Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PARKUNLOAD (Smart Loading Zones in EU and Global market to regulate, control and monitor City Logistics - Last Mile Delivery in dense urban areas, based on Bluetooth devices and mobile apps for commercial drivers)
Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2020-04-30
Cities are also deploying actions to tackle the state of climate emergency. These may include parking restrictions for vehicles with higher emissions – especially in the dense urban areas where air quality problems are most acute.
Urban freight ranks as 10%-15% of city traffic and it is responsible for 25% of urban transport-related CO2 emissions and 30 to 50% of other transport-related pollutants.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, City Logistics and Commerce are now seen to be key activities for cities: ensuring supplies and recovering economic activity as safely as possible.
The Parkunload solution enables the Digital Transformation of the Loading Zones to improve City Logistics, with an innovative, cost-effective and scalable platform, which has an excellent impact on drivers (convenience, space availability), parking authorities (space rotation, enforcement efficiency) and cities (knowledge, policy development
Parkunload enables digital, variable and dynamic parking conditions to regulate, control and monitor any type of loading zones in cities to improve urban freight with a sustainable business model that is feasibile and cost-effective for large-scale deployments in dense urban areas.
Parkunload app for drivers instantly displays the current parking permit and max parking time for the vehicle in the Smart Loading zones based on vehicles features and driver profile, as well as according to the contextual situation of the city, such as pollution, emergency or peak-demand episodes.
As a scalable and real-time platform, Parkunload turns to an excellent source of BIG DATA to monitor city logistics baseline charts, such as loading patterns and occupancy levels to optimize parking spaces and urban freight traffic.
Parkunload is a cost-effecive pltaform that provides immediate benefits to drivers and parking authorities, because it increments parking rotation and space availability (+30%) in the loading zones, it reduces illegal parking (-50%) and traffic congestion with less circling for parking and no double parking.
Parkunload enables is aligned with Green Deal Policies because the city can define and enforce parking policies for the urban freight transport with environmental criteria: vehicle emissions, vehicle type, freight schedules, etc. It is compatible with other efficient and sustainable last mile delivery strategies, such as consolidation centres, electric vehicle fleets, pedestrian areas, etc.
Parkunload's solution is extremely easy-to-install, scale and transfer. It is compatible with any smartphone of the market.
During this period, we have met and proposed solutions to the Urban Freight and Transportation Departments of some of the largest cities in Europe and North America. In addition to this, we continue to receive valuable feedback from several pilots and operational deployments in Spain, Germany and Ireland, .
Additionally, Parkunload has reached Research Agreements with several universities around the globe (Sweden, US, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Ireland, UK) to analyse urban freight big data and to improve platform’s algorithms: occupancy levels, data accuracy, etc.
At this stage, the proposed Work Plan in SME Phase 1 consists in performing a Feasibility Study and in-depth market analysis to validate the commercial strategies and the key partners to guarantee a correct internationalisation plan of PARKUNLOAD for Europe and US / Canada.
• Analysis of the Business strategy for the Smart Loading Zones market in EU and US.
• EU & Global market analysis of Parkunload’s Smart Loading Zones
• Internationalization plan study
• Feasibility study conclusions.
PARKUNLOAD® platform provides an easy to deploy, cost-effective and easy-to-adopt approach to maximize efficiency in using the on-street loading zones and ensures the next benefits for all the stakeholders:
• Higher rotation and space availability: +30%
• Real-time occupancy level information
• Reduction of air pollutants and noise
• Monitoring logistics and big data analysis
• Clear reduction of indiscipline in loading zones: -50%
• Higher enforcement productivity and incomes: x2
• Optimization and shared use of the loading zones
• Flexible urban mobility and environmental policies
All Medium and large-size cities face severe problems regarding urban freight and Last Mile Delivery in dense urban areas: higher parking demand due to growing e-commerce, environmental challenges (pollution episodes restrictions, air pollutants and noise reduction), illegal parking, double parking, circling for parking, etc. Cities do not have real data related to urban freight and delivery activities in the city: loading patterns, occupancy levels, …
Some conclusions of the feasibility study are as follows:
• Parkunload solves a common problem in dense urban areas worldwide.
• Smart Loading Zones concept is unique, innovative and easy-to-deploy.
• Feasible for large-scale deployments with innovative Business Model.
• Larger than expected loading zones market in EU and US.
• Need for further political impulse with faster or wider scope.
During COVID19 emergency situation, it has become more visible that City Logitsics are even more strategic for cities. Society is also ready to adopt a 100% digital solution, if it is more efficient and benefit to all.