Driverless grocery on wheels to go around Dubai soon?
dubai — Residents in Dubai may soon be able to request a self-driving grocery to come over so they can shop for veggies, fruits and other items they need — right at their doorstep.
This store on wheels is called Robomart, a Silicon Valley startup founded last year by an Armenian autonomous vehicle expert and two former Dubai residents turned serial entrepreneurs.
Currently being tested for commercial runs in the US, Robomart is the world’s first driverless grocery, according to its founders, and it could well be a reality in Dubai in the near future, they said.
“We are speaking with a number of retailers and partners about potentially deploying pilots in Dubai,” Robomart co-founder Ali Ahmed told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the Gitex Tech Week 2018, where the technology is currently on display at the futuristic-looking Etisalat stand with celebrity social humanoid robots Sophia, her brother Han and Melvin as neighbours.
“Etisalat partnered with us to showcase Robomart at Gitex. As we consider and look to deploy pilots later in Dubai, Etisalat will be a key partner for us, especially for our teleoperations,” added the 35-yearold whose Alameda-based firm in California not only manufactures Robomarts but also licenses them to retailers on a monthly basis, while handling operations and maintenance. “All they have to do is manage the replenishment of goods,” he explained.
But how long would it take before Dubai residents could practically
We are only trying to leverage driverless technology to scale up the decades-old tradition of vendors selling door to door.” Emad Rahim, co-founder, Robomart
start using driverless groceries here? “Expo 2020 may be an opportune time for us to pilot in Dubai, or if we have significant interest from retailers to deploy sooner, we may do so,” he said.
“If and when that happens, Dubai may well be Robomart’s first international stop as we are currently focused on getting our technology on the roads of the USA right now,” added Emad Rahim, 37, who like Ali, spent five years in the UAE before moving on to other places in the GCC and eventually to the US to realise their tech dreams.
“We are only trying to leverage driverless technology to scale up
the decades-old tradition of vendors selling door to door,” explained Rahim, who is of Pakistani origin while Tigran Shahverdyan, 32, Robomart’s third co-founder, is originally from Armenia.