Urban logistics is a complex phenomenon which faces an inevitable conflict – where businesses hope to reduce operating costs on one hand, while urban planners seek to minimise traffic congestion on the other.

Faced with the challenge of optimising logistics and transportation activities in Singapore, the research team at the Fujitsu-SMU Urban Computing and Engineering Corp. Lab (UNiCEN), helmed by Professor Lau Hoong Chuin, designed a national platform that coordinates urban logistics activities in collaboration with the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore.

Statistics show that there were 160,000 trucks on the road, which was more than twice the number of cars and private-hire vehicles. Having this platform will enable Singapore to move towards a "truck-lite nation" while preserving operational efficiencies.

The Collaborative Urban Delivery Optimisation (CUDO) platform is a one-stop resource planning and scheduling tool for logistics service providers. CUDO optimises mall deliveries by consolidating delivery orders and optimising route schedules for delivering goods to the malls. The CUDO engine continuously learns an in-mall traffic data to provide a realistic inference or estimates on uncontrolled parameters such as service and arrival times. It also adds value by providing specialised services that include dock reservation and geospatial services.

With CUDO, the bottleneck problem for deliveries (which in turn affects productivity) could be resolved, delivery congestions reduced at malls, and overall safety improved in the city.