Groceries delivered to your door — but no sign of a driver

DECEMBER 20, 2018
AP
The largest grocery chain in the US is trying to leap into the driverless delivery market, announcing it is ready to bring milk, eggs and apples to some customers’ homes in a ­vehicle with no one at the wheel.
 
Although limited to delivering within about 1.6km of one Arizona supermarket, the move by Kroger represents the latest step for industries trying to lower delivery costs of everyday items as well as those trying to launch self- driving cars on public roads.
 
Yesterday’s launch also highlighted some of the many challenges that are still ahead for autonomous vehicles: one of the compact cars didn’t drive as planned at a media demonstration and had to be pushed by several men up a ramp and on to a truck.
 
The delivery vehicle’s battery had died, but the company still planned to make driverless grocery deliveries later yesterday, said Dave Ferguson, president and co-founder of Nuro, the company that developed the autonomous vehicle.
 
Kroger and Nuro, which is based in California, announced they would deliver groceries in Scottsdale, Arizona, using an autonomous vehicle called the R1, which has no steering wheel and no seats for humans.
 
Nuro has been delivering groceries with larger, manned self-driving vehicles since Aug­ust. It will be adding two of its unmanned R1 vehicles to that fleet, Mr Ferguson said.
 
When summoned, the R1 will travel at speeds up to 40km/h on residential roads, but stay clear of main roads or highways.
 
Customers, after placing an order on their smartphone or laptop, will get a text message when the groceries are on their way. Once the vehicle arrives, the customer will receive a punch code to open the doors of the ­vehicle. Customers will pay a flat fee of $5.95 and can request same-day or next-day delivery.
 
The unmanned delivery ­vehicles will be followed by a “shadow car”, which will be driven by a human with the ability to stop or control it. The “chase car” will eventually be phased out.
 
Uber pulled its self-driving cars out of Arizona this year following the death in March of a woman who was run over by one of the ride-hailing service’s ­robotic vehicles as she crossed a darkened street in a Phoenix suburb. It was the first death involving a fully autonomous vehicle.