The NAIOP Research Foundation’s 2020 report, “The Evolution of the Warehouse: Trends in Technology, Design, Development and Delivery,” profiled a variety of emerging technologies that were reshaping warehouse interiors and allowing for new approaches to last-mile distribution. Since that report, there has been a rapid expansion in the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI).

The authors of the 2020 report, Steve Weikal and James Scott at MIT, are now examining how advances in AI are affecting the design, location and infrastructure requirements for industrial buildings and reshaping the systems inside those buildings for the forthcoming report “Artificial Intelligence in Warehouse Development and Operations.” The study draws from secondary research and interviews with developers and technologists and will be released in September 2025.

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