Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

The Uber business model facilitates providing various services online. However, conducting checking driver background checks is a time consuming and expensive process in the existing model. The proposed research aims to automate this process to improve reliability while reducing costs for industry partner Danby Ltd. (ShipperBee), which seeks to use the Uber model for solving package distribution problems that most delivery service companies face. The proposed model will provide an affordable distribution service for packages while addressing issues such as return packages, which represent a significant percentage of the shipment market. *Through this proposed Engage grant, several algorithms to check the candidate drivers' background automatically will be developed and tested. By collecting and analyzing driver candidates' information from reliable online sources, the algorithms will improve the efficiency and robustness of selecting appropriate drivers based on editable criteria. This research project will: 1) investigate the usage of the available data analytics platforms, user generated data, and public information on the internet to check the background of potential drivers; and 2) provide guidelines on how to select the near optimal combination of data analytics techniques and data sources for checking drivers' backgrounds. *The applied research to be undertaken during this project will add a core component to the Uber-based shipment system that will help in hiring better drivers which, in turn, will improve client trust in the shipment service and hence attract new customers. In addition, it will engage students in addressing real-world problems, which will increase their potential for contributing to future innovation.