Center for Transportation and Logistics

WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman speaks with Prof. Carlo Ratti and research scientist Bryan Reimer about the potential impact of driverless cars on everything from traffic to the economy. Reimer says using autonomous vehicles will change, “how we move. It changes how packages are moved. It changes how we behave. It changes the future of old age. It changes everything.”

Dr. Matthias Wikenbach speaks with Angus Loten of The Wall Street Journal about how big data and the Internet of Things can be used to speed up the last mile of deliveries. Loten writes that “data can be fed into creating better delivery training programs, more efficient routes, and helping companies determine the best type of delivery vehicles.”

In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Loretta Chao writes that MIT is establishing a new supply chain education center in Ningbo, China. Speaking to the logistical challenges the country is facing, Prof. Yossi Sheffi explains that, “logistics costs in China as a percentage of GDP are much higher than in the U.S.”

Research by James Rice, deputy director of MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, finds that few companies are actually ‘reshoring’ manufacturing jobs to the U.S., writes Robert Wright of The Financial Times. The study indicates that the trend has had a negligible effect on employment in the U.S.

Professor Yossi Sheffi of the Center for Transportation and Logistics speaks with Bloomberg TV about the challenges faced by companies trying to provide same-day delivery service. Sheffi outlines the variety of factors that go into developing a delivery system that is cost effective.