Method and system for generating delivery estimates

1. A method for improving parcel delivery, the method comprising:

generating a first and a second cross-carrier delivery prediction model based on delivery data retrieved from a plurality of carriers;

at a delivery data database of a server system, storing a plurality of cross-carrier delivery models comprising the first and the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model, the first cross-carrier delivery prediction model stored in association with a first carrier identifier and the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model stored in association with a second carrier identifier, for improving upon data storage and retrieval functionality to enable substantially real-time analysis of cross-carrier data to determine delivery estimates of improved accuracy;

determining a first parcel delivery estimate for a first parcel based on processing first parcel data, from a first carrier of the plurality of carriers, with the first cross-carrier delivery prediction model retrieved from the delivery data database;

automatically determining a second parcel delivery estimate for a second parcel based on a first parcel delivery status and upon retrieving, from a second carrier of the plurality of carriers, second parcel data, wherein determining the second parcel delivery estimate comprises:

transmitting a first API request to the second carrier associated with the second parcel;

establishing a webhook endpoint Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for receiving communication from the first carrier associated with the first parcel;

at the webhook endpoint Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the first carrier, receiving a request from the first carrier in response to the first carrier updating the first parcel delivery status;

in response to receiving the request at the webhook endpoint URL associated with the first carrier, automatically transmitting a second API request to the second carrier to obtain updated second parcel data; and

outputting the second parcel delivery estimate upon retrieving the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model from the delivery data database and processing updated second parcel features with the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model in substantially real-time, as facilitated by the improved data storage and retrieval functionality at the remote server system; and

in response to determining the second parcel delivery estimate, automatically selecting a service level for delivering the second parcel;

generating, at a remote delivery system, a set of control instructions; and

executing the delivery of the second parcel based on the selected service level and the set of control instructions;

wherein retrieving at least one of first parcel data or second parcel data is based on processing a tracking number associated with at least one of the first parcel or the second parcel, comprising:

automatically identifying a carrier associated with the tracking number, wherein automatically identifying the carrier associated with the tracking number comprises:

determining an alphanumeric pattern;

pattern matching the alphanumeric pattern to patterns used by different carriers;

parsing the given tracking number for characters indicative of the carrier; and

parsing the tracking number into features and executing a machine learning algorithm with the features to identify the carrier from the plurality of carriers; and

generating an API request for at least one of first parcel data or second parcel data tailored to the carrier in response to identifying the carrier.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

for the first parcel, retrieving, from a carrier associated with the first parcel, first parcel data and first delivery data;

generating first parcel features from first parcel data and first delivery features from first delivery data; and

determining the first parcel delivery estimate based on processing at least one of first parcel features or first delivery features with the first cross-carrier delivery prediction model; and

for the second parcel, retrieving, from a carrier associated with the second parcel, second parcel data and second delivery data;

generating second parcel features from second parcel data and second delivery features from second delivery data; and

determining the second parcel delivery estimate based on processing at least one of second parcel features or second delivery features with the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating at least one of first delivery features or second delivery features for the first parcel further comprises:

according to a feature engineering rule, processing at least one of first delivery data or second delivery data, and standardizing historic carrier-provided delivery estimates; wherein the feature engineering rule is a unit standardization rule, and wherein at least one of first delivery features or second delivery features comprise at least one of origin address, destination address, handling times, transit times, delivery route information, delivery vehicle information, or delivery status information.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating at least one of first parcel features or second parcel features for the second parcel further comprises:

according to a feature engineering rule, processing at least one of first parcel data or second parcel data, and

standardizing historic carrier-provided delivery estimates; wherein the feature engineering rule is a unit standardization rule, and wherein at least one of first parcel features or second parcel features comprise at least one of parcel size, parcel weight, current parcel location, current parcel delivery route, parcel content information, or delivery status information.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

during the delivery of the second parcel, and in response to determining a second parcel delivery status, automatically updating the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model; wherein determining the second parcel delivery status comprises detecting a trigger event and generating an updated second parcel delivery estimate based upon the trigger event, the trigger event comprising at least one of: a delivery disruption during the delivery of the second parcel, a predetermined time during the delivery of the second parcel, or a user query.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to an updated second parcel delivery estimate, switching the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model to an updated second cross-carrier delivery prediction model, wherein switching to the updated second cross-carrier delivery prediction model comprises:

determining selection criteria of the updated second cross-carrier delivery prediction model based on at least one of updated second delivery data, updated second parcel data, or the updated second parcel delivery estimate;

selecting the updated second cross-carrier delivery prediction model from the plurality of cross-carrier delivery prediction models stored in the delivery data database; and

switching the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model to the updated second cross-carrier delivery prediction model based on selection criteria.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the service level comprises:

generating second parcel service level features for service levels provided by the second carrier associated with the second parcel;

generating a plurality of delivery estimates corresponding to service levels upon processing the second parcel service level features with the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model; and

selecting the service level corresponding to a desired delivery estimate from the plurality of delivery estimates; wherein the second parcel service level features are based on at least one of delivery features, parcel features, user features, supplementary features, or cross-carrier delivery prediction models retrieved from the delivery data database associated with the second parcel, and comprise at least one of mode of transportation, desired delivery time, rate quote, weight requirements, or dimension requirements.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein execution of the delivery of the second parcel further comprises:

controlling a delivery vehicle to deliver the second parcel based on the selected service level and the set of control instructions, and wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous system operated by a third party carrier, the third party carrier associated with a cross-carrier delivery model stored in the database.

