Rich data for governing urban delivery

In July 2020, automated delivery operator Kiwibot teamed up with Shopify to pilot a last-mile delivery service in San Jose, Calif. as part of an effort to "expand touchless and physically distant deliveries."

Vehicles will stream real-time data to city officials using the Mobility Data Standard, a protocol used on more than 100 cities that "allows mobility services to have a pre-established way to exchange information with regulators." These data streams will give city officials detailed data on the flow of goods, allowing them to ensure that new delivery services reach vulnerable groups and to study challenges for operating the vehicles in different neighborhoods and right-of-way.

This all points towards a future where cities will have rich, real-time dashboards of micromobility movements of people and freight across a variety of services, allowing them to see both great detail and larger patterns at the same time.