates of fatal and nonfatal urban freight-related injuries from 2005 through 2015 using data from the NHTSA’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System and National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System. We compared trends in fatal and nonfatal urban freight-related injuries, stratified by road type (interstate vs. not), to overall crash injury trends. We used piecewise linear regression models to test trend changes. We examined and compared specific crash and injury characteristics associated with urban freight-involved crashes, compared to other types of crashes, for the most recent year of data analyzed.Results: Though freight and overall crash fatality rates per vehicle mile traveled declined between 2005 and 2009, increases were observed between 2009 and 2015. Fatality rates increased 3% for all vehicle crashes, 17% for urban freight-involved crashes, and 15% for urban freight-involved crashes not occurring on interstates. Nonfatal injury rates for urban freight-involved crashes rose even more rapidly between 2009 and 2015. Nonfatal injury rates for urban freight-involved crashes increased 45%, rates for urban freight-involved crashes not occurring on interstates increased 40%, and overall nonfatal injury rates for all vehicle crashes increased 3% during this time. Of all urban freight-related crashes resulting in nonfatal injury, the proportion occurring on non-interstate roads increased from 17% to 25% between 2005 and 2015, and these crashes were more likely to occur on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., when freight demand is high, than weekends or evenings.Conclusions: Freight-involved injury and fatality rates are rising more rapidly than overall road traffic–related rates, both in all areas and in urban areas. These crashes are also increasingly occurring on local roads and arterials as opposed to interstates. These findings can help policymakers better understand the changing patterns of freight-related safety issues. As freight volumes increase in commercial and residential areas, planners must increasingly consider freight needs and ensure that space is allocated to this function. Additionally, changes to surveillance systems are necessary to better track burden and risk factors associated with these crashes and inform crash prevention efforts.", "keywords": [ "Crash", "Transport engineering", "Occupational safety and health", "Poison control", "Injury prevention", "Vehicle miles of travel", "Case fatality rate", "Environmental health", "Geography", "Engineering", "Medicine", "Population" ], "cited_by_count": 52, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2019.1651930" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2011455604", "doi": "10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.804", "title": "Receivers’ Response to New Urban Freight Policies", "year": 2012, "publication_date": "2012-10-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Alberto Moreno Domínguez", "José Holguín‐Veras", "Ángel Ibeas", "Luigi dell’Olio" ], "first_author": "Alberto Moreno Domínguez", "venue": "Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "In the last decades, urban freight deliveries (UFD) have raised considerably. Freight vehicles hamper mobility, slowing down the traffic and sometimes double parking. In general, UFD coincides with peak-hour traffic, because deliveries have to be made during business hours. Some cities worldwide have adopted actions aimed to reduce freight vehicles circulating in peak-hours, but such actions usually come up against the receivers, who are not willing to change how they receive their goods. This paper shows the main results of a project carried out in two Spanish cities, a big-sized city (Barcelona) and a medium-sized one (Santander), about the receiver's will to adopt new delivery policies. In particular, an off-peak deliveries (OPD) policy and an urban distribution centers (UDC) policy have been analyzed. Subsequently, these results will be compared with those obtained in NYC for OPD. Through a stated preference survey, we have investigated how each variable of these policies influence the receiver's decision. As a result, we developed a different freight policy choice model for each city. To build the models, we used a mixed logit model considering repeated observations (panel data) and taste variations. In the light of the results obtained, the receivers are more willing to adopt an UDC policy, especially in Barcelona, whose receivers oppose firmly OPD. As expected, the incentives strongly influence receivers to adopt these policies; however, this influence is quite more important in certain business sectors, such as food (for OPD in Barcelona), restaurant and hotel, and furniture (for UDC in Santander and Barcelona, respectively). This goes along the lines of the results from NYC, where there are seven sectors more sensitive to the incentives. Therefore, it is possible to achieve a behavioral change in UFD, by combining these policies and targeting the incentives on specific business sectors in order to achieve better results.", "keywords": [ "Incentive", "Preference", "Business", "Revealed preference", "Discrete choice", "Mixed logit", "Business model", "Transport engineering", "Economics", "Logistic regression", "Marketing", "Computer science" ], "cited_by_count": 43, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812042668/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4393973238", "doi": "10.1109/fists60717.2024.10485532", "title": "Using Autonomous Modular Vehicle Technology as an Alternative for Last-Mile Delivery", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-02-26", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Amir Shafiee", "Hanieh Rastegar Moghaddam", "Jane Lin" ], "first_author": "Amir Shafiee", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "With the rise of e-commerce, there is an increasing demand for efficient and timely delivery of goods. The emerging Autonomous Modular Vehicle Technology (AMVT) may provide a promising solution to achieving greater efficiency and agility in last-mile delivery. In this system, vehicles can be coupled together to form a train, optimizing operational costs by creating pods and traversing links as a train. This connection will decrease fuel consumption and also reduce the number of cars in a city, thereby decreasing congestion. These vehicles, or “pods,” will be dispatched to different zones and stations within specific time windows. Upon arrival, customers will be notified to pick up their packages. However, the efficiency of this technology and its benefits for last-mile delivery are not yet clear. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness and operational cost of the proposed system for package delivery. Additionally, the study aims to explore features that contribute to the cost reduction of this system in comparison to the current scenarios. A mixed-integer programming model is formulated to optimize pod use and determine optimal routes and schedules. Results show that using this system will add some waiting time to the system to allow a pod train to travel. However, it will decrease the overall operation cost of the system compared to classical depot-based methods where trucks deliver packages. Moreover, these cost savings are more significant in areas with higher demand variations and overall demand. Implementing this innovative approach can help delivery companies cut transportation costs while maintaining delivery times and service levels, promoting environmental sustainability to meet the demands of the growing e-commerce industry.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Mile", "Modular design", "Computer science", "Embedded system", "Operating system" ], "cited_by_count": 4, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/fists60717.2024.10485532" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4379621902", "doi": "10.4337/9781800370173.00036", "title": "Environmentally sustainable city logistics: minimising urban freight emissions", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-06-07", "type": "book-chapter", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Alan Campbell McKinnon" ], "first_author": "Alan Campbell McKinnon", "venue": "Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks", "publisher": "Edward Elgar Publishing", "abstract": "This chapter provides an overview of the environmental impact of logistical activity in urban areas, in particular the levels of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. The nature and scale of this impact varies with a city’s size, structure, age, planning policies and level of economic development, making generalisation difficult. Macro-level data from several sources is used to assess the environmental impact of urban freight transport and the extent of the emission-reduction challenge. Having defined the problem, the chapter then reviews efforts by public authorities and the private sector to cut