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Autonomous vehicles offer immense promise in terms of increased safety, efficiency and cost savings in logistics – but they also pose considerable risks.
Concerns surrounding autonomous vehicles (AVs) include their handling of life-or-death decisions and how this technology might reduce driver jobs with potential societal ramifications. Companies can mitigate these risks through retraining programs and other safeguards to manage risks effectively.
Benefits
Autonomous vehicles offer businesses significant reduction in both delivery costs and time, and also increase customer options for delivery services.
Home delivery demand is on the rise and companies are racing to meet it. Nuro is testing its curbside robots in Silicon Valley; Aurora and Cruise are developing driverless long-haul semis; Starship Technologies has made self-driving sidewalk vehicles that can deliver groceries directly to people’s doors.
Though autonomous level five vehicles remain some years away from commercialization, autonomous delivery vehicles could offer considerable advantages in terms of delivery service delivery staff productivity and time savings by driving themselves rather than having to park, exit and reenter their car every time it needs parking or dropping packages off. They can also reduce congestion and pollution levels and may provide accessible transportation options for people with disabilities.
Issues
Before autonomous delivery vehicles become mainstream, numerous challenges must first be overcome. People must feel at ease with these cars taking over last mile delivery responsibilities.
One major worry surrounding autonomous vehicles is their effect on human jobs. If these new technologies eventually replace delivery drivers and lead to reduced employment levels for this occupation type, government officials and businesses should establish retraining programs and safety nets to assist affected workers displaced by this new technology.
Autonomous vehicles may struggle with certain environments, including narrow alleyways and complex intersections that require human-like decision-making – something robots simply are unable to replicate. Furthermore, autonomous vehicles could encounter too-tall or wide obstacles on the road which could damage products being delivered at great expense; such issues can be minimized through continued technological development as well as implementation of comprehensive regulations.
Regulations
Although much of the focus of autonomous vehicles has been on passenger-cars, companies are using self-driving tech for goods deliveries as well. These robots tend to travel slower than traditional delivery vans or cars and may even pick up multiple packages simultaneously for reduced transport costs and emissions.
However, these delivery vehicles face unique regulatory hurdles. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not established rules specific to these types of vehicles, possibly prolonging when consumers will be able to purchase or use them.
Local governments can facilitate a smoother transition by passing policies that encourage the use of these vehicles, such as embedding equitable access programs into permits, providing information materials in multiple languages, and offering discounts for low-income residents. They may also incentivize vehicle usage that reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions such as mode share (public transit, carshare, cycling), electric vehicles or shared fleets of AVs.
Future
Businesses looking to use autonomous cars for delivery purposes can save money on labor costs while simultaneously decreasing the likelihood of damages caused by human error, fatigue or distraction – especially important when handling food products that need careful handling such as cereal.
Autonomous delivery vehicles can help reduce fuel use for deliveries, helping reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts. Furthermore, these autonomous delivery vehicles may be used to deliver products to customers who cannot or refuse to leave their home addresses.
Nuro and Udelv are among many companies developing and testing autonomous delivery vehicles. Both offer services that deliver food directly to homes and offices using electric-powered Transporters equipped with sensors such as GPS, radars, and lidars – their models being tested across Europe as well as America.
