https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20211223VL201.html

Autonomous delivery picking up in US
Peng Chen, DIGITIMES, Taipei
Thursday 23 December 2021
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Credit: Waymo

Autonomous vehicles (AV) play an increasingly important role in food and parcel deliveries. In early December, Silicon Valley-based startup Nuro announced that it was launching the first commercial autonomous delivery in California. Partnering with 7-Eleven, the company provides the service for residents of Mountain View, where the business is located.

According to a blog post from Nuro's co-founder Zhu Jiajun, customers can access the autonomous delivery through 7-Eleven's 7NOW delivery app. Nuro currently offers the service with its Prius vehicles in fully autonomous mode, expecting to replace them with its R2 autonomous cars later.

Founded in 2016, Nuro got the first regulatory exemption for a self-driving vehicle from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US, Zhu said. At the end of 2020, the company received the first deployment permit for self-driving vehicles from California.

Motional Robotaxi offers autonomous delivery with Uber
Motional, the Boston-based robotaxi service provider, will also enter the food delivery market in California. On December 16, the company said it has collaborated with Uber to offer autonomous deliveries in Santa Monica that are expected to begin in early 2022.

Motional's all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5-based robotaxi will conduct deliveries of a curated set of meal kits from select restaurants on Uber Eats, according to Motional. The company said it is the first time Motional launches a delivery service and Uber partners with an AV technology provider.

Karl Iagnemma, Motional's president and CEO, said the company is eager to apply its driverless technology to autonomous deliveries.

"We're confident this will be a successful collaboration with Uber and see many long-term opportunities for further deploying Motional's technology across the Uber platform," he added.

Aurora started a pilot program with Uber Freight
On the other hand, the freight industry is exploring ways to use AVs to improve efficiency.

Pittsburgh-based Aurora recently launched a commercial pilot with Uber Freight. According to Aurora's blog, trucks equipped with the company's product suite, Aurora Horizon, and vehicle operators have begun shipping parcels between terminals in Dallas and Huston earlier this month and transferred the loads to Uber Freight carriers.

"By leveraging Uber Freight's technology, we were able to perform a seamless hand-off between Uber Freight's local carriers and our vehicle operators at the terminal, paving the way for a hybrid future with local carriers and Aurora-powered trucks," Aurora said.

The company mentioned its products enable carriers to increase asset utilization and receive more opportunities to haul goods.

Waymo partners with UPS
Before the Aurora-Uber Freight alliance launched the pilot between Dallas and Huston, Waymo has been testing its Class 8 trucks on the same route in the UPS network.

According to The Robot Report, trucks with Waymo's fifth-generation autonomous driving system are in autonomous mode while on highways. A specialist with a commercial driver's license and one software technician is in each truck to monitor the drive. The program will last until the end of this year.

Waymo formed the partnership with UPS in early 2020. According to Waymo, the two companies launched a pilot by using Waymo's Chrysler Pacifica minivans to ship packages from the UPS stores in the Metro Phoenix to the carrier's Tempe hub.

Additionally, driverless vehicle delivery has been utilized to help those in need. For example, Ford recently put in place a pilot with a goal of delivering food for senior citizens in Detroit facing mobility issues, according to a report from CleanTechnica.

The AV that runs a fixed route at a low speed is a product of Ford's future tech autonomous vehicle team and Quantum Signal AI, a subsidiary of the carmaker, according to CleanTechnica. The vehicle has reportedly delivered 2.4 million pounds of food.