News and Announcements

JULY 13, 2021 — Today the Urban Freight Lab (UFL) announces the selection of two cities to receive urban freight research assistance under the Technical Assistance Program (TAP).

JULY 12, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is pleased to announce the addition of new member Cornucopia Logistics. "Cornucopia Logistics is a fantastic addition to the Urban Freight Lab," said UFL Manager Andisheh Ranjbari.

JULY 9, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is pleased to announce Sam Ricord, doctoral student in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Transportation Track) as the winner of the BrightDrop Urban Freight Lab EP1 Design Competition.

JULY 8, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is pleased to announce the addition of new member Lacuna Technologies. Founded in 2018 and based in Palo Alto, California, Lacuna builds and manages open-sourced digital tools that allow cities and municipalities to create, communicate, and enforce dynamic transportation policies.

June 17, 2021 — The University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab (UFL) has launched and deployed one of the nation’s first zero operating-emissions, last-mile delivery pilots in the Uptown neighborhood of Seattle, in collaboration with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and tech and delivery companies including AxleHire, Coaster Cycles, BrightDrop, and REEF.

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.

APRIL 27, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is pleased to announce the addition of new member Automotus, a Los Angeles-based software company that provides cities with video analytics technology to monitor and manage their curbspace. Automotus uses computer vision (video analytics) to automate all aspects of curb management: collecting data, sharing live availability data, automating parking payment, and enforcement.

APRIL 13, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) has released OpenPark, a first-of-a-kind web app that alerts delivery drivers in real time to available parking spaces near their destinations—both currently open and predicted. It's part of a three-year research effort to use technology to alleviate challenges in the urban goods delivery system funded in large part by the U.S.

APRIL 8, 2021 — General Motors Company subsidiary BrightDrop is teaming up with the Urban Freight Lab to host a Research Challenge, providing students an opportunity to utilize their design and engineering skills and formulate recommendations and use cases on a new product: a next-generation self-propelled electric pallet (EP1) that can drive itself onto and off of a vehicle and follow a delivery worker around a neighborhood delivering packages, increasing efficiency and sustainability and reduc…

March 10, 2021 — Urban Freight Lab Research Assistant and Student Research Group Manager Haena Kim (Ph.D. Transportation Engineering '21) defended her dissertation today, completing her graduate studies and earning her doctorate degree. Kim now joins Nike's commercial analytics team as a Data Scientist.

March 16, 2021 — The Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Master's degree program at the University of Washington is hiring for an Affiliate Instructor to design and teach a new online course on Data Analysis in Supply Chain.   The ability to collect, manipulate, analyze, and make informed decisions based on large data sets is becoming an important skill for professionals aspiring to senior supply chain & logistics roles.

February 22, 2021 — To assist in the strengthening of urban freight practices, the Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is launching a six-month Technical Assistance Program for cities, government agencies and nonprofits from outside of the Puget Sound region. We are inviting agencies and organizations who share the same passion and vision for solving urban freight challenges with UFL, to apply for the program.

February 10, 2020 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) is pleased to announce the addition of new member Coaster Cycles. Coaster Cycles designs and manufactures innovative eco-friendly transportation solutions for last mile, cargo, and passenger needs, all made at Coaster’s 24,000 sq. ft. facility near Missoula, Montana, and shipped across the world.

January 25, 2021 — Urban Freight Lab researchers Giacomo Dalla Chiara, Fiete Krutein, Anne Goodchild, and Andisheh Ranjbari were awarded the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting Urban Freight Commitee (AT025) Best Practical Implications Paper award for "Commercial Vehicle Driver Behaviors and Decision Making: Lessons Learned from Urban Ridealongs".   "We are very excited and grateful to the Committee for the recognition," said Dalla Chiara, Urban Freight Lab Research Associate.

December 7, 2020 — OnRout, a real-time bidding platform for shipping carriers, has been named the grand prize winner of the Urban Freight Lab's (UFL) fourth annual Tech Day: Last-Mile Delivery in the New Normal pitch competition for early- and mid-stage start-ups around the world working to improve the final 50 feet of the delivery process. "We're honored to be invited, and to be recognized as the winner by this group of industry experts is thrilling," said OnRout founder Jonathan Hessney.