The Jetson’s—what a classic cartoon from my younger days. I recently saw an episode on TV and showed my kids. What a laugh they had as they looked at me oddly. What looked like an oddball idea—flying cars—now seems strangely closer and closer to reality. Perhaps we’re closer than we know.
But, realistically, we’re even closer to autonomous vehicles.
In fact, Kroger just announced a new concept of driverless delivery vehicles that’s expected to start testing in markets this fall. Imagine ordering your cereal, fruit, juice, and vegetables. Then, with the touch of a button, you simply meet your meal outside your house an hour later. You can skip the curbside pick-up completely and not have to go anywhere.
That’s just a small example. Autonomous vehicles effects will also be realized in the distribution world, and with it comes the effects and changes in our everyday lives. Consider the following:
How long until we help solve our issue of truck driver labor issues by having driverless trucks? What about taking our existing truck driving labor pool and having that group re-directed into our other labor shortages? How much more efficient could warehouses be laid out knowing that autonomous trucks could deliver on a laser guided path from queuing lanes to truck courts and then to awaiting dock door positions?
With unemployment figures at historical lows, every opportunity we can create to solve the labor issues is an advantage for us.
Additionally, there are numerous advantages that could be created to maximize efficiency of space—less traffic and congestion around distribution centers, a safer environment for trucks and employees, and a quicker and more precise distribution supply chain for to the end user.
The advancement in these types of technologies are now not an issue of when they will happen, but how efficient can we make them. In the distribution world, efficiencies and creative ideas will span to cater to certain industries and types of businesses. The cost savings with these efficiencies could be impressive on future development costs and the related rental rates associated. What will be ideal for some, will not be for others.
Times are changing indeed. Our world is changing before our eyes and doing so every day, faster than we could have ever imagined.
Craig Jones is is Managing Director at JLL and leads its Dallas industrial group.
