DHL IS DEVELOPING ITS OWN FLEET OF AUTONOMOUS DELIVERY VEHICLES
In 1995, when email was beginning to replace snail mail, Deutsche Bundespost was privatized, becoming Deutsche Post. Like many other privatized postal services in the world, the company faced an uncertain future, but the national institution is now the dominant freight and logistics company in the world.
After becoming privatized, Deutsche Post began acquiring shares in American International freight company DHL and completed its acquisition in 2002. Fifteen years later, the company we now know as Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) is the world's largest mail and logistics company, with half a million employees servicing over 220 countries.
The company is looking to cement its future by developing its own fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles.
But a fascinating announcement to date came earlier this week when DPDHL and ZF – one of the world's largest automotive technology suppliers – signalled they were working together to deploy a test fleet of autonomous delivery trucks. The first prototype delivery vehicle was shown this week at the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in Munich.
DPDHL is keen to automate the process as much as possible by upgrading its fleet of up to 3,400 Streetscooter vehicles with autonomous last-mile capabilities to permanently reduce delivery costs. And by applying artificial intelligence to the equation, the aim is to continue the optimization process.
The prototype vehicle shown in Munich is equipped with six cameras, one radar and two lidar systems feeding data to the ZF ProAI control box, and the aim is that over time, the vehicles will develop the ability to recognize their immediate surroundings for deliveries and plan and amend their own routes on the fly.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the entire story is that the company – just over 20 years ago – might not have made it this far, and it is already the dominant freight and logistics company in the world and it will own the technologies that are increasing its competitive advantage.