Last-mile delivery

What is last-mile delivery?

Last-mile delivery is the final stretch of a shipment: moving a single order from a nearby store, warehouse, kitchen, or sorting point straight to the person who ordered it. The trip is usually short, a few blocks or a few miles, but it only ends once the receiver has the goods in hand.

A finished delivery must reach the address the customer gave, within the time window promised, with the contents undamaged and complete. When one trip carries orders for several customers at once, each person's goods must stay in a separate, secure space until that person collects them, so no order is opened or taken by someone else. Food and groceries that need to stay hot, cold, or frozen must arrive within the temperature range set when the order was packed. The receiver, or someone they authorize, must be able to confirm who they are, by phone, code, or simply being present, before the compartment holding their order opens.

Today most last-mile deliveries are made by a person driving a van or riding a bike or scooter, carrying one or several orders and handing each one to its owner or leaving it at the door. The driver chooses the route, works around traffic and weather, and reports back if an address cannot be reached. A last-mile delivery task is complete only when the goods sit at the final address, in the condition and within the time the sender promised, and any locked or sealed compartment has been opened for the right person only.

Who relies on last-mile delivery?

Restaurants: sell meals that must reach diners while still hot or cold enough to eat, so they commission a delivery run for every order placed online or by phone. Most restaurants do not own the vehicles or robots that make the trip; they pay a delivery service or platform to carry the food.

Grocery and food retailers: take orders for perishable goods such as dairy, produce, and frozen items, and need each order kept at the right temperature until it reaches the buyer's home. They commission or run delivery rounds from their own stores or from local depots.

Courier and parcel delivery companies: collect packages from many different senders and carry them to many different addresses in a single working day. They own or lease the vehicles and robots that make these trips, selling delivery as a service to retailers and individuals who have no fleet of their own.

Hospitals: need meals, medicines, and supplies moved between kitchens, pharmacies, and wards without pulling nursing staff away from patients. They commission in-building delivery runs that follow a fixed schedule through hallways and elevators.

Universities and other campuses: serve students and staff spread across buildings that are far apart on foot. Dining and food-service operators working on these campuses commission delivery robots to bring meals and packages to dorms and offices across the grounds.

How last-mile delivery robots work

Several kinds of robot carry out last-mile delivery, each suited to a different setting.

Small wheeled robots move along sidewalks and pedestrian paths at walking speed. Staff at the store or restaurant load the order into an insulated compartment and lock it; the robot then uses cameras and other sensors to find its own way to the address, while a remote human watches over several robots at once and can step in if one meets an obstacle it cannot solve alone. At the door, the receiver unlocks the compartment with a code or a phone app, and the robot moves on to its next stop.

Larger wheeled vehicles built for roads carry more than one order at a time, each kept in its own separate compartment so deliveries for different customers never mix; some compartments also hold goods at different temperatures. These vehicles drive themselves on streets and make several stops in turn, and some load and unload their own cargo at each stop rather than waiting for a person to do it.

Flying robots deliver by air instead of road. One kind of drone keeps a package level in flight using built-in stabilizing technology, then lowers or hands over the item at the delivery point. A larger hybrid aircraft takes off and lands vertically, carrying heavier loads farther to a landing spot near the receiver.

Indoors, a two-armed robot carries an order through hallways, using one arm to press elevator buttons or open doors while the other holds the item, and delivers it to a room or desk. In hospitals, airports, and campuses, similar robots carry meals or packages between indoor and outdoor areas on their own; in one case, kitchen staff loaded meal trays into such a robot, which then found its own way across a university campus to deliver the food.