Grid Smarter Cities: Urban Logistics Transformation Revolution

Grid Smarter Cities is leading the transformation of goods movement within UK cities through innovative applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven solutions. Based at the Catalyst, Newcastle Helix, the company is pioneering efforts to revolutionise urban mobility and last-mile logistics. The driving force behind Grid Smarter Cities’ success is its founder and CEO, Neil Herron, who recognises the critical role of data in achieving these advancements.

The company’s flagship product, Kerb, is a dynamic digital booking system designed to optimise kerbside management through bookable loading slots. This helps delivery drivers avoid penalty fines and keeps cities moving, thereby reducing pollution.

“What we’ve got currently at the kerbside is a first come, first serve, free-for-all,” Neil explains. “If you’re a commercial operator, you’re coming into town, you’re circling around, you’re double-parking, you’re trying to squeeze into some space, you might get a penalty charge notice.”

“We’re taking that away to make that space available and bookable. So instead of first-come-first-served, it becomes a managed piece of real estate.”

Having received three rounds of growth funding from Innovate UK since 2018, Grid Smarter Cities became a national player in the sector when it secured multi-million pound investment to deliver a project with Westminster City Council aimed at reducing congestion in central London.

For Neil, gathering data is just the first step in understanding and effectively using information to create tangible solutions.

“There is a lot of data out there…it’s about what data you consume to deliver the outcomes that you need,” he explains, “If you know what outcome you want, you know what data to search for, and then you look at how to rationalise that data and deliver a positive intervention and a positive outcome.”

According to Neil, the benefits of harnessing data and AI outweigh the concerns, especially given the increasing awareness around the need for legislation and regulation.

“There are going to be negative aspects to some of the use of data, but it’s about control and management and policy and legislation,” he says, “If we have the legislative framework that sits around us, then it won’t be used and abused.”

Neil is also aware of a shift in consumer attitudes towards data collection and believes that embracing the need for data will be fundamental to the future of business and innovation: “People understand there’s a trade-off and you have to say, ‘Well, I’m quite prepared to share some of my location-based data with you because you gave me something for free.'”

“There are going to be negative aspects to some of the use of data, but it’s about control and management and policy and legislation, and if we have the legislative framework that sits around us, then it won’t be used and abused.”

To find out more about Neil and the work Grid Smarter Cities are doing, follow the link Grid Smarter Cities – Dynamic kerbside management solution for greener, smarter and sustainable cities of the future

Original credit goes to Newcastle Helix Grid Smarter Cities: Transforming urban logistics across the UK through AI and data

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