Commentary
Texas Grocer H-E-B Plans Deliveries In Self-Driving Vehicles
- by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, July 11, 2019
It may be some time before self-driving cars are carrying passengers in any great numbers, but groceries may be a different matter.
Texas grocer H-E-B is launching a pilot program to test delivery service using self-driving technology.
The San Antonio-based company will use an autonomous delivery vehicle from Udelv, a California company that builds automated vehicles for last- and middle-mile deliveries. Udelv is working with several other retailers, including Walmart, NAPA Auto Parts and Delivery Guys.
Earlier this year, Kroger started autonomous grocery deliveries in Houston using self-driving vehicles from Nuro.
The H-E-B and Kroger pilots both include a safety driver in the vehicles with longer-term plans to run them fully driverless.
The Udelv vehicles have climate-controlled compartments that can hold multiple food orders and can travel at city street and highway speeds.
Deliveries, slated to start later this year, will serve select customers just north of downtown San Antonio.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the AI & IoT Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily Connected Thinking column. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author and his latest book is “Digital Transformation 3.0” (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things.) He is CEO of Net Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.
The "Gro-carts" are STILL a vehicle that has to be built, sold, serviced, repaired just like a real car. These retailers have lost their minds. Someone should put some stats together about the percentage of groceries that are bought on impulses while traveling the isles of the stores. I say it's at least 25%. People who will shop on-line are not shoppers. Shoppers Browse. You do a grocery list on line, it's for products you need.
But with a Gro-cart, someone is going to have to be home to take the groceries out of the Gro-cart. Where is the real convenience here? The store has to have more employees to do the shopping. I have seen these people rolling up and down isles packing numerous storeage boxes..........................for what????
Besides, who you going to trust to squeeze the melons for you???
True that. All of that. I just thank God that my children aren't driving the streets around San Antonio while that dumbass grocery chain is "testing" driverless deliveries. Those delivery cars will FAIL, and kill people. GAR-ON-TEED! Heck, my car can't even keep its satellite connection to Sirius XM for the ten minute drive to my office every day.
We're sorry Mr. Kurtz that our driverless delivery vehicle left its lane, and hit your daughter head-on as she safely navigated her lane. But progress must occur, and Mrs. Dumbasski desperately needed six avocados for her dinner party. We're working with Boeing on a software patch, so rest assured that we won't slaughter your other daughter.
Thumbs upKen. We think along the same "lane".
Been saying the Sirius radio example for years.
So how many of the millions of bits of information
per minute can be "lost" before the "Gro-cart' loses control.
Hackers, Glitches, Up-grades, down-loads, re-boots..............
how many before loss of control.
This whole industry will be done with a few sacificial people dying.
We have traffic accidents everyday and there is someone at fault,
when these robo-cars crash , the general public will shut them down.
This bogus summit for creating "safety rules' is just a reason to justify
salaries.