Walmart has announced that it will now be experimenting with autonomous grocery deliveries in Arizona. It’s doing this in partnership with Udelv, an autonomous vehicle company. The pilot program is going to take place in Surprise, Arizona. Self-driving vans that are custom-made for delivering fresh groceries will be used in this pilot.
The trial is going to begin later this month. Customers will be able to place their orders online and they will then be driven over by Udelv’s autonomous vans. These vans are powered by Chinese internet giant Baidu’s self-driving platform.
Since it’s a pilot program there may be some hiccups but they will help Walmart learn about the potential of this technology for the delivery side of the business. It has also been exploring a few pilot programs with other self-driving car companies to form a better understanding of how this technology can be used in the future.
Walmart hasn’t said if it plans on expanding this pilot program to other parts of the country where self-driving cars are allowed on the roads. This may happen down the line as Walmart claims to have a store within five miles of almost 70 percent of the country’s entire popular. It can thus serve a large number of customers through this method.
Filed in . Read more about Self-Driving Cars and Walmart. Source: news.walmart