The founders of Skype plan to shake-up the grocery delivery market with a fleet of self-driving robots that will be able to drop groceries on your doorstep within 30 minutes. A startup called Starship Technologies, with offices in London and Tallinn, Estonia, has announced an autonomous ground delivery robot that promises to do everything that a delivery drone can do (and more), except from the ground and with a realistic chance of actually happening.
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“Our vision revolves around three zeroes”, said Heinla, “zero cost, zero waiting time, and zero environmental impact”.
The co-founders of Skype, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, are building an autonomous, self-driving robot that will deliver up to 20 pounds of groceries for $1.50 in under half an hour, starting in 2016.
The robot uses navigation software with obstacle avoidance, which allows it to drive autonomously without causing havoc on the sidewalk, but a human operator can intervene remotely to guarantee a safe delivery. “We want to do to local deliveries what Skype did to telecommunications.” said Heinla said.
If successful, Starship’s battery-powered robots could replace a few delivery vans and trucks and accelerate the e-commerce industry’s current push toward instant-gratification services.
Capable of carrying the equivalent of two grocery bags, the six wheel robots can complete local deliveries automatically – although they are overseen by humans.
During delivery, shoppers will be able to track the robot’s exact location in real time through a mobile app and on arrival only the app holder is able to unlock the cargo.
“The most cumbersome part for them, and we are offering them a solution for that, that reduces the cost of the last mile delivery by a factor of 10”.
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The company’s fleet of small, electric robots are free of Carbon dioxide emissions, making them an environmentally-friendly alternative that will blend “safely in with pedestrian traffic”. Their new futuristic-sound company Starship Technologies plans to launch of automated robots which will deliver goods to your door while promising to cut costs dramatically. Also, the compartment with goods inside is locked, and will only open with the customer’s smartphone.
