Autonomous supermarket on wheels prototype goes on display in China

THE future of inner city convenience shopping will look very different if this start-up idea takes off.

Nick Whigham
JUNE 15, 2017
news.com.au

The small mobile shopfront is an autonomous self contained store built on wheels, has no staff, and features an artificially intelligent hologram to greet you.

POPPING down to the store for milk and bread could look very different in the future if this ambitious start-up idea can find success.

The collaboration between Swedish company Wheelys Inc. and a Chinese university believes it has the hi-tech model for the mini supermarket of the future. And the team rolled out a beta prototype of the futuristic store in Shanghai this week.

The small mobile shopfront is an autonomous self contained store built on wheels, has no staff, and features an artificially intelligent hologram to greet you.

It’s called Moby Mart and the company behind it envisions a scenario where customers can locate and interact with the store via a mobile app. When you enter you simply scan the items you want with your phone and when you leave it automatically deducts the payment from the app.

“It is the store that comes to you, instead of you coming to the store,” the company’s website says.

However, that particular facet is still a pipe dream at the moment. The group behind the idea says it is currently working with tech companies to develop its self driving technology.

For now, the “static” prototype was resigned to sitting in a car park providing customers with around the clock access to “products for immediate consumption, such as milk, lunch, or medicine over the counter”.

The Moby Mart vision even includes drone delivers to maintain stock levels.

The mini supermarket is stocked with a range of products and essentials.Source: Supplied

The design for the Moby Mart includes a drone delivery system.Source: Supplied

The ultimate goal is to have a fleet of self driving supermarkets able to ferry themselves back and forth between a warehouse and popular spots around the city. But this vision certainly raises a lot of questions like what roads will they use? And how will they meet government regulations?

“We’ve so far tested it (the prototype) on the roads around our assembly plant in Tongxiang and in the campus area at the Hefei University,” Wheelys co-founder Per Cromwell told news.com.au.

He said the interest in the mobile store has been very strong since in China. At this point it appears the plan is to drum up investment and wait for self driving vehicles to become the norm.

“We’re currently not pushing the Chinese legislation on allowing self-driving vehicles. In due time it will be accepted everywhere and in the meantime we can remote control them or drive them like a regular vehicle,” he said.

Plenty of futuristic idea have gone into the Moby Mart.Source: Supplied

Wheelys has been operating staffless stores in Sweden for more than a year and clearly believes a completely automated experience is the future of convenience shopping.

“In the coming decades, retail as we know it will disappear, “ Mr Cromwell said in a statement. “Stores will become powered by apps, they will become accessible 24/7, and they will become mobile.”

The rear view of the Moby Mart.Source: Supplied