Grid Smarter Cities: Transforming urban logistics across the UK through AI and data

Grid Smarter Cities is at the forefront of the movement of goods around cities in the UK, using innovative applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven solutions to transform logistics in cities across the country.

Based in Newcastle Helix, the business is leading the way when it comes to harnessing data to revolutionise urban mobility and last-mile logistics. The key to Grid Smarter Cities’ success is the vision of its founder and CEO, Neil Herron, who understands the importance of harnessing data.

The company’s flagship product, Kerb, is a dynamic digital booking system that aims to optimise kerbside management through bookable loading slots, helping delivery drivers avoid penalty fines and keeping cities moving, which in turn reduces the amount of pollution generated.

"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 lots of growth funding from Innovate UK since 2018, Grid Smarter Cities became a national player in the sector when the business secured multi-million pound investment to deliver a project with Westminster City Council to cut congestion in the heart of London.

For Neil, gathering data is just the first step in a necessary process to understand and effectively use 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 conscious of a shift in consumer attitudes towards data collection, and believes that embracing the need for data will be a fundamental part of 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."

Newcastle Helix presents... The Future of Data and AI is available to stream free now on our YouTube channel: