As our brothers at www.trucksales.com.au have mentioned in the past, the age of the driverless truck is nearly upon us with the testing of platooning and autonomous trucks in Europe.
A major step toward driverless trucks was taken in England recently with the release of the Starship autonomous delivery vehicle. Starship says that its robots are both energy- and cost-efficient and can be used for a large variety of tasks. In comparison to more traditional delivery services, like trucks, things such as groceries and packages can be delivered for fraction of the cost. Small items like laundry, wine or even a single packet of light bulbs can delivered and the sender can still make a profit.
The robots move at walking pace and can deliver within a five-kilometre radius of their home base. The goods are secured inside the robot and can only be accessed by the person they’re addressed to. The recipient is sent a code via a telephone app which opens the robot. The robots are tracked by their on-board GPS so both the owner and the recipient know where it is at all times.
In the coming weeks, six-wheeled robots developed by Starship will hit the streets of London to help deliver meals ordered from two of the UK's biggest food delivery startups. The company, created by two of the founders of Skype, announced recently that the autonomous vehicles will be utilised by Just Eat and Pronto across the city. Tests will also be carried out in Düsseldorf, Bern and Hamburg by German delivery specialist Hermes and retail giant the Metro Group.
Starship says that after its roll-out in Germany and the UK it will be spreading its robots further through Europe and then across the Atlantic to the USA.
Just when we’ll see this technology Down Under remains to be seen, but next time you order a pizza delivery, it may not turn up in the hands of an impoverished uni student driving a second-hand hatchback.