these emissions. Most of these initiatives can simultaneously reduce air pollutants, predominantly nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, and greenhouse gases, though some are targeted towards particular externalities. The initiatives are discussed under five headings: switching freight vehicles to cleaner, lower-carbon energy, raising levels of energy efficiency, improving the utilisation of vehicle capacity, increasing the use of less-polluting modes and minimising the amount of urban freight movement. A concluding section reviews data limitations and explores opportunities for future research on this topic.", "keywords": [ "Greenhouse gas", "Externality", "Business", "Environmental economics", "Environmental planning", "Sustainable development", "Environmental impact assessment", "Transport engineering", "Natural resource economics", "Environmental science", "Engineering", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 12, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800370173.00036" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2962887031", "doi": "10.3390/su11154020", "title": "Agent-Based Simulation Model for Evaluating Urban Freight Policy to E-Commerce", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-07-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Roberta Alves", "Renato da Silva Lima", "David Custódio de Sena", "Alexandre Ferreira de Pinho", "José Holguín‐Veras" ], "first_author": "Roberta Alves", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "This study aims to assess delivery lockers as a last-mile solution, considering the behavior and interaction among e-commerce stakeholders. In Brazil, a large portion of deliveries are attended home. This results in a large number of failed deliveries and redelivery attempts, which can reach up to three delivery attempts. Delivery lockers (DL) represent a solution to reduce the number of re-deliveries and consolidate the delivery of goods. The implementation of DL and the exclusion of the third delivery attempt are evaluated in this study via an agent-based simulation model (ABSM) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Four scenarios were simulated by varying delivery locker implementation and the exclusion of the third attempts, which allowed comparable results to be obtained for each agent, in terms of gains and operational and external costs (emission, noise, and congestion). The scenario that most closely resembles the current situation was the one that presented the worst results. The implementation of the lockers brings improvements to this scenario in terms of reducing re-deliveries and distances traveled by trucks. When the possibility of three delivery attempts is excluded, the benefits are even greater. The deployment of lockers also enables carriers to reduce the number of trucks required to make deliveries, thereby increasing their profits.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "City logistics", "Software deployment", "Last mile (transportation)", "Transport engineering", "Food delivery", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Operations management", "Business", "Engineering", "Mile" ], "cited_by_count": 57, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4020/pdf?version=1564543769" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3138818188", "doi": null, "title": "Optimization of last-mile deliveries with synchronous truck and drones", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-07-01", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Aysu Özel" ], "first_author": "Aysu Özel", "venue": "Bilkent University Institutional Repository (Bilkent University)", "publisher": "Bilkent University", "abstract": "Cataloged from PDF version of article.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Drone", "Truck", "Aeronautics", "Last mile (transportation)", "Engineering", "Computer science", "Transport engineering", "Automotive engineering", "Geography", "Geodesy", "Biology" ], "cited_by_count": 1, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://hdl.handle.net/11693/53949" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2903549722", "doi": "10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.10.011", "title": "Evaluation of the spatial pattern of logistics facilities using urban logistics land-use and traffic simulator", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-11-27", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Takanori Sakai", "Kazuya Kawamura", "Tetsuro Hyodo" ], "first_author": "Takanori Sakai", "venue": "Journal of Transport Geography", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Externality", "Metropolitan area", "Scarcity", "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Business", "Restructuring", "Traffic management", "Land use", "Truck", "Order (exchange)", "Environmental economics" ], "cited_by_count": 67, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://oacis.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2205/files/AA11009374_74-145.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3008879938", "doi": "10.1016/j.procs.2020.03.159", "title": "Electrification of Urban Freight Transport - a Case Study of the Food Retailing Industry", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kai Martins-Turner", "Alexander Grahle", "Kai Nagel", "Dietmar Göhlich" ], "first_author": "Kai Martins-Turner", "venue": "Procedia Computer Science", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Decarbonisation is a major challenge for the coming decades, for all industries, including the transport sector. Battery electric vehicles are a potential solution for the transport sector to reduce its carbon impact. Asides from the question whether there is sufficient supply of electric vehicles for freight transport, it is also unclear whether battery-powered trucks meet the practical requirements, especially in terms of their driving range. To investigate this, synthetic tours were generated by solving a Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). This also generates the fleet size and composition depending on a set of different vehicle types. The network with underlying traffic conditions comes from an publicly available transport model. The generated tours are then simulated with an open-source transport simulation (MATSim), for both diesel and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). In a sensitivity study, two different purchase prices were considered for calculating vehicle costs. The case study uses a model of the food retailing industry for the city of Berlin. 56% of the tours can be driven without recharging. When recharged one time, 90% of the tours are suitable for BEVs. The costs for transporting the goods will increase by 17 to 23% depending on the assumption for the purchase prices for the BEVs. Using a well-to-wheel calculation, the electrification of all tours leads to a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26 to 96% depending on the assumed electricity production.", "keywords": [ "Electrification", "Truck", "Battery (electricity)", "Greenhouse gas", "Electricity", "Computer science", "Automotive engineering", "Range (aeronautics)", "Driving range", "Electric vehicle", "Diesel fuel", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 55, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050920306177/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1972693479", "doi": "10.1080/12265934.2014.930672", "title": "Application of exact route optimization for the evaluation of a city logistics truck ban scheme", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-05-04", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ali Gul Qureshi", "Eiichi Taniguchi", "Russell George Thompson", "Joel S.E. Teo" ], "first_author": "Ali Gul Qureshi", "venue": "International Journal of Urban Sciences", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "This paper presents an application of the exact solution approach for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Soft Time Windows based on the column generation scheme developed earlier by the authors, for evaluating a truck ban scheme from the environmental improvement aspect on a realistic logistics instance based on the Vehicle Information and Communication System data, which is an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) application in Japan. Two different types of truck ban schemes are evaluated, one which denies truck entry on congested links (with average speeds lower than a threshold) and the other with and without the availability of the ITS-based data to freight firms. It was found that the Uniform truck ban on low travel speed links can result in a win-win situation, improving the environmental conditions as well as reducing the operation cost for freight carriers in a scenario where freight carriers do not have access to ITS-based travel time information. While the use of an exact optimization method and with ITS-based historical traffic information still helps in reducing environmental impacts, freight companies are slightly worst-off as far as the operation cost is concerned.