WALMART TEAMS WITH FORD, ARGO AI TO TEST DRIVERLESS DELIVERY

Walmart is teaming up with Ford and self-driving startup Argo AI to launch a driverless delivery service in three U.S. cities.

The situation

Testing will begin in three cities later this year — Miami; Austin, Texas; and Washington, Argo said Wednesday in a statement. Ford is providing Escape hybrids outfitted with Argo’s self-driving technology to deliver groceries and other merchandise in what’s billed as Walmart’s first multicity self-driving service.

Why it’s happening

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and a logistics leader, has aggressively pursued the possibility of delivering its goods in robot rides. It also is testing driverless delivery with General Motors Co.’s Cruise, Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo, autonomous delivery startup Nuro and selfdriving delivery company Gatik. With a boom in online shopping driving demand, analysts say autonomous delivery could become a $1 trillion business.

“This collaboration will further our mission to get products to the homes of our customers with unparalleled speed and ease,” said Tom Ward, Walmart’s U.S. senior vice president of last mile delivery.

How it will happen

The initial test run will begin with one Walmart store per city and deliver in a limited geographic region around each location, Kwon said. Shoppers will order groceries or other items and then will have the option to have them delivered autonomously, as long as someone is home to receive the merchandise.

MICHAEL NOBLE JR./NEW YORK TIMES 2019 Bryan Salesky, chief executive of Argo AI, is teaming with Ford and Walmart to begin testing home delivery by self-driving cars in three cities later this year.