9. A method for improving parcel delivery, the method comprising:

generating a first and a second cross-carrier delivery prediction model based on delivery data retrieved from a plurality of carriers;

at a delivery data database of a server system, storing a plurality of cross-carrier delivery models comprising the first and the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model, the first cross-carrier delivery prediction model stored in association with a first carrier identifier and the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model stored in association with a second carrier identifier, for improving upon data storage and retrieval functionality to enable substantially real-time analysis of cross-carrier data to determine delivery estimates of improved accuracy;

determining a first parcel delivery estimate for a first parcel based on processing first parcel data, from a first carrier of the plurality of carriers, with the first cross-carrier delivery prediction model retrieved from the delivery data database; and

automatically determining a second parcel delivery estimate for a second parcel based on a first parcel delivery status and upon retrieving, from a second carrier of the plurality of carriers, second parcel data, wherein determining the second parcel delivery estimate comprises:

transmitting a first API request to the second carrier associated with the second parcel;

establishing a webhook endpoint Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for receiving communication from the first carrier associated with the first parcel;

at the webhook endpoint Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the first carrier, receiving a request from the first carrier in response to the first carrier updating the first parcel delivery status;

in response to receiving the request at the webhook endpoint URL associated with the first carrier, automatically transmitting a second API request to the second carrier to obtain updated second parcel data; and

outputting the second parcel delivery estimate upon retrieving the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model from the delivery data database and processing updated second parcel features with the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model in substantially real-time, as facilitated by the improved data storage and retrieval functionality at the remote server system;

wherein retrieving at least one of first parcel data or second parcel data is based on automatically identifying a carrier associated with a tracking number, the tracking number associated with at least one of the first parcel or the second parcel, comprising:

determining an alphanumeric pattern;

pattern matching the alphanumeric pattern to patterns used by different carriers;

parsing the given tracking number for characters indicative of the carrier;

parsing the tracking number into features and executing a machine learning algorithm with the features to identify the carrier from the plurality of carriers; and

generating an API request for at least one of first parcel data or second parcel data tailored to the carrier in response to automatically identifying the carrier.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

for the first parcel, retrieving, from a carrier associated with the first parcel, first parcel data and first delivery data;

generating first parcel features from first parcel data and first delivery features from first delivery data; and

determining the first parcel delivery estimate based on processing at least one of first parcel features or first delivery features with the first cross-carrier delivery prediction model; and

for the second parcel, retrieving, from a carrier associated with the second parcel, second parcel data and second delivery data;

generating second parcel features from second parcel data and second delivery features from second delivery data; and

determining the second parcel delivery estimate based on processing at least one of second parcel features and second delivery features with the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein generating at least one of parcel features and delivery features for at least one of the first parcel and the second parcel further comprises:

according to a feature engineering rule, processing at least one of parcel data or delivery data, and

standardizing historic carrier-provided delivery estimates for at least one of the first parcel or the second parcel; wherein the feature engineering rule is a unit standardization rule, and wherein parcel features comprise at least one of parcel size, parcel weight, current parcel location, current parcel delivery route, parcel content information, or delivery status information; and wherein delivery features comprise at least one of origin address, destination address, handling times, transit times, delivery route information, delivery vehicle information, or delivery status information.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising executing of the delivery of the second parcel, comprising:

controlling a delivery vehicle to deliver the second parcel based on a selected service level and a set of control instructions, and wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous system operated by a third party carrier, the third party carrier associated with a cross-carrier delivery model stored in the database.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the autonomous system is a drone, and the third party carrier is a drone delivery service.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising selecting a service level, comprising:

generating second parcel service level features for service levels provided by the second carrier associated with the second parcel;

generating a plurality of delivery estimates corresponding to service levels upon processing the second parcel service level features with the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model; and

selecting the service level corresponding to a desired delivery estimate from the plurality of delivery estimates; wherein the second parcel service level features are based on at least one of delivery features, parcel features, user features, supplementary features, or cross-carrier delivery prediction models retrieved from the delivery data database associated with the second parcel, and comprise at least one of mode of transportation, desired delivery time, rate quote, weight requirements, or dimension requirements.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

during the delivery of the second parcel, and in response to determining a second parcel delivery status, performing at least one of: automatically updating the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model or switching the second cross-carrier delivery prediction model to an updated second cross-carrier delivery prediction model; wherein determining the second parcel delivery status comprises:

detecting a trigger event and generating an updated second parcel delivery estimate based on the trigger event, the trigger event comprising at least one of: a delivery disruption during the delivery of the second parcel, a predetermined time during the delivery of the second parcel, or a user query.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

identifying a set of related parcels satisfying a relatedness condition associated with the second parcel; and

determining a set of delivery estimates for the set of related parcels based on a second parcel delivery status, wherein the relatedness condition associated with the second parcel comprises being delivered with a similar selected service level as the second parcel.