Logistics

Back in July, the Japanese government outlined an intriguing idea to connect major cities with what sounded like a giant "conveyor belt" for cargo. Now we have a clearer picture of what that “Auto Flow Road” will look like.

Whether at the shopping mall or tasked with moving stuff around the office, you've likely had to deal with a cart with a wonky wheel at some point. Help could be on the way in the shape of a flying cart named the Palletrone.

The Japanese government is planning to connect major cities with automated zero-emissions logistics links that can quietly and efficiently shift millions of tons of cargo, while getting tens of thousands of trucks off the road.

Nobody wants to put their package in a grubby, sticky box that's clearly been recently used – but many an excellent box is made unappealing by an untidy exterior. That's where Box Refresh – the worst-named product of 2024 – hopes to make a difference.

Range Energy makes truck trailers, with a clever connection to any standard tractor cab, loaded with electric powertrains to turn any semi into an efficient hybrid. They also let you push entire trailers around by hand at the depot in "shopping cart mode."

Early humanoid robots probably won't be able to do much that Fraunhofer's self-balancing evoBOT can't do much faster, and its new autonomous, omnidirectional O³dyn pallet jack looks like another slam dunk for logistics and warehousing.

Carrying up to 96 small USPS packages in its internal cargo bay, the new Cento needs nothing more than two parking spaces for takeoff, landing and automatic unloading. MightyFly is working with the FAA to expand its long-range flight authorization.

The means of carriage needn't be the means of locomotion, says Node Air, and logistics for passengers and cargo will work better with detachable pods that can connect to air or ground vehicles as needed. It's teamed up with JetX to pursue its vision.

A lot less technologically optimistic than the Hyperloop-TT Hyperport project, Cargo Sous Terrain looks considerably more likely to happen, with its first 10-stop, 70-km (43-mile) series of underground tunnels scheduled to begin taking cargo in 2031.

Back in January, Elroy Air showed off a pre-production version of an autonomous cargo drone capable of carrying 500-lb loads over 300 miles, and we've now learned FedEx plans to soon put these capabilities to the test.

San Francisco's Elroy Air has revealed its pre-production Chaparral C1, an autonomous VTOL lift & cruise cargo drone running on a hybrid-electric system that allows it to transport loads up to 500 lb over distances up to 300 miles.

Earlier in the year, TuSimple sent one of its autonomous trucks on a 900-mile journey from Arizona to Texas, though human drivers took the wheel for the first and last parts. Now a semi-truck has completed an 80-mile trip on public roads on its own.