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Scheme (mathematics)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Transport engineering", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Column generation", "Automotive engineering", "Engineering", "Computer network", "Mathematical optimization" ], "cited_by_count": 13, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/12265934.2014.930672" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2790977426", "doi": "10.4209/aaqr.2017.11.0535", "title": "The Real-world Emissions from Urban Freight Trucks in Beijing", "year": 2018, "publication_date": "2018-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Haohao Wang", "Yunshan Ge", "Jianwei Tan", "Legang Wu", "Pengcheng Wu", "Lijun Hao", "Zihang Peng", "Chuanzhen Zhang", "Xin Wang", "Yaxin Han", "Mengzhu Zhang" ], "first_author": "Haohao Wang", "venue": "Aerosol and Air Quality Research", "publisher": "Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research", "abstract": "The emissions from 7 urban freights were tested using a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) and analyzed based on the vehicle-specific power (VSP) method. The results show that both gaseous pollutants and PM emissions increase with VSP. With regard to CO and HC, emissions decrease with elevated speed and acceleration. The PM and NOx emitted from China IV vehicles are significantly less than those from China III vehicles, but emissions of CO and HC exhibit a different tendency, thus necessitating further research. In addition, speed and acceleration show a slight influence on NOx emissions. The VSP plays an important role in the emissions from urban freight trucks. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the emission characteristics of these vehicles in megacities is needed in order to take effective measures.", "keywords": [ "NOx", "Megacity", "Beijing", "Truck", "Environmental science", "Pollutant", "Emission inventory", "Acceleration", "Greenhouse gas", "Air pollutants", "China", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 9, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://aaqr.org/articles/aaqr-17-11-oa-0535.pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4389398323", "doi": "10.1016/j.eswa.2023.122809", "title": "A bi-criteria approach to the truck-multidrone routing problem", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-12-06", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Pedro Luis González Rodríguez", "David Sánchez-Wells", "José Luis Andrade-Pineda" ], "first_author": "Pedro Luis González Rodríguez", "venue": "Expert Systems with Applications", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "In the rapidly expanding field of e-commerce logistics, the optimisation of last-mile delivery solutions is paramount. This paper introduces a novel methodology that addresses this challenge by generating approximate Pareto fronts in a hybrid truck-drone delivery system. Specifically, we examine a generalized single truck multi-drone problem that allows multi-visit flight missions and rendezvous points distinct from launch locations. Our goal is providing decision-makers with a portfolio of optimal routing solutions that balance service time and environmental impact, criteria that are increasingly shaping decision-making in this domain. To achieve this, we introduce a bivector coding scheme inspired by flow-shop scheduling problems and implement a Simulated Annealing algorithm. This algorithm features an advanced stopping mechanism, negating the need for manual adjustments by utilizing a distinctive blend of a domination rate and a Kalman filter. Importantly, our framework employs an iterated greedy search algorithm to evolve from initial solutions towards identifying non-dominated solutions sets, which are then ranked using a hypervolume coefficient. To validate our methodology, we conduct a sensitivity analysis on two different size instances using a full factorial design of experiments. Our analysis reveals crucial insights into the impact of the number of drones, their autonomy, and their flight speed settings. From it, we conclude that it is a robust and adaptable framework for its practical application for obtaining Pareto fronts solutions among which picking the ultimate routing to be implemented.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Drone", "Mathematical optimization", "Pareto principle", "Iterated local search", "Truck", "Operations research", "Vehicle routing problem", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Metaheuristic", "Algorithm", "Mathematics" ], "cited_by_count": 28, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2023.122809" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4360914230", "doi": "10.1007/978-3-031-27915-7_36", "title": "Multiple Trip Drones-Truck Combined Operations for Last-Mile Delivery Applications. A Literature Review", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "David Sánchez-Wells", "Pedro Luis González Rodríguez", "José Luis Andrade-Pineda" ], "first_author": "David Sánchez-Wells", "venue": "Lecture notes on data engineering and communications technologies", "publisher": "Springer International Publishing", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Popularity", "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Globe", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Aeronautics", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Operations management" ], "cited_by_count": 2, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27915-7_36" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4411000973", "doi": "10.3390/futuretransp5020065", "title": "Green Last-Mile Delivery: Adapting Beverage Distribution to Low Emission Urban Areas", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-06-03", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Alessandro Giordano", "Panayotis Christidis" ], "first_author": "Alessandro Giordano", "venue": "Future Transportation", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "Electrifying urban last-mile logistics is an important step towards reducing carbon emissions which requires replacing conventional vehicles with low-carbon alternatives that offer comparable operational and cost characteristics. This study presents a methodology for evaluating the feasibility of electrifying an urban delivery fleet, using data from a major beverage company in Seville as a case study. Applying a fleet and route optimization algorithm for various vehicle combinations, we demonstrate that emerging electric vehicle options, combined with a redesigned fleet mix and an optimized routing, can already enable cost-efficient electrification of distribution activities in the city centre. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that full electrification of the company’s local distribution network may be possible by 2030, depending on the availability of larger electric trucks. Our results show that currently available electric vehicles can fully substitute conventional options in the case study context, with higher capital costs offset by lower energy costs in most cases. The electrification of urban logistics can yield significant environmental benefits, particularly if powered by a clean energy mix.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Environmental science", "Geography", "Mathematics" ], "cited_by_count": 4, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7590/5/2/65/pdf?version=1748936815" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2193528512", "doi": "10.18757/ejtir.2016.16.1.3110", "title": "Evaluating the impacts of urban freight traffic: application of micro-simulation at a large establishment", "year": 2016, "publication_date": "2016-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Paulus Teguh Aditjandra", "Fabio Galatioto", "Margaret Carol Bell", "Thomas Hagen Zunder" ], "first_author": "Paulus Teguh Aditjandra", "venue": "European journal of transport and infrastructure research", "publisher": "Delft University of Technology", "abstract": "Heavy Goods Vehicles, HGV, and Light Goods Vehicles, LGV, are a significant contributor to air pollution problems in urban areas. This paper quantifies the contribution to the environment of the deliveries to a single, large city employer addressing a research gap in the literature. Analysis of data from comprehensive surveys carried out over two years demonstrated that freight delivery traffic generated by an urban establishment with multiple properties in a compact urban setting, is characterised by a high proportion of LGV consistent with recent national and international trends. Also, despite freight traffic is only 10% of local traffic, more than 50% serves the single establishment, suggesting a different approach to policy making driven by the employer should be explored. The modelling results showed, relatively, the largest contribution to total emissions comes from HGVs in the AM peak, 13.8%, 43.7%, 9.2% for CO2, NOx and PM respectively. LGV contribute less, with 5.5%, 3.8%, 6% for CO2, NOx and PM respectively but more responsible for local congestion due to their numbers. This research is the first known study of its type and with the unique combination of measurement and traffic microsimulation allowed consideration of more effective traffic management strategies as well as providing evidence to support a consolidation centre for deliveries outside the city with fewer electric or low emissions last mile vehicles reducing substantially the environmental impact. The research outputs are relevant to many other similar cases in UK and Europe. The paper contributes to the ongoing development of research and policy looking to achieve sustainable urban logistics through receiver and purchasing led initiatives.", "keywords": [ "Microsimulation", "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Business", "Traffic congestion", "Consolidation (business)", "Environmental economics", "Environmental science", "Engineering", "Economics", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 50, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/ejtir/article/download/3110/3297" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4400320015", "doi": "10.3990/1.9789036562010", "title": "Autonomous Multimodal Last-Mile Delivery Systems", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-07-04", "type": "dissertation", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Giovanni Campuzano" ], "first_author": "Giovanni Campuzano", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This dissertation explores the intersection of Last-Mile Delivery, Autonomous Vehicles, and Multimodal Transport, collectively referred to as Autonomous Multimodal Last-Mile Delivery. The research applies Operational Research techniques to assess the potential benefits of autonomous vehicles, such as drones and self-driving robots, in overcoming the challenges faced in last-mile delivery. The main objective is to explore how service providers can leverage multimodal delivery systems, integrating trucks, drones, and self-driving robots, to enhance efficiency. This dissertation follows two main directions. The first involves designing delivery systems that address urban last-mile logistics challenges. This includes optimizing interactions between different vehicles and modeling these systems using Mixed-Integer Linear Programs (MILPs). The second direction is developing and analyzing optimization techniques tailored to solve the autonomous multimodal last-mile delivery problems introduced earlier. Through this research, we provide valuable insights into the integration of autonomous vehicles in multimodal delivery systems, offering potential solutions for improving efficiency and addressing the complexities of last-mile delivery in urban environments.", "keywords": [ "Mile", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Geography", "Geodesy" ], "cited_by_count": 2, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications/530a7e6b-fac4-4913-8602-4dad0891fe22" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4407365349", "doi": "10.1007/s00500-025-10513-2", "title": "Decomposition matheuristics for last mile delivery using public transportation systems", "year": 2025, "publication_date": "2025-02-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Minakshi Punam Mandal", "Claudia Archetti" ], "first_author": "Minakshi Punam Mandal", "venue": "Soft Computing", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Decomposition", "Last mile (transportation)", "Computer science", "Delivery system", "Public transport", "Transport engineering", "Engineering", "Chemistry", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-025-10513-2" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2920519397", "doi": "10.5267/j.ijiec.2019.1.001", "title": "Consolidation centers in city logistics: A cooperative approach based on the location routing problem", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Sachin Nataraj", "Daniele Ferone", "Carlos L. Quintero-Araújo", "Angel Alejandro Juan", "Paola Festa" ], "first_author": "Sachin Nataraj", "venue": "International Journal of Industrial Engineering Computations", "publisher": "Growing Science", "abstract": "In the context of city logistics, freight transportation is one of the prominent causes of traffic congestion, high levels of pollution, and safety concerns.To decrease the negative impact of these issues, different methods have been traditionally implemented.On the one hand, the location of urban consolidation Centers (UCCs) near a city can be used to consolidate freight delivery services.Therefore, the number of trucks moving in urban areas can be reduced.On the other hand, Horizontal Cooperation can also help to reduce environmental impact while increasing service level.This paper combines both strategies, that is, we deal with the location of UCCs and, simultaneously, we analyze different scenarios where the players of different supply chain processes exhibit various levels of cooperation.Thus, different levels of cooperations regarding routing and UCCs-location decisions are considered in the following scenarios: (a) non-cooperative case, in which all decisions are decentralized (i.e., each enterprise solves its own vehicle routing problem); (b) low-cooperative case, where depot capacities are shared but the customers are still being served by each company's fleet of vehicles; (c) semicooperative case, based on centralized route planning decisions (i.e.facilities and fleets are shared among participating enterprises); and (d) fully cooperative scenario, where the routing plans and facility-location decisions are taken by consensus amongst all the participants.In order to estimate the benefits of both strategies, we propose a flexible metaheuristic algorithm to deal with the combined location and routing problem under the different cooperative scenarios.Our results show impressive benefits of the proposed approach.", "keywords": [ "Consolidation (business)", "City logistics", "Vehicle routing problem", "Computer science", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Transport engineering", "Operations research", "Operations management", "Business", "Engineering", "Computer network", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 65, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijiec.2019.1.001" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4226256297", "doi": "10.1016/j.procs.2022.01.339", "title": "A novel mathematical approach for the Truck-and-Drone Location-Routing Problem", "year": 2022, "publication_date": "2022-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Laura Castro Montaña", "Laura Malagón-Alvarado", "Paola Andrea Miranda", "Mateo Montealegre Arboleda", "Elyn Lizeth Solano Charris", "Carlos Alberto Vega-Mejía" ], "first_author": "Laura Castro Montaña", "venue": "Procedia Computer Science", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "During the last decade, e-commerce has increased last-mile deliveries, impacting the (CO2) emissions footprint. Considering this environmental impact, sustainable technologies have emerged for transport operations, e.g., drones and electric vehicles. This paper deals with the Location-Routing Problem for delivering orders to a set of customers. The problem aims to minimize the total CO2 emissions due to freight transportation in last-mile deliveries with Trucks-and-Drones. A mathematical model is proposed for solving the problem. We test the model in different scenarios varying the number of clients (between 10 and 25), the number of trucks and drones (between 4 and 12 and between 5 and 13, respectively), and the available depots (i.e., between 5 and 15 parking lots). Our results provide insights on how shifting to cleaner transportation technologies can aid in the reduction of the carbon footprint of distribution activities and present a preamble of the significant impact that UAVs have in parcel delivery routing problems.", "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Computer science", "Carbon footprint", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Vehicle routing problem", "Last mile (transportation)", "Operations research", "Transport engineering", "Footprint", "Mile", "Greenhouse gas" ], "cited_by_count": 23, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050922003489/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2060450183", "doi": "10.1016/j.rtbm.2014.05.002", "title": "Analyzing the relation between land-use/urban freight operations and the need for dedicated infrastructure/enforcement — Application to the city of Lisbon", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-05-23", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "André Romano Alho", "João de Abreu e Silva" ], "first_author": "André Romano Alho", "venue": "Research in Transportation Business & Management", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "Enforcement", "Business", "Land use", "Service (business)", "Civil engineering", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 68, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2014.05.002" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2912586467", "doi": "10.1016/j.trd.2019.01.007", "title": "Assessment of freight vehicle characteristics and impact of future policy interventions on their emissions in Delhi", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-22", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Leeza Malik", "Geetam Tiwari", "Snehalata Thakur", "Ashwani Kumar" ], "first_author": "Leeza Malik", "venue": "Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Transport engineering", "TRIPS architecture", "Traffic management", "Air pollution", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Environmental science", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 45, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.01.007" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2929436693", "doi": "10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.03.003", "title": "Using GPS data to explore speed patterns and temporal fluctuations in urban logistics: The case of São Paulo, Brazil", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-03-27", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Patrícia F. Laranjeiro", "Daniel Merchán", "Leonardo A. Godoy", "Mariana Giannotti", "Hugo Tsugunobu Yoshida Yoshizaki", "Matthias Winkenbach", "Cláudio Barbieri da Cunha" ], "first_author": "Patrícia F. Laranjeiro", "venue": "Journal of Transport Geography", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Large-scale urban sensing data, such as vehicle global positioning system (GPS) traces, are emerging as an important data source for urban planning. However, the widespread availability of commercial truck GPS data comes with a large diversity of sources with different operational characteristics. In this context, motivated by addressing ongoing challenges in urban logistics from the perspective of transport geography, we describe an approach to exploring and analyzing a large amount of vehicle GPS data from heterogeneous sources. Our aim is to leverage GPS data to better understand and characterize urban logistics from a broader, city-wide perspective as well as from the perspective of a single corporate logistics system. Using the city of São Paulo, Brazil, as an example, we show how such data can be leveraged to improve the operational planning of transport operators and the policymaking strategies of public agencies, especially in cities in developing and emerging economies where other sources of data are not readily available. We build on GPS data from company-specific logistics fleets as well as company-agnostic, mixed-use general vehicle fleets to present novel insights into the spatial distribution of cargo vehicles across the city on different days, the distinct flows and preferred paths of freight traffic, the number of stops per vehicle trip, the distribution of stop times, and the speed patterns. Our proposed approach can easily be transferred and extended to other geographic contexts and other datasets that exhibit structures similar to those used in our case study.", "keywords": [ "Global Positioning System", "Leverage (statistics)", "Context (archaeology)", "Transport engineering", "Truck", "Computer science", "Perspective (graphical)", "Business", "Geography", "Engineering", "Telecommunications" ], "cited_by_count": 84, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.03.003" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2971821488", "doi": null, "title": "A review on transportation last-mile network design and urban freight vehicles", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Jessica Calderón Guerrero", "Jenny Díaz-Ramírez" ], "first_author": "Jessica Calderón Guerrero", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Mile", "Transport engineering", "Last mile (transportation)", "Traffic management", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Geography" ], "cited_by_count": 10, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://pure.udem.edu.mx/es/publications/a-review-on-transportation-last-mile-network-design-and-urban-fre-2" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3214748302", "doi": "10.3390/su132313080", "title": "Different Charging Strategies for Electric Vehicle Fleets in Urban Freight Transport", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-11-26", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Bram Kin", "Meike Hopman", "Hans J. Quak" ], "first_author": "Bram Kin", "venue": "Sustainability", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute", "abstract": "The transition from diesel-driven urban freight transport towards more electric urban freight transport turns out to be challenging in practice. A major concern for transport operators is how to find a reliable charging strategy for a larger electric vehicle fleet that provides flexibility based on different daily mission profiles within that fleet, while also minimizing costs. This contribution assesses the trade-off between a large battery pack and opportunity charging with regard to costs and operational constraints. Based on a case study with 39 electric freight vehicles that have been used by a parcel delivery company and a courier company in daily operations for over a year, various scenarios have been analyzed by means of a TCO analysis. Although a large battery allows for more flexibility in planning, opportunity charging can provide a feasible alternative, especially in the case of varying mission profiles. Additional personnel costs during opportunity charging can be avoided as much as possible by a well-integrated charging strategy, which can be realized by a reservation system that minimizes the risk of occupied charging stations and a dense network of charging stations.", "keywords": [ "Flexibility (engineering)", "Reservation", "Transport engineering", "Fleet management", "Battery (electricity)", "Traffic management", "Electric vehicle", "Operations research", "Automotive engineering", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 46, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/23/13080/pdf?version=1637892368" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4400246764", "doi": "10.22616/erdev.2024.23.tf233", "title": "Reducing externalities of last mile delivery through taxation", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-05-22", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Māris Jurušs", "Baiba Šmite-Roķe", "Irina Nesterenko" ], "first_author": "Māris Jurušs", "venue": "Engineering for Rural Development", "publisher": null, "abstract": "In today’s society, with growing interest in environmental sustainability and climate responsibility, the European Union has an ambitious goal - to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This strategic plan, known as the European Green Deal, expresses a strong desire not only to address current environmental problems, but also to create a sustainable, green future for its citizens. However, only from these paths, the tax policy as one of the most important instruments of government influence can be both an obstacle and a tool in achieving the set goals. In this paper the tax policy of the European Union is analyzed in relation to its “green” ambitions. The aim of the research is to find out to what extent the current green tax system corresponds to the strategy of the European course and what changes are necessary to make the most of its potential for ensuring environmental sustainability. This study focuses specifically on the transport sector, which is one of the biggest sources of pollution in many countries. In the organization of the supply chain, it is important to achieve the least negative impact on the environment right in the last mile, when the goods are delivered to the end consumer in an urban city environment, where large population is concentrated. Therefore, one of the hypotheses of the study is to differentiate the tax policy depending on the use of alternative transport in a specific environment, that is, to apply tax discounts to alternative transport for passengers and trucks only in cities, while in the other stages of the supply chain to stimulate other forms of transport, such as rail transport.", "keywords": [ "Sustainability", "European union", "Business", "Externality", "Sustainable transport", "Government (linguistics)", "Population", "Public economics", "Environmental economics", "Environmental planning", "Economic policy", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 2, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://dx.doi.org/10.22616/erdev.2024.23.tf233" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4386361533", "doi": "10.1109/icccn58024.2023.10230089", "title": "Environmentally-Aware Robotic Vehicle Networks Routing