Ford Teams Up with Hermes to Make Online Shopping Smarter, Faster and More Sustainable

Ford has teamed up with consumer delivery specialists, Hermes, to trial a sustainable courier service aimed at reducing the footprint of parcel deliveries in cities — and make them more timely.

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The partnership utilises Ford’s smart ‘MoDe:Link’ multi-modal routing and logistics software to coordinate traditional delivery vans with pedestrian couriers, identifying safe locations for drivers to park within walking distance of multiple delivery addresses. From there, the final leg of the journey is completed on foot as couriers make deliveries to a mix of high-rise, business and residential buildings.

Couriers use a simple smartphone app that advises the location of the van and shows the most economical routes and itinerary to deliver the parcels. The app integrates with Hermes’ tracking systems to ensure customers have real-time visibility of the status of their deliveries.

The overall system orchestrates the end-to-end journey for each parcel, ensuring that deliveries — whether on the first mile from the depot by road, or the last mile to the doorstep on foot — are as efficient and as sustainable as they can be. Initially focussed on London, Ford and Hermes will now explore extending the pilot to further areas of the UK.

The pedestrian delivery model also opens the door for a new workforce who no longer need to drive or own a vehicle — in an industry that has had to race to recruit delivery drivers to meet consumer demand.