Use of containers-transformers and platooning in megacities – a way to environmental ecology improvement

Introduction. Growth of cities and, accordingly, highways influences the quality of air, soil and water resources considerably. Dangerous emissions from cars in the form of sulfur compounds, nitrogen and carbon oxides, acid rain negatively affect people's health every day. In this regard, great importance is attracted to the transportation process optimization. One of the main problems of the transport and logistics services market is the transportation of empty cargo containers as returnable containers, which leads to unjustified fuel costs, labor resources, depreciation of vehicles, road congestion, and has a huge impact on the environment. Within the framework of the National Technology Initiative, approved by the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Economic Modernization and Innovative Development of Russia in 2018, in terms of the priority market direction — "Transport and logistics services" — a solution to the environmental problem is proposed through the use of smart automated containers-transformers equipped with an information system for remote administration, scenario management and mobile applications.

Problem Statement. It is necessary to develop a project that will eliminate technological barriers and optimize transport and logistics services. The implementation of this project should reduce the time of cargo delivery: loading/unloading, empty runs, breaks in work, optimize the delivery path, using newly created mobile applications based on modern high-level programming languages.

Theoretical Part. The SmartBoxCity container-transformer is a part of an information system that includes server and client software. Data exchange with the server is based on the information from the database on the states of the elements of the SmartBoxCity system. "Yandex. Routing" calculates routes and optimizes the operation of vehicles. The movement of motor vehicles is on "closed" optimal routes. Platooning in urban environments takes into account empty and loaded containers in real time, taking into account the dynamics of data.

Conclusion. A practical solution to optimizing the activities of transport companies is proposed, which reduces the time for loading/unloading up to 30%, the share of empty runs up to 25%, and logistics costs for transporting empty containers up to 75 %. The organization of platooning creates conditions for optimizing urban mobility, saving fuel, and improving the environmental situation.

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