USPS, Zipcar, DPD UK, and others named winners of The Optimizers Awards 2026. USPS, Zipcar, DPD UK, and other fleet organizations were recognized in the 2026 Optimizers Awards for initiatives involving route optimization, automation, AI, and fleet utilization. July 9, 2026 3 min to read * USPS, Zipcar, and DPD UK were among the winners recognized in the 2026 Optimizers Awards. * The awards celebrated innovative efforts in route optimization, automation, and AI technologies. * Fleet utilization improvements were a significant factor in the recognition of these organizations. *Summarized by AI Autofleet, the fleet management optimization platform, announced the winners of the Optimizers Awards for 2026, an industry-wide program recognizing fleet and mobility operations. The Optimizers Awards were created to recognize people working in fleet and mobility operations. Together, the winners represent a range of operational initiatives across the industry, including route optimization, fleet automation, AI, utilization improvement, and operations. Ad Loading... "What made these winners stand out wasn't just the results they achieved, but the creativity and operational discipline behind them," said Sima Megrel Shubzak, VP of Marketing at Autofleet. "Every fleet or mobility operator faces the same challenge: how to create reliability in an environment filled with constant change. The winners demonstrate what is possible when operational excellence becomes a strategic advantage," added Shubzak. According to Autofleet, the winners demonstrate operational approaches across cost, scalability, sustainability, and customer experience. The Optimizers Awards 2026 winners. Best Route Optimization: USPS. USPS received the Best Route Optimization award for rebuilding its logistics network using optimization and real-time operational data. The organization said it reduced transportation spend by $1.7 billion and cut unplanned trips by 40%, while supporting freight volumes and maintaining service performance. Rising Star in Mobility Operations: DPD UK. DPD UK received the Rising Star in Mobility Operations award for establishing a dedicated Utilization Team for its vans and LCVs. The initiative increased peak fleet utilization from 76% to 84%, enabled the decommissioning of 908 vehicles, and contributed to the company's first fleet procurement freeze in decades. Best Fleet Operations: Zipcar. Zipcar received the Best Fleet Operations award for improving vehicle availability and operational efficiency across its North American car-sharing network through automation and process optimization. By streamlining vehicle cleaning workflows and reducing manual intervention, Zipcar said it improved fleet readiness, increased vehicle availability for members, and enabled field teams to spend more time supporting members. Ad Loading... Fleet Optimization Pioneers: dollaride. Dollaride received the Fleet Optimization Pioneers award for developing an EV-as-a-Service model for community transit operators. By combining vehicles, charging infrastructure, financing, and parking into a single offering, the model is designed to support EV adoption while reducing operating costs and emissions. AI-Powered Operations: karmo carsharing. Karmo received the AI-Powered Operations award for using AI in procurement, fleet planning, and customer operations. The company said it uses AI to track market trends, support vehicle lifecycle decisions, and anticipate customer needs, allowing it to more than double its fleet size while increasing utilization from 89% to 91%. The Impact Award: kari ride hailing. Kari received The Impact Award for its operating model. The organization manages more than 250,000 rides annually with no dispatchers and a part-time operations team of two people, using automation and workflows to provide service at scale. After reviewing submissions from a range of fleet and mobility operations across geographies, business models, and use cases, Autofleet said one theme emerged consistently: operators are using optimization across AI, automation, network and route optimization, predictive decision-making, and operational scalability. According to the company, the submissions demonstrated how optimization is being used to support business performance.

DPD opens two new distribution centres in Crawley and Sittingbourne. Parcel delivery company DPD has opened two new 60,000sq ft regional distribution centres (DCs) in Crawley and Sittingbourne, as part of a major £330m programme to build seven distribution centres across the country over the next two years. The two DCs will boost DPD's capacity in the South East and are the first of seven purpose-built DCs planned under the company's multi-million pound programme, which was announced in June last year. DPD Crawley (pictured) is located to the north of Crawley on Hydehurst Lane and replaces DPD's current Crawley depot on Fleming Way, whilst DPD Sittingbourne is located at Panattoni Park, close to the M2, and replaces the current DPD depot on the Eurolink Industrial Estate. Staff at DPD's existing Crawley and Sittingbourne sites will be transferred to the new larger facilities and an additional 80 new jobs will be created by October, ahead of the peak season. The company's investment will see DPD deliver its 50th new build distribution centre, as part of major programme to strengthen its nationwide network of over 80 regional parcel centres. The giant new fully automated sortation DCs will each be capable of processing up to 80,000 parcels a day, with capacity to accommodate over 100 new delivery driver routes to ensure the operation can handle the demand for DPD's services in each area with space to carry on growing for a number of years. Justin Pegg, DPD UK chief executive, commented: "I'm delighted to confirm the opening of the first of seven new DCs in 2026/27 as Motor Transport continue to modify and expand its nationwide network of over 80 regional sorting centres. "The majority of its regional network comprises modern, purpose-built and fully automated facilities, giving Motor Transport the speed and the capacity needed to run a premium national seven day a week, next day delivery service. "This is an ongoing programme as we continue to invest in our infrastructure to ensure we will always meet the demand for our services and exceed our customers' expectations." Carol Millett is an award-winning freelance journalist with over 30 years' of experience writing across a broad range of sectors, including road transport, construction and civil engineering, project management, private finance, technology, HR, and travel and tourism. View full Profile Motor Transport Executive Brief. The Motor Transport Executive Brief newsletter delivers a comprehensive round-up of the week's major stories in the road transport industry. Covering everything from business acquisitions and contract wins to legislative updates,company highlights and fleeet news. Never miss a beat with Road Transport Media newsletters. Stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in your area of industry with high quality selected content written by the Road Transport Media team * DPD UK appoints Justin Pegg as new CEO DPD UK has promoted chief operating officer Justin Pegg to the role of chief executive of DPD UK, replacing Elaine Kerr who has been appointed chairwoman. * Revenues increase at DPD DPD Group UK said it had demonstrated resilience in a challenging market after revenues increased slightly to £1.5bn in 2024. * DPD announces 'unprecedented' distribution centre building programme DPD said it would invest £330m to build seven distribution centres across the country over the next two years in order to strengthen its network. * Palletline hails women in transport on International Women's Day Palletline is highlighting the achievements of some of its female staff in the week of International Women's Day. * Yodel brand to disappear as InPost pushes UK locker delivery model The Yodel brand is to disappear from the UK parcels market as owner InPost prepares to rebrand the carrier in a move aimed at expanding consumer delivery options and accelerating locker-based parcel services. * Parcels: winners and losers as fleets rebalance Parcel operators have cut the number of trucks in their fleets over the past year, according to the latest figures from MT Fleet Data. At the same time, however, they have increased the number of trailers they operate. Latest. Motor Transport is dedicated to providing road freight transport fleet operators with the most up to date, relevant and reliable news, views and interviews. Motortransport is published by DVV Media International. DVV Motor Transport sites