Robot Delivery Vans Are Arriving Before Self-Driving Cars (bloomberg.com)

The future of driverless driving looks like a giant toaster with a funny hat. From a report: That's an approximation of a new autonomous vehicle unveiled Tuesday by Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup that's been cryptic about its business plan since it launched about 18 months ago. Nuro's shiny, minimalist appliance on wheels doesn't have doors or windows to speak of, because it will be carrying packages -- not people. As every major automaker and dozens of tech companies race to replace drivers in Uber cars and taxi fleets, Nuro is ignoring humans altogether and steering for Amazon.com, United Parcel Service and any retailer looking to build its e-commerce business.

Comments

Most packages are delivered during the day

[Anonymous Coward]

when no one is home. How do these packages make it out of the van and to my porch/lobby/mailbox?

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[alvinrod]

The only reason the packages are delivered during the day when no one is home is because delivery drivers don't want to work early mornings when people are up but still home or late evenings when most people are back from work, school, etc.

Automated delivery vehicles have no such requirements and could easily offer delivery of packages in the early mornings or late evenings when people are awake and at home to receive delivery. Once you don't have a human driver, there's no reason to keep the same system that was subject to the constraints of a human driver.

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[Knuckles]

People still won't be home

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[Anonymous Coward]

The app will track your position so the van can meet you when you least expect it. "You have been served"

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[h4ck7h3p14n37]

Why would you need to be home? This thing has wheels, it can just drive to wherever you're at.

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[monkeyFuzz]

so we can add to the rush hour congestion?

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[Hadlock]

Time not spent driving to the store, finding parking, walking in to the store, trying to find it, price-compare on your phone, walking to the register, dealing with the cashier, payment details, bag, reciept, walk back out to the car, drive home, unload the crap, finally you get to use it? Average trip to walmart down the street is about 1 hour for 5-10 items. You end up paying more for the convenience of it being so close.
 
Vs the time of "oh i need this" then you add it to your cart, and when you have $35 worth of stuff you click "buy" and 1-2 days later it shows up at your house. I spend a lot more time riding my bike around the lake rather than in a dumpy old store as a result. 100 years ago you would place an order with the guy with the truck/wagon, and a couple weeks later had all your goods delivered to your door. They would even extend you credit if you were a regular customer. This isn't a new concept it's just way more convenient. We go look at shops when on vacation, but other than perishables like eggs, dairy, vegetables everything just gets delivered to the house. Especially in dense urban areas where getting to the parking garage, driving across town and then spending 45 minutes looking for parking at the shops is absolute murder. No thanks. Saving $5 vs buying it on Amazon, walmart.com, target.com etc etc ad nauseam, is well worth it to my blood pressure and long term health.

Re: Most packages are delivered during the day

[Anonymous Coward]

"Don't use Amazon because the world will end" isn't a great argument. Clearly people prefer to avoid the hassle of buying things in a store, and prefer to pay less for the same item. (duh). The world is going to change, some things will be better, some things will be worse. But you aren't going to stop the tide by yelling at it. Solutions to the problems you're worried about will be found or we'll descend into anarchy and that's OK too.

Re:Most packages are delivered during the day

[blindseer]

when no one is home. How do these packages make it out of the van and to my porch/lobby/mailbox?

I have a few guesses. Ballista? Trebuchet? Catapult? Electromagnetic ramrod? No, probably none of those because that would be too awesome. More likely a smaller version of those hydraulic arms seen on the sides of garbage trucks that they use to pick up trash cans. Put the packages in cubbyholes on the interior of the van and program the system to correlate the cubbyholes to the addresses. Make it modular to accommodate different sized packages.

I will also put my ideas for alternate delivery means in the public domain if there is a chance that I thought of something that might be worthy of a patent. I'd like to see packages delivered to my door via a van mounted robotic ballista.

Then again, maybe I'd order an anvil for my neighbor with the dog that won't stop barking. Aaaaand I watched too many Wile E. Coyote cartoons as a child.

Most diffcult Problem first?

[LordFolken]

I have never understood why one tries to do the car first. - its the most complex environment as there is anything from a cat to bike or other car that can suddenly get into your way. There is no fixed track, there are other participants that don't always obey the rules. Traction may vary etc. - personal cars are a margin business. Expensive sensors, computing units etc are a much larger percentage than in a truck, train, plane or ship. Its just uneconomical.

How is that news?

[DontBeAMoran]

I saw someone get hit by an automated pizza delivery vehicle last month when I was staying at the Medina Plaza Hotel.

Re:They are already here?

[DontBeAMoran]

But wouldn't you say that as soon as someone invents time machine technology, it will always have existed?