Your local FedEx or UPS or DHL driver could deliver several packages to you and your neighbors “autonomously” by air in addition to making manual deliveries, presumably for those hard-to-drone packages.
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Mercedes-Benz has developed its Vision Van concept vehicle that looks to the future of delivery by incorporating mobility concepts, robotics, and automation highlighted by a pair of roof-mounted drones.
Furthermore, it is the first van ever to feature a fully automated cargo space and integrated delivery drones.
The Mercedes Vision Van concept is powered by a 75 kilowatt-hour electric drive with a range of as low as 50 miles and as much as 170 miles, depending on the intended application.
Other companies, including Amazon.com Inc., are developing airborne drones to solve the “last mile” problem in package delivery – the problem being that delivery to individual homes and businesses is expensive.
“The Vision Van integrates many concrete concepts for future delivery operations in the urban environment”. “To meet the requirements of the dramatic change in our industry, we expand our business focus significantly beyond selling products and entering new markets”, said Volker Mornhinweg, Mercedes-Benz Vans general manager.
Starship says that the system is much more efficient than a human driver is.
This electric cargo mover is unique not just in its propulsion, but also the fact that it is fully connected at every step of the delivery process, from the goods delivery depot to the consignee. “This makes the deliverer’s job easier, reduces the delivery time and offers end customers new opportunities such as same-day delivery at an agreed time”.
Once on the road, the system scans the cargo space in the the van for the right package.
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The idea is that the man in the van-a Mercedes Sprinter-would load up the bots with their various payloads, take an optimized route from one customer to the next, and unleash the automatons.
