How Autonomous Vehicles Are Taking Over the Last-Mile!

Autonomous vehicles have emerged as the next big thing in home delivery. With the rise of delivery services like UberEats and Doordash, the demand for contactless deliveries has grown rapidly, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the last-mile problem and the pollution caused by delivery vehicles have become major challenges for the industry. Electric autonomous transportation with trolleys and drones has become a popular solution, and Silicon Valley is taking the lead in this area.

Recently, the Innovation Mission of Living Tomorrow visited Silicon Valley to explore autonomous transport in the air and on land. This initiative was established in collaboration with Skeyes and Skeydrone, 2 partners of TomorrowLab and Living Tomorrow. The visit involved 25 business leaders from companies and government agencies, and it became clear that Silicon Valley is leading the way in autonomous home delivery.

Silicon Valley is leading the way in autonomous home delivery - Joachim De Vos, Founder TomorrowLab

There are three factors driving the acceleration of autonomous home delivery technology. Firstly, the focus on contactless deliveries during the pandemic has led to a surge in demand for digital orders delivered to people's homes. Secondly, rapidly rising minimum wages have made it difficult for many restaurants and stores to keep home delivery profitable, leading to a search for robot drivers to take over from humans. Finally, the problem of the last-mile delivery has become more acute, and electric autonomous transportation has emerged as a solution.

Two operational examples of autonomous home delivery were showcased during the visit. The first example was Nuro.AI, an initiative founded by engineers from Google's self-driving project Waymo. The Nuro van is a small, electric vehicle that can deliver room temperature, refrigerated, and hot food. It has a range of several hundred kilometers and reaches a top speed of 60 km/h. Once an order is placed, the Nuro is loaded into the fulfillment center and drives straight to the customer. The customer receives a digital code to open the wing door and take out their groceries. The Nuro then moves on to the next customer, with remote control only taking over in case of problems.

The second example was Wing.com, an Alphabet initiative that has been testing drone operations since 2012 with more than 1 million deliveries in the US, Australia, and Finland. Wing drones are fully autonomous and can intervene remotely when something goes wrong. They can carry packages up to 2 kg and fly at a speed of 100 km/h. Once a package is delivered, the customer receives a message. Wing drones are focused on the outskirts of towns where access to gardens makes delivery easier.

Both Nuro and Wing have the licenses required to become widely operational in the coming months. These autonomous delivery systems are safe, efficient, and reduce traffic congestion. They are equipped with Lidar, radar, and camera systems, and use AI services to learn and improve their delivery processes.

In conclusion, autonomous vehicles have become the next big thing in home delivery. Silicon Valley is taking the lead in this area, and companies like Nuro and Wing are already operational with their autonomous delivery systems. However, it is up to Europe and its member states (yes, also in Belgium) to be faster with more flexible regulations to make such ambitious pilot projects possible. The future of last-mile suburban driving looks much better with these autonomous delivery systems than it does with traditional delivery vans.