City Council approved autonomous delivery pilot program.
In the last month, we have witnessed Otto Motors, recently acquired by Uber, self-driving truck that made a delivery of commercial shipment in Colorado. This was the first time in the world’s history when goods were transported by autonomous vehicle on distance of 120 miles. And soon, in December, the public will be able to observe a new delivery of parcels performing by ground delivery robots. This nine-month pilot project is ratified by authorities of Redwood City, California and performed by London based company, Starship Technologies. The first city in the U.S. where Starship Technologies tested delivery robots was Washington D.C. Ground delivery robots use sidewalks to transport goods from several delivery hubs to a customer. Similar pilot programs run in Great Britain, Germany, and Switzerland.
What are the factors that will allow ground delivery robots to rapidly increase presence in the U.S. cities?
The law in Washington D.C. has granted permission to operate on sidewalks only to wheelchairs, bicycles, and segways. But luckily ground delivery robots got the same permit. Its safety precautions such as remote control of human operators and limited speed that should not exceed 10 mph, make bots much more safe than drones. Governing authorities of Redwood City, in its turn, were eager to get a deal for the nine-month project because of efficiency factors. The cost of delivery by robots is 10 to 15 times less than any current last mile delivery methods. At the same time, estimated time of delivery (ETD), as per company assessment, could take from 5 to 30 minutes and replace up to 10 cars. And this is exactly what retailers such as Amazon are looking for. Clearly, this kind of innovative projects are great example of nexus between efficiency, safety, and policy making that makes it a prominent pattern for further expansion in smart cities.
