Dynamic Delivery Location Selection for Traveling Customers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current delivery systems require a fixed location for delivery, which is inconvenient for travelers and pose safety risks, and drone delivery is limited by airspace restrictions and safety concerns.
Innovation Solution
A system that identifies an optimal vendor and delivery location along a traveler's route using navigational data, allowing for on-the-go deliveries by updating the route to include a detour to the delivery location, with options for secure or unsecure handover.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fixed delivery location is required for order fulfillment, then delivery reliability is improved, but convenience for traveling customers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The delivery location is transformed from a static fixed address to a dynamic location determined by real-time vehicle navigation data. The system identifies optimal delivery points along the customer's travel route, allowing the delivery location to adapt dynamically to the customer's movement rather than requiring a predetermined stationary address.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary delivery location along the customer's route - such as a rest stop, gas station, or parking area - that serves as a meeting point between the delivery driver and the traveling customer. This intermediary location enables delivery to traveling customers without requiring them to have a fixed address.
2Speed
If drone technology is used for direct delivery to moving vehicles, then delivery speed is improved, but safety deteriorates due to airspace restrictions and drone hazards
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using drones to directly deliver to moving vehicles (which creates safety hazards), the system introduces an intermediary stationary delivery location along the customer's route. The delivery driver transports the order to this intermediate location, and the customer picks it up there, eliminating the need for dangerous drone-to-vehicle deliveries while maintaining reasonable delivery speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces expensive and hazardous drone technology with conventional, well-established ground-based delivery methods using standard delivery vehicles. This substitution eliminates the safety risks associated with drone operations while achieving the same delivery objective through a more reliable and safer approach.
3Device complexity
If the delivery location is determined before the customer places an order, then delivery process simplicity is improved, but adaptability to customer's actual route deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the customer's navigation route when the order is placed, identifying potential delivery locations along the route in advance. However, the final delivery location is not fixed beforehand but is dynamically selected based on real-time conditions such as the customer's actual position, traffic conditions, and availability of suitable delivery points, thus maintaining both simplicity and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery location selection process is made dynamic rather than static. While the system prepares potential delivery locations in advance based on the customer's planned route, the actual delivery point is flexibly determined in real-time based on the customer's actual movement and changing conditions, allowing the system to adapt to the customer's actual route rather than being constrained by pre-determined locations.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described for enabling delivery of an order to a customer's vehicle travelling along a first navigational route. The customer inputs an order, and a plurality of candidate vendors and candidate delivery locations are determined. A target delivery location and target vendor are selected from among the plurality of candidate delivery locations and candidate vendors based on optimizing one or more predetermined criteria. The order is transmitted to the target vendor, and a confirmation is received. The target delivery location is then transmitted to the customer. The customer travels to the target delivery location to pick up the order.