Traffic reduction potential of autonomous driving freight vehicles in urban settings

The densification of urban settings will further increase in the near future. The already overcrowded roads will no longer be able to absorb the resulting increase in passenger and freight traffic, which will lead to additional congestion. The study at hand analysis if autonomous driving freight vehicles have the potential to defuse the situation. We analyse the effect of autonomous driving freight vehicles, which commute between a central warehouse and different city districts, where the freight is handed over to cargobikes for the very last mile. We compare this to traditional direct deliveries using vans and cargobikes. The analysis bases on a route planning and optimisation model, which is specifically adapted for the different vehicle categories and is tested with real data from Switzerland in two settings: First, in a small and a big city, and second, in the case where a central warehouse is close to the city centre compared to a central warehouse in the outskirt of a city. The results show that higher traffic reduction potential is given in bigger than in smaller cities and in cases where the central warehouse is in the outskirt of the city. The results can be used in several ways: First, the model can be used to conduct similar analyses in different urban settings. Second, the results can be used to decide about the modal mix for urban logistics and in which situations a change from traditional deliveries to deliveries with autonomous driving freight vehicles in combination with cargobikes is beneficial.