Self-Driving FedEx Deliveries
Pilot Programs Starting in Houston
Sources: Nuro & FedEx
Race to Cut Package Delivery Costs by Robotics
FedEx and robotics/autonomous delivery startup Nuro of Silicon Valley, CA just announced a multi-year deal to test autonomous delivery vehicles for the FedEx delivery network. The pilot program will start in Houston, where Nuro's low speed, unmanned R2 vehicles are already making deliveries for Domino Pizza and Kroger supermarkets. FedEx says it will start sending vehicles for late night pickups in remote areas. The aim of the partnership is to test and deploy Nuro's next generation autonomous delivery vehicles on a large scale basis. The next G Nuro is all electric, low speed and self-driving with no space for humans only cargo.
Race to Cut Costs
Parcel delivery companies are racing to find ways to cut the cost of package deliveries. UPS is experimenting with drone deliveries. Freight and logistics companies are experimenting with self-driving technologies which eliminate the need for human drivers, their wages and benefits. FedEx has been internally developing its own autonomous vehicle technology - a sidewalk delivery bot. FedEx is working on it with DEKA and its founder/inventor Dean Kamen, who created the Segway. The bot has lidar, multiple cameras and machine learning algorithms to navigate safely. However, FedEx says it has made a long term commitment to use Nuro autonomous delivery pods for last mile deliveries on a very large scale. For a series of executive briefings on the future of travel with great pictures, go to https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B095XDNZVD&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_2MX1NEH77XMFF2C4HRCD
Comments
Post a Comment