DPD and Partners Test Autonomous Vehicle ‘VanAssist’

DPD Shapes the Future: The expected increase in the number of packages transported annually in Germany by 40% to around 5.7 billion by 2025 demands innovative solutions. Therefore, the parcel service provider is actively working on new and sustainable delivery concepts to meet the growing demands.

(Aschaffenburg) VanAssist is a cooperative project with partners from science and industry aimed at conserving personnel resources, countering traffic density in urban areas, and promoting emission reduction. An autonomously driving delivery electric vehicle has been developed.

In the development, the involved partners focused on designing the autonomous vehicle to meet the continuously increasing demands on the last mile of parcel delivery. In particular, the walking and driving routes of a parcel tour are to be optimized. Accordingly, the test vehicle is capable of autonomously navigating to stops and reacting in real-time to changes in traffic conditions, thanks to intelligent navigation software.

Autonomous from Depot to Delivery Area

The VanAssist test vehicle operates in what is known as the rendezvous mode. This means that the vehicle can autonomously cover the distance from the depot to the delivery area. The delivery person only boards at a predefined meeting point. Whenever the delivery person subsequently delivers a package, the vehicle automatically navigates to the next designated stop. Thus, the van always waits precisely at the spot where the delivery person needs the next package or wants to be taken to the next address.

If the planned stop is not available, the vehicle informs the delivery person via a specially programmed smartphone app about an alternative point where it is waiting for them. The app control also allows for flexible adjustments to delivery routes as needed. An indoor navigation system has also been integrated, which quickly guides the delivery person to the designated handover point within large office or industrial complexes.

In the long term, these functions represent a significant relief for the daily work of parcel deliverers. The search for parking spaces and addresses is eliminated, allowing workers to fully concentrate on the actual parcel delivery.

VanAssist Highlights Future Needs

For DPD Germany, the funding project VanAssist has primarily highlighted what developments are necessary to integrate autonomously driving delivery vehicles into everyday work. “Our tests have shown that we need a control center that intervenes whenever something unforeseen happens on the route, where the vehicle cannot independently decide what to do. This could be a hidden sensor or a blocked road,” says Gerd Seber, Group Manager City Logistics & Sustainability at DPD Germany. “We have recognized that we need to fundamentally rethink our route planning. In the future, it will not only be relevant to which address we deliver a package, but also where we can identify and store nearby stops in the system for that package.”

However, cities will also face new challenges in implementing autonomous driving and delivery solutions. “On one hand, we need standardized intelligent traffic lights and signs. On the other hand, we require reservable loading zones specifically for delivery traffic, to which we can navigate our vehicles,” says Seber.

To continue working and researching on the topic of autonomous driving, the test vehicle is set to be deployed in a practical test in the next step in road traffic. So far, the driving behavior has only been observed on a university test site.

The Project Partners at a Glance:

• BridgingIT GmbH
• DPD Deutschland GmbH
• Hochschule Offenburg – Institute for Reliable Embedded Systems and Communication Electronics
• IAV GmbH – Engineering Company for Automotive and Traffic
• Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH
• NFF, Technical University of Braunschweig – Institute for Vehicle Technology
• NFF, Technical University of Clausthal – Institute for Software and Systems Engineering
• University of Mannheim – Institute for Enterprise Systems
• Project Coordinator: ZENTEC Center for Technology, Business Start-ups, and Cooperation GmbH

Photos: © DPD