APRIL 29, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is pleased to announce the addition of new member Grid Smarter Cities, a U.K.-based technology company whose Kerb mapping platform provides cities with real-time dynamic management of their curbspaces, enabling commercial vehicle drivers to book curb reservations, and cities to temporarily flex parking restrictions to offer curbspace at times when it least impacts the system.
The final 50 feet of goods delivery — the last leg of a product’s journey from warehouse to customer, beginning when a vehicle parks at the curb and ending when the end-user receives their goods — is the most costly and time-consuming part of the delivery process. Locating available parking at the curb has long been one of the challenges that delivery vehicle drivers face in this space. In recent years, the heightened demand for limited curbspace (due to rising goods delivery, ridehailing usage, curbside pick-up, and shared micromobility) has made it even more challenging.
“As a curb management company focused on urban freight systems, Grid recognizes the extend of the final 50 feet challenge for goods delivery vehicles and provides technology solutions to tackle this problem,” said Andisheh Ranjbari, Urban Freight Lab Manager.
As a European-based company, Grid is also the first overseas UFL member, bringing a new and valuable perspective.
Grid Smarter Cities joins some of the largest players in transportation and logistics—carriers and shippers PepsiCo, UPS, and United States Postal Service; retailers Amazon and Nordstrom; infrastructure and operations technology provider REEF; real estate corporation Terreno Realty; and vehicle and vehicle part manufacturers Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Michelin. The UFL is focused on finding solutions to urban goods delivery problems through collaboration between the public and private sectors, in the strategic research areas of the Final 50 Feet, Sustainable Freight, Curbspace Management, Zero Emissions Freight, and Modeling Freight Activity.
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About the Urban Freight Lab (UFL): The Urban Freight Lab is a structured partnership of academic researchers, public sector agencies, and private sector firms — shippers, retailers, tech providers, property owners, and manufacturers — working collaboratively to identify complex urban freight management problems and design solutions to make industry more efficient and cities more livable and sustainable.