General Motors has launched a new business amid the pandemic called BrightDrop that will offer electric first-to-last-mile products, software, and services so delivery and logistics companies can move goods more efficiently.
The business aims to help companies lower costs, maximize productivity, improve employee safety and freight security, and support more sustainability efforts.
“BrightDrop offers a smarter way to deliver goods and services,” said Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of GM. “We are building on our significant expertise in electrification, mobility applications, telematics and fleet management, with a new one-stop-shop solution for commercial customers to move goods in a better, more sustainable way.”
The new business stems from GM’s Global Innovation organization and is expected to unlock areas of B2B, expansion of the Ultium platform, and provide software and service opportunities.
The OEM is launching into a market that is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, and has shown signs of doing just that in 2020 during the first waves of the COVID-19 crisis. GM estimates that by 2025 the combined market opportunity for parcel, food delivery, and reverse logistics in the U.S. will be more than $850 billion.
“According to the World Economic Forum, demand for urban last-mile delivery, fueled by e-commerce, is expected to grow by 78 per cent by 2030, leading to a 36 per cent increase in delivery vehicles in the world’s top 100 cities,” said GM in its news release.
However, the problem with increased last-mile demand is that it can lead to a notable rise in carbon emissions.
