Project overview
Gig-economy couriers form an integral part of many last‐mile logistics operations, but the industry has come under increasing scrutiny due to concerns about poor working conditions. This project has identified inefficiencies and perceived unfairness relating to unpaid time and low pay, biases to using motorised vehicles, hiring too many people for the work available, which can lead to hazardous working conditions as couriers take risks to earn a living.
The overall project aims included:
- Investigating current gig economy practices and technology interaction and biases using the parcel and food delivery sectors
- Exposing the inefficiencies and inequities arising from current ad-hoc last-mile service provision and algorithmic approaches
- Developing new algorithms and dynamic models for allowing couriers to collaborate in new ways to encourage sustainable 'multi-modal' delivery and collection
- Creating new algorithms and interaction designs that empower gig economy couriers, rather than focusing on efficiency and profit
- Exploring how we can enable end-to-end trusted relationships between stakeholders and practices between consignors and consignees
- Using simulation, modelling, and trials to evaluate the potential impact and uncover barriers to adoption of the fairer, more sustainable models at scale.
We have worked with leading parcel delivery and cycle logistics companies, and modelled delivery options that optimally balance fair distribution of work according to job and worker availability, choosing the most sustainable transport mode for delivery, while empowering gig-economy couriers to better meet their personal working preferences.
Further information is available at the project website.