Computation for Last-mile Deliveries", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-07-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Chengyi Qu", "Rounak Singh", "Sharan Srinivas", "Prasad P. Calyam" ], "first_author": "Chengyi Qu", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "For next-generation logistics management, robotic vehicles such as autonomous ground robots and aerial drones can alleviate the strain on last-mile distribution. They can help avoid on-road congestion, navigate hard-to-reach locations, and parallelize delivery operations. However, as the robotic vehicles move in a given delivery area, environmental barriers e.g., trees or buildings, affect air-to-air (A2A), air-to-ground (A2G), ground-to-ground (G2G) network communications on a hybrid truck-drone-robot system. In this paper, we present an environmentally-aware cooperative network routing computation scheme to avoid obstacle blockage in A2A/A2G/G2G network communications for addressing large-scale coordinated operations of the hybrid truck-drone-robot system. Specifically, we propose an offline policy-based routing algorithm and two online extensions (i.e., heuristics and learning-based) to solve the hybrid last-mile delivery vehicles communication problem in order to trade-off between end-to-end communication (i.e., increase network throughput) and delivery efficiencies (i.e., lower parcel delivery time consumption). We evaluate our scheme using state-of-the-art network routing algorithms in a trace-based simulator that integrates both the vehicles and networking sides. Performance evaluation results from our simulations show that: (i) our offline approach is Pareto-optimal among non-learning supported algorithms in a pre-delivery scenario, and (ii) our RL-based online algorithm achieves between 85–96 % of the Oracle strategy performance during delivery procedures.", "keywords": [ "Computer science", "Drone", "Heuristics", "Throughput", "Truck", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Last mile (transportation)", "Robot", "Vehicle routing problem", "Computation offloading", "Real-time computing", "Distributed computing" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/icccn58024.2023.10230089" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4404915168", "doi": "10.1109/scisisis61014.2024.10760235", "title": "Integer Programming Approaches to an Issue of Scheduling for a Truck-Drone Last-Mile Delivery System with Parcel Pickup Service", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-11-09", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Kotaro Yamada", "Yoshiyuki Karuno", "Hitoshi Iima" ], "first_author": "Kotaro Yamada", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "In this paper, we consider a scheduling issue for parcel delivery and pickup services by a truck-drone last-mile delivery system. We are given a single carrier truck and multiple identical drones to serve a finite set of customers. The single carrier truck plays the role of a mobile depot for the drones, and it visits several stops in a given order of them. The given order of stops constitutes a fixed truck route, and the carrier truck is allowed to launch (resp., to retrieve) a drone to (resp., from) a customer at a stop. For each sortie of a drone, the launching stop and the retrieving stop must be the same. The load capacity of a drone is limited to one, and for a sortie of a drone at a stop, there are three options: (i) only deliver a parcel to a customer, (ii) only pick up a parcel from a customer, and (iii) deliver a parcel to a customer, and then pick up a parcel from a customer. The scheduling problem asks to find an assignment of customers to drones with sortie options and a choice of a truck stop for each sortie in the assignment. The objective is to minimize the total duration of the carrier truck over all the stops, which is equivalent to minimizing the makespan. In this paper, we first propose an extended integer program for the case with both delivery and pickup services from an existing one for the case with delivery service only. We also conduct numerical experiments to demonstrate the solution quality of the proposed integer program by utilizing an integer programming solver, and report the results.", "keywords": [ "Pickup", "Drone", "Truck", "Last mile (transportation)", "Integer programming", "Computer science", "Mile", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Job shop scheduling", "Mathematical optimization", "Engineering", "Computer network" ], "cited_by_count": 2, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1109/scisisis61014.2024.10760235" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2915338839", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2019.11.003", "title": "The multiple flying sidekicks traveling salesman problem: Parcel delivery with multiple drones", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-12-13", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Chase C. Murray", "Ritwik Raj" ], "first_author": "Chase C. Murray", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Travelling salesman problem", "Truck", "Heuristic", "Computer science", "Mathematical optimization", "Automation", "Integer (computer science)", "Integer programming", "Operations research", "Real-time computing", "Simulation" ], "cited_by_count": 566, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2019.11.003" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2056328001", "doi": "10.1007/s12544-014-0149-x", "title": "A new urban freight distribution scheme and an optimization methodology for reducing its overall cost", "year": 2015, "publication_date": "2015-01-23", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Elvezia Maria Cepolina", "Alessandro Farina" ], "first_author": "Elvezia Maria Cepolina", "venue": "European Transport Research Review", "publisher": "Springer Science+Business Media", "abstract": "The paper refers to an innovative urban freight distribution scheme, aimed at reducing the externalities connected with the freight delivery process. Both packages destined to commercial activities and to end consumers (e-commerce) are taken into account. Each package is characterized by an address and dimensions. In the proposed transport system, freight is firstly delivered to the UDC on the border of urban areas through trucks or trains which perform the long distance transport. After, freight is reorganized and consolidated into load units, i.e. the FURBOT boxes, according to packages dimensions and to the addresses of receivers. Each box is addressed to a temporary unloading bay and it is delivered there by a FURBOT vehicle. The receivers are in charge of collecting their packages in the related unloading bays where they have been delivered. The paper concerns a methodology for optimizing this freight transport system’s performances. The overall methodology receives in input the actual freight demand and the road network, and finds the transport system parameters (number of required FURBOT boxes, their temporary unloading bay, the FURBOT fleet dimension and the FURBOT vehicle routing) that minimize the system overall cost. The overall cost is a sum of the users’ cost, which depends on the distance they have to walk for collecting their packages in the FURBOT box, and of the operator’s cost, which depends on the number of required boxes, the total distance travelled by the FURBOT vehicles and the required number of FURBOT vehicles. The overall procedure has been applied to the case study of Barreiro old town, a suburb of Lisbon, Portugal.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Train", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Process (computing)", "Dimension (graph theory)", "Traffic management", "Rail freight transport", "Computer science", "Engineering", "Operations research", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 51, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://etrr.