Ford tests automated deliveries

Ford Motor, Walmart and delivery service Postmates will collaborate to design a service to deliver groceries and other goods to Walmart customers, which could one day use autonomous vehicles, they said on Wednesday.

The project is the latest to grow out of Ford’s broader effort to develop businesses that could use automated delivery vehicles. Ford is already working with San Francisco-based Postmates to develop delivery services that could employ automated vehicles.

Ford said the pilot project, to take place in the Miami area, will initially use human-driven vehicles operated in a way that will simulate how self-driving vehicles will behave. The group has said it expects to launch commercial production of automated vehicles by 2021.

Ford and its partners are using Miami as a testing ground for automated delivery ideas and automated vehicle technology.

The new pilot project will offer customers delivery by Postmates of goods ordered at Walmart stores.

Brian Wolf, an executive of Ford’s autonomous vehicle unit, wrote in a blog post that the companies will work over the next “couple of months” to figure out what goods can be delivered successfully, especially perishable groceries.

“Before self-driving cars can go mainstream, we must get a better sense of how people want to interact with them,” said Tom Ward, Walmart senior vicepresident for digital operations. That could require new designs or equipment for vehicles, Wolf said. One of the challenges Ford has said it is working on is designing on-board storage systems easy for customers to open to retrieve a pizza or a package.

Postmates, according to its website, operates in 385 US cities, as well as Mexico. It offers delivery from brick-and-mortar restaurants and stores.

Walmart is competing with online retailer Amazon.com and other rivals to cut the cost of delivering goods over what industry executives call “the last mile” to customers who order online. Replacing human delivery van drivers with robotic systems could reduce last-mile delivery costs. The technology is still expensive, and the industry is waiting for regulations to help protect automated vehicle owners or manufacturers from liability claims.

Ford has emphasised commercial uses of autonomous vehicle technology, such as goods delivery, in contrast to rival General Motors, which is working to build a robot taxi service at its GM Cruise unit.

Insiders said Ford is talking to Volkswagen about a possible investment in its self-driving vehicle unit. In July, Ford said it will create a new business unit, Ford Autonomous Vehicles, to house its self-driving vehicle operations.

BEFORE SELF-DRIVING CARS CAN GO MAINSTREAM, WE MUST GET A BETTER SENSE OF HOW PEOPLE WANT TO INTERACT WITH THEM