UTTRI research featured at Canadian Transportation Research Forum conference

UTTRI was well represented at CTRF’s recent conference, The Future of Canada’s Transportation System, in Gatineau, Quebec.


E-Commerce Logistics in Canada

Glareh Amirjamshidi presenting paper at CTRF
Glareh Amirjamshidi at CTRF 2018 (Photo: M. Roorda)

Dr. Glareh Amirjamshidi, a postdoctoral fellow working with Matthew Roorda (UTTRI) and Elkafi Hassini (McMaster University), presented the paper co-written with Moataz Abdelkhalek and Elkafi Hassini.

This research presents findings from an ongoing research project for Transport Canada on E-Commerce Logistics in Canada. The main question of the project is to examine the impact of e-commerce on logistics operations in Canada and determine if it has led to any distinct practices by looking at first, mid and last- mile distribution operations. In doing so, the research also considers existing data relating to e-commerce and logistics and possible gaps in conducting meaningful supply chain policy analytics. Some of the current findings suggest that the main focus of the current research is: the last mile since it is the most expensive of the delivery process, and the potential impact of disruptive technologies within the delivery industry. There is clearly a lack of studies on the first mile operations. Reports and studies done in Canada, EU, Malaysia, UK, and the USA have be! en reviewed and included, with potential next steps of designing appropriate measures to track the performance of e-commerce operations from a policy and economic development point of view.


Designing Parking Facilities for Autonomous Vehicles

PhD candidate Sina Bahrami presented a paper co-written with Mehdi Nourinejad and Matthew J. Roorda.

Parking is an important part of transportation planning because a typical vehicle spends 95% of its lifetime sitting in a parking spot. The increasing need to store vehicles has transformed a lot of valuable real-estate into parking garages in many countries. Realizing the high social cost of parking provision, Autonomous Vehicle (AV) industry leaders are rethinking how to reduce the parking footprint by converting traditional parking lots into automated parking facilities that can store more AVs (compared to regular vehicles) in smaller areas.

This research was published in Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, March 2018 issue, and was featured by U of T Engineering News.

Sina Bahrami presents paper at CTRF 2018
Sina Bahrami, CTRF 2018 (Photo: M. Roorda)