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1007/s12544-014-0149-x" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2921683784", "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.1903.04643", "title": "The Multi-objective Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem: Last Mile Delivery with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Assistance", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-03-11", "type": "preprint", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Ben Remer", "Andreas A. Malikopoulos" ], "first_author": "Ben Remer", "venue": "arXiv (Cornell University)", "publisher": "Cornell University", "abstract": "In this paper, we present an approach to optimizing the last-mile delivery route of a truck using coordination with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). First, a traveling salesman problem is formulated to determine the truck's route. Then, a scheduling problem is formulated to determined the routes for the UAVs. A genetic algorithm is used to solve these problems, and simulated results are presented.", "keywords": [ "Travelling salesman problem", "Truck", "Mile", "Computer science", "Scheduling (production processes)", "Genetic algorithm", "Vehicle routing problem", "Job shop scheduling", "Mathematical optimization", "Real-time computing", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 4, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/1903.04643" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3031281093", "doi": "10.4236/jtts.2020.103014", "title": "Road User Charging for Urban Freight Vehicles: A Systems Approach", "year": 2020, "publication_date": "2020-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Loshaka Perera", "Russell George Thompson" ], "first_author": "Loshaka Perera", "venue": "Journal of Transportation Technologies", "publisher": "Scientific Research Publishing", "abstract": "Road user charging (RUC) has a long history as a mechanism to recover infrastructure maintenance and capital costs. The present RUC systems are facing issues such as transparency, cross-subsidization, environmental concerns and reducing revenue due to the likes of lessening fuel tax as vehicles become more efficient. Therefore, this paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the present RUC mechanisms implemented in the world with respect to stakeholder problems and demands of the freight industry and to describe the need for a more appropriate, practical and sustainable approach that can be used in the future. Finally, a model is proposed that is transparent and considers usage-based charging addressing most of the weaknesses highlighted in the models reviewed. Further, it considers externalities produced by heavy vehicles into account. The model has the potential to provide answers to key stakeholder issues and will lead to a sustainable freight transport system in the future. Encouraging fuel-efficient modes, optimization of loading, routing and logistics systems, and long term land use planning are a few of them.", "keywords": [ "Stakeholder", "Transport engineering", "Revenue", "Strengths and weaknesses", "Externality", "Subsidy", "Transparency (behavior)", "Fuel tax", "Sustainable transport", "Traffic management", "Key (lock)", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 8, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperDownload.aspx?paperID=100609" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2927378423", "doi": "10.1016/j.trc.2019.02.018", "title": "An adaptive large neighborhood search metaheuristic for the vehicle routing problem with drones", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-03-22", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "David Sacramento", "David Pisinger", "Stefan Røpke" ], "first_author": "David Sacramento", "venue": "Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Travelling salesman problem", "Truck", "Vehicle routing problem", "Computer science", "Metaheuristic", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Operations research", "2-opt", "Transport engineering", "Mathematical optimization", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 566, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/de5c7fac-a4e0-41fc-b8e8-2f3bcb033b2b" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4413419721", "doi": "10.21872/2024iise_7899", "title": "Covering Routing Problem with Robots and Parcel Lockers: A Sustainable Last-Mile Delivery Approach", "year": 2024, "publication_date": "2024-10-01", "type": "conference-paper", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Nima Moradi", "Fereshteh Mafakheri", "Université du Québec", "Chun Wang" ], "first_author": "Nima Moradi", "venue": null, "publisher": null, "abstract": "This study presents the Covering Routing Problem with Robots and Parcel Lockers (CRP-R-PL), a challenge arising in sustainable last-mile delivery contexts such as e-commerce and city distribution. In this problem, trucks depart from a central depot, delivering parcels directly to a subset of customers or a subset of parcel lockers. With these parcel lockers, the remaining customers could pick up items if they prefer the pick-up delivery method. In addition, each truck is equipped with an electric-powered Sidewalk Autonomous Delivery Robot (SADR), a sustainable delivery solution used in the U.S. and Canada by Uber and Amazon. This zero-emission vehicle is deployed to get off the truck, serve one or multiple customers, and then return to the same truck for battery swap and package retrieval. For the routing of SADRs, the trucks act as a moveable satellite depot to serve the remaining customers. The CRP-R-PL seeks cost-minimizing solutions by determining optimal parcel locker locations and routes of trucks and SADRs to serve all customers. We offer a mixed-integer programming formulation and a greedy heuristic to solve it. The CRP-R-PL includes three decisions: 1) finding the location of parcel lockers, 2) routing the trucks to visit the customers and parcel lockers, and 3) routing the SADRs to serve the remaining customers. Since this problem has yet to be studied in the literature, a new set of benchmark instances is introduced for the CRP-R-PL and solved by Gurobi alongside the parameter's sensitivity analysis.", "keywords": [ "Last mile (transportation)", "Robot", "Mile", "Routing (electronic design automation)", "Computer science", "Computer network", "Geography", "Artificial intelligence" ], "cited_by_count": 3, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.21872/2024iise_7899" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2738124916", "doi": "10.1016/j.trb.2017.06.010", "title": "A fast simulation algorithm for multiple moving bottlenecks and applications in urban freight traffic management", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-07-25", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Michele D. Simoni", "Christian G. Claudel" ], "first_author": "Michele D. Simoni", "venue": "Transportation Research Part B Methodological", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Computation", "Truck", "Computer science", "Scheme (mathematics)", "Mathematical optimization", "Algorithm", "Simulation", "Mathematics", "Engineering", "Automotive engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 44, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2017.06.010" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2781998419", "doi": "10.1016/j.trpro.2017.12.138", "title": "A multi-scale agent-based modelling framework for urban freight distribution", "year": 2017, "publication_date": "2017-01-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "André Romano Alho", "B. K. Bhavathrathan", "Monique A. Stinson", "Raja Gopalakrishnan", "Diem-Trinh Le", "Moshe E Ben-Akiva" ], "first_author": "André Romano Alho", "venue": "Transportation research procedia", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": "Comprehensive modelling of urban freight operations remains a challenge in transportation research. This is partly due to the diversity of commodities transported, shipment units, vehicle types used, stakeholders’ objectives (e.g. suppliers, carriers, receivers), and to the limited availability of data. Thus, existing modelling efforts require several assumptions yet have limited behavioral foundations and minimal interaction between agents. This paper proposes a new agent-based modelling framework, which considers the heterogeneity of urban freight agents and their interactions. Agents include establishments (suppliers, carriers, and receivers) and freight vehicle drivers. Agents’ decisions are structured in three temporal resolutions: strategic, tactical, and operational. A single set of agents is represented throughout all modelling levels ensuring a consistent and sequential flow of information. At the strategic level, establishments’ characteristics and strategic decisions are modelled. These include location choices, fleet constitution, annual production/consumption of commodities, and establishment-to-establishment commodity flows. At the tactical level, shipments are assigned to carriers, who in turn plan their operations in terms of vehicle-driver-route assignments. Finally, at the operational level, the interactions between daily operational demands and transportation network supply are simulated. The supply representation has two different resolution levels (micro or meso) allowing for either detailed or computational efficient simulation. The simulation platform is distinct from previous works, as it explicitly considers planning horizons, replicates agent decision makings/interactions and involves a structure that allows for the propagation of influences bottom-up (e.g., prior simulation travel times on future route choice). The paper describes the simulation platform, constituent models, and illustrates its capabilities using an application of the modelling framework to the city of Singapore.", "keywords": [ "Supply chain", "Scale (ratio)", "Computer science", "Operations research", "Traffic