Security and transparency for the last mile delivery.
One of the major questions for last mile delivery is how and where to store parcel if it’s delivered when no one was at home. Where autonomous robots will drop the parcels? Are those locations secure enough? How to make sure that customer can easily track and have an access to its order? The answers could be found in a blockchain technology— the decentralized database that contains certain information in blocks which linearly connected with each other. Building of a blockchain chain takes place on the basis of three main principles — distribution, openness and protection. Recently, IBM and Singapore based start-up FreshTurf announced a creation of network storage lockers for parcels delivery throughout Singapore. It is a locker ledger network where lockers could be accessed through unique code combination generated only for the owner of an order, package could be securely stored, and received at any convenient time. City of Kouvola, Finland, that owns development agency Kinno, run a new project in September of this year — SmartLog. It is a blockchain-based logistics application that issues information about shipping containers location to different ERP systems. But transparent track of packages and security are not the only advantages that blockchain technology could offer. In virtue of blockchain features where data resides everywhere due to completely distributed computing environment, this technology could significantly decrease human error or system breach.
Despite all the advantages of blockchain technology there is no interstate agreement in the U.S. about how to regulate blockchain applications. In the first half of this year, USPS declared in their official report that blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt services that traditionally require intermediaries and it may be wise to begin studying its impact and experimenting with its future possibilities. Among traditional intermediaries they mean government agencies, hospitals that manage patient records, financial institutions, real estate and other sales agents. But regulatory uncertainty in some cases could slow down the progress of innovation development and implementation of blockchain solution in both public and private sectors.
