Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DynaHUBS (DynaHUBs is a new application designed to kick start the development of the Physical Internet using a crowd-sourced approach)

Teaser

Increasing utilization on existing capacity to avoid large infrastructure spending:Meeting the growing urban delivery demand fuelled by growing e-commerce (10% p.a.). Only 30-40% of the population shopped online in most EU countries in 2013, yet they are projected to reach...

Summary

Increasing utilization on existing capacity to avoid large infrastructure spending:

Meeting the growing urban delivery demand fuelled by growing e-commerce (10% p.a.). Only 30-40% of the population shopped online in most EU countries in 2013, yet they are projected to reach 70-80% in the coming years. Such demand growth will create a need for high urban investments.

- Solving the inefficient last-mile problem for logistics companies. The last-mile problem accounts for a staggering 53-75% of total parcel delivery costs (see Aurum, Credit Suisse, 17 Oct 2016 e-commerce logistics, and Characteristics of innovations in last mile logistics -University of Antwerp, department of Transport and Regional Economics) . Also called a “ping-pong problem”, logistics operators make several empty runs.
- Supporting new business models for low-cost urban mobility.
- Enabling neighbourhood to cross country cargo delivery systems, logistics capacity sharing, car sharing, carpooling, demand-responsive transport, etc.
- Supporting healthy growth of e-commerce by decreasing delivery costs. 68% of e-buyers stated “delivery-related” problems as the core reason they did not complete their orders. Also, 19% of buyers stated that they would shop online more if shipping was cheaper.
- Supporting cross-country commerce across Europe. A third of EU population lives across borders with the ever-growing cross-border daily commute volumes each year. Yet, according to a survey by eBay in UK, France and Germany, 78% of merchandisers identify delivery costs as the main obstacle to cross-border e-commerce, while 42% refer to bad quality of delivery services.
-Promoting higher environmental and safety standards for logistics:
- Decreasing local truck traffic and therefore lowering GHG and CO2 emissions2. Freight transport generates between 20 and 60 percent (depending on the pollutants considered) of local transport-based pollution.
- Lowering fatal accidents caused by trucks. Trucks were involved in an overwhelming total (43%) of bicyclists’ deaths on Greater London roads between 1992 and 2006 (Morgan et al., 2010).

DynoHUBS will address all the issues above at a very low cost and increase the overall efficiency of the logistics sector. We will be among the companies that help European transport system to meet the 2030 and 2050 targets set out in the Transport White Paper.

Work performed

1. Amendment: As a Fast Track Innovation project, we have progressed quickly. All the
major project deliverables have been completed, as we will explain further in this
document. Consequently, we will apply for an amendment asking the commission
formally to allow us to complete the project in January 2018 instead of August 2018.
This will allow DynaHubs to start commercialisation driven activities sooner.
2. Vision Ready: DynaHUB’s vision has been fine-tuned. DynaHubs is not to repeat the
business and operational models adopted by global giants such as Uber Eat, Delviroo
etc that are funded with €100s of millions. Instead it will focus on the gaps left by these
operators.
3. Product Ready: The product development cycle has been completed. Currently our
product can operate with a real price advantage compared to the global giants. For
example, Uber charges €4.95 for a delivery where our costs to user is €0.75. This is
becase DynaHubs does not need carry the cost of a professional driver or courier
network like Uber and others.
4. Simple UI/UX: The UI/UX of DynaHubs has been designed to work with “Don’t Make
Me Think” principal. For this we have adopted the methodology names “Hooked”
developed by Nir Ayal. https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/kissmetrics/hooked-howto-
build-habitforming-products.
5. State of the Art Technology: The combination of UI/backend and the vitality of the
application are achieved with 75% reduction in transaction steps. This is the most
significant achievement of the project from a technological point of view. There is no
other exchange mechanism peer-to-peer or otherwise that utilizes our novel design.
6. Disruptive: With strong viral and peer-to-peer features DynaHubs aims to challenge
the market by changing the rules of the game- not for the hole market but for a small
niche where it can demonstrate the difference.
7. Already in Apple and Google Stores: DynaHubs have only been tested in small FOTs.
The application is already in App Store and Google Play. This is allowing us to conduct
tests in real life conditions on much larger crowds. It also means during resilience
events public and the relief agencies will be able to sue the application if need be.
DynaHUBs: New application designed to kick start the development of the Physical Internet using a
crowd-sourced approach - 720657
Interim Report - 1 4
8. Reducing congestion: DynaHubs makes use of existing vehicles that are already going
from point A to B. Therefore, does not add extra vehicles on the road. Our FOTs have
shown the potential to reduce traffic in neighbourhoods, business districts and schools.
9. Resilience and Emergency Relief: Our FOTs have shown that during natural or manmade
extreme events public can use DynaHubs when the public transportation and
delivery systems fail. We have already conducted tests in a real flood in Istanbul as we
have incorporated experiences from a snowstorm and terrorist event of a car-pooling
test into DynaHubs as well. We are currently doing scenario planning and gamification
related work with a number of relief agencies, first responders, and civil protection
agencies in Europe.
10. Multi-Model Transportation: DynaHubs can be part of in a multi model
transportation-logistics suite. The users can use DynaHubs in parallel with their other
applications such as carpooling, car sharing, taxi sharing, and public transportation
applications. We have already tested DynaHubs with Uber, TAG, Movit and Yandex.
This means users can act like messengers and carry packages while using these apps.
11. Volume is Key to Customers: market and user needs were established for Lead Users.
DynaHubs operates as a market exchange where senders and messengers have to be in
large volumes. DynaHubs have been able to identify such volumes in i) existing carpooling
communities and ii) emergency and relief agencies that operate respond to
extreme events man made or natural.
12. Commercialisation: We are now closer than ev

Final results

We plan to conduct two major and one smaller FOTs in Europe until the end of 2017. In these FOTs we are planning simulate advanced resilience gamification to study DynHubs capabilities during extreme events.
This is beyond the scope of the state of the where we aim to establish a commercial model for DynaHubs to work with local transportation authorities and first responders.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.dynahubs.com/.