Optimizing sustainable multi-modal last-mile distribution with carbon-free autonomous vehicles, ground robots, drones, and public transport
Description:
The project aims at developing innovative quantitative techniques to optimally manage transport services of goods in urban areas. We focus on sustainable and smart transport systems, using alternative carbon-free vehicles (ACFV), such as, autonomous vehicles, ground robots, and drones integrated with the existing public transport system.
In recent years, the freight movements in urban areas are increased due to the boom of e-commerce distribution. The pandemic pushed even more the growth of the e-commerce confirming the growing trend. Using ACFV in urban areas could lead to a reduction of congestion, pollution, and noise, allowing to implement energetical and economical sustainable transport with a requalification of the urban area for the citizens. However, using these transport systems implies to face several challenging problems related to the energy, security, and privacy aspects.
Ground robots and drones can be also used for both collecting/dispatching data in order to share it with infrastructures (either existing or built ex-novo), and charging electric vehicles with the wireless power transmission technology. The potential use of ground robots and drones allows to promote smart city and smart road paradigms and to efficiently manage the battery recharge process. The project will focus on analyzing, defining, and optimizing goods transport systems by using ACFV connected to each other and to infrastructures with the purpose to also collect and share data of the urban area. We consider multi-modal and multi-tasking transport systems, focusing on both the interoperability among the ACFV, and the potential use of ground robots and drones as monitoring and energy dispatcher vehicles.
The research activities will be conducted along two, yet intertwined, main lines of investigation: 1) distribution of goods by means of eco-friendly, autonomous, and interconnected vehicles in urban areas, possibly in tandem with public transport vehicles; and 2) exploitation of multi-tasking characteristics of ground robots and drones. Within the first line, we focus on multi-modal routing problems where the synchronization among the vehicles is a crucial aspect.
For the second line of investigation, we focus on coverage problems arising in the context of area monitoring and energy dispatching, possibly combined with the delivery ones. The main results of the research project will be the definition of both models and methodologies for managing multi-modal and multi-tasking transport systems in urban areas. The aim is to optimize, within an integrated paradigm, the last-mile delivery of goods with ACFV, the collecting/dispatching of data and information within the ACFV and the infrastructures in urban areas, and the energy management by using ground robots and drones as energy dispatchers.
Keywords
- Multi-modal and multi-tasking transport system management
- Energy management
- Sustainability
- Carbon-free vehicles
- Optimization Models
- Machine-learning
Project Coordinator: Luigi Di Puglia
Bando
Finanziato dall’Unione europea – Next Generation EU
Bando Prin 2022 – Decreto Direttoriale n. 104 del 02-02-2022
Ambito applicativo
ERC
PE – Physical Sciences and Engineering
PE1_20 Control theory, optimisation and operational research
PE1_22 Application of mathematics in industry and society
PE1_16 Discrete mathematics and combinatorics
Partners
Università della CALABRIA
Università del SALENTO
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
