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Imagine getting groceries delivered to your home by a driverless vehicle. That’s a future Ford Motor Co. hopes to achieve as it partners with Walmart and delivery service Postmates.
“Self-driving vehicles opens up the potential to ease some of life’s pain points and markedly expand affordable access to transportation and goods delivery,” said Brian Wolf, director of business development for Ford Autonomous Vehicles, LLC. “It’s time to explore how grocery delivery can help expand access to fresh food and other retail items for people all over the country.”
Ford’s self-driving initiative is ramping up in Miami-Dade County in Florida, where the automaker is leaning on retailer Walmart’s vast inventory and Postmates’ existing delivery infrastructure.
Wolf estimates that Walmart’s delivery service will be available in 800 stores across 100 metropolitan areas around the country by the end of 2018. The number of Walmarts offering delivery is expected to double in 2019.
Of course, these at-home deliveries are still done with drivers behind the wheel, but Ford believes autonomous deliveries are on the horizon.
One of the questions needed to be solved is how to effectively ship grocery orders from a retailer like Walmart, who offers an expansive array of merchandise.
“Naturally, orders from a supermarket will tend to be larger and more varied than orders from a restaurant or dry cleaner,” Wolf said. “So we’ll be exploring different vehicle configurations or modifications that we could make to meet people’s needs — especially to accommodate perishable goods, or scenarios where our vehicles end up making multiple deliveries on a single trip.”
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