Autonomous Last Mile Delivery Market Size By Platform (Drone [Up to 5Kg, Above 5 Kg], Robot [Up to 149 Kg, 150 and above], Trucks and vans), By Application (E-commerce, Food & Beverages, Healthcare, Postal & Courier), COVID-19 Impact Analysis, Regional Ou

Autonomous Last Mile Delivery Market Size By Platform (Drone [Up to 5Kg, Above 5 Kg], Robot [Up to 149 Kg, 150 and above], Trucks and vans), By Application (E-commerce, Food & Beverages, Healthcare, Postal & Courier), COVID-19 Impact Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2022 - 2030

The global autonomous last mile delivery market is expected to record appreciable proceeds over 2022-2030, due to the numerous benefits including supply chain optimization offered by autonomous vehicles.

Rapid urbanization along with increased e-commerce activities supplemented by social media marketing has placed a significant burden on the logistics sector. This has indicated that the existing delivery model may prove financially insufficient to cater to future requirements.

In these cases, replacing conventional vans with drones or green vehicles can optimize the system from an environmental and economic purview. According to estimates from the World Economic Forum, the use of autonomous last mile delivery solutions can reduce delivery costs by 20%, while cutting down emissions by 6%. These factors may influence industry trends over the forecast period.

The global autonomous last mile delivery industry is segmented in terms of platform, application, and region.

Based on the platform, the market is classified into drone, robot, and truck & van. Of these, the truck & van segment will exhibit reasonable growth over the forecast period, owing to the rising integration of automation in logistics.

Growing shortage of skilled human workforce to operate logistic vehicles has encouraged companies to adopt autonomous solutions. Furthermore, the operational cost of automation is lower in comparison to manual operations. The burgeoning e-commerce sector also needs a streamlined delivery network that can be achieved using autonomous trucks and vans, thus stimulating industry dynamics.

With regards to application, the e-commerce segment accounted for more than 40% share of the autonomous last mile delivery market in 2021. The e-commerce sector is growing at a commendable rate across the world. According to data from Shopify, China accounted for close to USD 740 billion whereas the United States registered more than USD 560 billion in e-commerce sales in 2019.

To cater to these increasing demands, retailers and logistic service providers are focusing on optimizing their operations by using drones and robots to deliver payloads, which may augment market share.

From a regional perspective, the Middle East & Africa autonomous last mile delivery industry will register over 26% CAGR over the forecast period.

Many Middle Eastern countries are partnering with non-governmental organizations to promote the usage of drones in the region. For instance, Saudi Arabia’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in August 2021 to establish itself as a global hub of drone technology. The country is focusing on the design, production, and operation of heavy-lift drones as autonomous last mile delivery solutions.

Furthermore, technological advancements in autonomous delivery vehicles will augment product adoption in the region. Citing an instance, researchers at King Saud University have developed a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) algorithm that reduces the delivery time for combined drone and truck delivery. Initiatives such as these will also increase the adoption of autonomous vehicles for last-mile deliveries.