simulation", "Commodity", "Plan (archaeology)", "Transport engineering", "Set (abstract data type)", "Agent-based model", "Flow network", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 43, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146517310359/pdf" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3209719496", "doi": "10.1016/j.retrec.2021.101132", "title": "Toll and subsidy for freight vehicles on urban roads: A policy decision for City Logistics", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-10-28", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Loshaka Perera", "Russell George Thompson", "Wenyan Wu" ], "first_author": "Loshaka Perera", "venue": "Research in Transportation Economics", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Toll", "Subsidy", "Toll road", "Revenue", "Business", "Transport engineering", "Capital cost", "Stakeholder", "Process (computing)", "General partnership", "Finance", "Economics" ], "cited_by_count": 10, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2021.101132" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W2910105989", "doi": "10.1016/j.cie.2019.01.020", "title": "Multiple traveling salesman problem with drones: Mathematical model and heuristic approach", "year": 2019, "publication_date": "2019-01-10", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "Mario Ventresca", "Mohammad Moshref‐Javadi", "Seokcheon Lee", "Jose M. A. Tanchoco", "Patrick A. Brunese" ], "first_author": "Patchara Kitjacharoenchai", "venue": "Computers & Industrial Engineering", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Drone", "Truck", "Heuristics", "Travelling salesman problem", "Computer science", "Integer programming", "Heuristic", "Operations research", "Delivery Performance", "Mathematical optimization", "Engineering", "Transport engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 406, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2019.01.020" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1996026097", "doi": "10.1080/17549175.2014.884976", "title": "Urban freight transport policies in Rome: lessons learned and the road ahead", "year": 2014, "publication_date": "2014-02-11", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Agostino Nuzzolo", "Antonio Comi" ], "first_author": "Agostino Nuzzolo", "venue": "Journal of Urbanism International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "Given that few studies have investigated the effects of implementing city logistics measures, this paper focuses on actions implemented in the inner area of Rome in the last 10 years in order to improve both livability and freight distribution, providing insights into the effectiveness of such measures. The analysis covers the famous inner area of the city where the main tourist monuments are located and includes several pedestrianized shopping streets. Evaluation is based on data collected in 1999 and 2008 consisting of traffic counts and interviews with retailers and truck drivers. The implemented measures provided effective in abating through-traffic, in reducing the share of transport on own-account and in increasing the use of less polluting vehicles. Further, the increase in the number of stops per tour, in the average quantity delivered and hence in the average loading factor was revealed. Although all these changes improved the freight transport within the city, some critical issues remain and further measures have to be implemented.", "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Tourism", "Traffic management", "Order (exchange)", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Business", "Geography", "Engineering", "Finance" ], "cited_by_count": 34, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17549175.2014.884976" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W1528001933", "doi": null, "title": "Movement generation and trip distribution for freight demand modelling applied to city logistics", "year": 2013, "publication_date": "2013-08-01", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Guido Gentile", "Daniele Vigo" ], "first_author": "Guido Gentile", "venue": "IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome)", "publisher": null, "abstract": "The quantification of the freight movements disaggregated by supply chain occurring in each traffic zone for the urban delivery of goods and that of the corresponding Origin-Destination trip tables is essential to evaluate the effects of any city logistic policy in terms of vehicle congestion and polluting emissions through the assignment of truck flows on the road network. In this paper we propose two innovative demand models: the first one for movement generation, the second one for trip distribution. The movement generation is addressed through an extension of the category index model, which takes into account the hierarchy in the classification system of the economic activities, thus avoiding aggregating the many existing classification codes into pre-specified groups. The trip distribution is addressed through an adaptation of the gravity model, which takes into account that deliveries are organized in tours. This approach has been successfully applied to the case of Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy, where an extensive campaign of surveys has permitted to calibrate both models for several towns and cities with various dimensions and vocations.", "keywords": [ "Trip generation", "Transport engineering", "Trip distribution", "Truck", "Distribution (mathematics)", "Computer science", "Gravity model of trade", "Adaptation (eye)", "Index (typography)", "Hierarchy", "Operations research", "Business" ], "cited_by_count": 53, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "http://hdl.handle.net/10077/8872" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W3181167989", "doi": "10.1080/01441647.2021.1950233", "title": "Electric vehicle charging strategies for Urban freight transport: concept and typology", "year": 2021, "publication_date": "2021-07-12", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Tharsis Teoh" ], "first_author": "Tharsis Teoh", "venue": "Transport Reviews", "publisher": "Taylor & Francis", "abstract": "Charging services play an important role in encouraging the growth of the electric freight vehicle (EFV) market. Understanding charging strategies and their influence on charging behavior is crucial in the deployment of charging services. Unfortunately, existing charging strategy definitions and types are incoherent and incomplete. This conceptual paper synthesizes the perspectives found in literature on the charging strategy concept, and provides a definition based on Orlikowski’s structurational model of technology. A two-level charging strategy typology is proposed. The first distinguishes between decision-making modes: schedule- or trigger-based decisions. The second identifies when and where charging is used during a vehicle operating cycle. The result is three schedule-based charging strategies: downtime, opportunity, and intrusive charging, and one trigger-based emergency charging. The selection of strategy depends on the EFV operations, the availability of charging systems and services, as well as the driver behaviour. The influence of the strategy on enhancing the EFV, the carrier operations and business model is discussed. Charging behaviour, especially in location and timing, is shown to be strongly dependent on the strategy. While downtime charging is considered the default strategy, carriers should employ a variety of complementary strategies to enhance the capability of their vehicles and improve the financial viability of the operations. Carriers should also have an emergency charging strategy on hand in case of unforeseen situations.", "keywords": [ "Typology", "Transport engineering", "City logistics", "Electric vehicle", "Business", "Engineering", "Sociology", "Power (physics)" ], "cited_by_count": 41, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01441647.2021.1950233?needAccess=true" }, { "id": "https://openalex.org/W4387524072", "doi": "10.1016/j.tre.2023.103318", "title": "Uncovering and modeling the hierarchical organization of urban heavy truck flows", "year": 2023, "publication_date": "2023-10-11", "type": "article", "language": "en", "authors": [ "Yitao Yang", "Bin Jia", "Xiao-Yong Yan", "Danyue Zhi", "Dongdong Song", "Yan Chen", "Michiel de Bok", "Lóránt Antal Tavasszy", "Ziyou Gao" ], "first_author": "Yitao Yang", "venue": "Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review", "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "abstract": null, "keywords": [ "Truck", "Transport engineering", "Urban agglomeration", "Construct (python library)", "Street network", "Computer science", "Process (computing)", "Economies of agglomeration", "Scale (ratio)", "Economic geography", "Geography", "Engineering" ], "cited_by_count": 25, "is_retracted": false, "is_paratext": false, "open_access_url": "https://repository.tudelft.nl/file/File_00c35461-b2c9-4d18-888c-9661e9ecc948" } ]