FedEx’s next endeavor seems to be in the pizza delivery industry — sans-people.
As more and more companies get into the same-day, or even -hour, delivery business, FedEx unveiled an early model of an autonomous delivery robot on Tuesday, The Washington Post reported. The company will be teaming up with Pizza Hut, Walmart, Walgreens and others.
FedEx’s new move further highlights the demand companies are facing from consumers for speedier delivery and the race to develop autonomous technology for what’s known as the “last-mile,” or the final step of the logistics journey from warehouse or kitchen to a customer’s front door.
Experts have stated that more shipping pros will make moves towards automation to lower costs and speed up delivery with fleets of drones and bots eventually dropping off goods without direct assistance from humans.
To begin, FedEx said it will implement its bots in multiple cities, pending approval, including its home base of Memphis. The robots would complement its existing same-day delivery service, which relies on uniformed employees and operates in 32 markets, the company said.
“The bot represents a milestone in our ongoing mission to solve the complexities and expense of same-day, last-mile delivery for the growing e-commerce market in a manner that is safe and environmentally friendly,” Brie Carere, chief marketing and communications officer at FedEx, said in a statement.
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