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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Udelv

Udelv Launches New “Transporter” Delivery Vehicle, Will Use Mobileye’s Self-Driving Tech

Self-driving delivery startup Udelv announced today that it is launching a new “Transporter” vehicle that will use autonomous driving technology from Mobileye, an Intel company.

The new Transporter marks a couple of shifts for Udelv. First, the Transporter abandons the company’s traditional cargo delivery van form factor in favor of a more pod-like “skateboard” vehicle. The box shape is larger than the Nuro pod, and there is no longer space for a driver. Details such as range weren’t provided, but the Transporter is capable of traveling at 65 mph.

In addition to a new shape, Udelv is also shifting strategy by licensing out the self-driving technology from Mobileye. Up until this point, Udelv had been developing its own autonomous driving system. Mobileye Drive has EyeQTM SoC-based L4 compute, sensors and software and Mobileye’s Road Experience Management AV mapping solution. The Transporters will be capable of Level 4 self-driving, point-to-point operation. Udelv’s teleoperation system will allow the vehicles to be manually controlled for more complex situations such as parking lots, loading zones, apartment complexes and private roads.

One thing the new Transporters don’t have is temperature-controlled cargo bays. When asked about that during a live video press conference last week, Udelv Co-Founder and CEO Daniel Laury said that the company decided to forego refrigeration and temperature control to save on battery power. He also said that Udelv’s existing cargo bay setup provided ample temperature control for roughly an hour, even in the 110 degree weather of Phoenix, Arizona. He also said that frozen foods should be shipped with ice packs.

While the Transporter can do consumer deliveries, Udelv is focused on B2B deliveries, calling the middle mile low-hanging fruit. As we’ve seen with Gatik, limiting delivery routes to fixed, repeatable points (e.g., distribution warehouse to store location) avoids the complications that come with consumer deliveries. This in turn can make middle-mile delivery vehicles easier to pass muster with regulatory bodies and get on the roads faster.

Udelv and Mobileye plan to produce more than 35,000 Transporters by 2028, with commercial operations starting in 2023. The companies have their firs pre-order of 1,000 vehicles from Donlen, a U.S. commercial fleet leasing and management company.

Udelv Offers its Driverless Delivery Vans to Assist with Coronavirus Efforts

If there is anything “lucky” about the deadly coronavirus outbreak marching its way across the world, it could be the timing. At at time when human-to-human interactions, especially in quarantined areas, need to be limited, we actually live in a world where driverless delivery vehicles and robots aren’t science fiction, but could actually be a viable means to supply delivery.

In Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus which is currently on lockdown, online grocery shopping has been a lifeline for those forced to stay home. Even here in the U.S. where no large-scale quarantines are in place, the New York-based online grocer FreshDirect has attributed a spike in sales to media coverage around COVID-19.

But in both of those scenarios, you still have human drivers bringing food to human customers. In China, they’ve implemented a contactless method for delivery wherein the delivery person and the consumer remain ten feet apart from each other, but there is still a human putting themselves at risk to feed another human.

Given that there are a host of startups working on self-driving delivery technology, we at The Spoon were wondering if and when any of them would raise their hand to help out in the efforts to combat the effects of the coronavirus.

Today, Udelv, which makes self-driving and tele-operated delivery vans, made such a move, and on Twitter announced that it was ready to pitch in.

At first, this may seem like some mercenary Silicon Valley grab for press attention amidst a humanitarian crisis. But two things can be true at the same time.

To find out more about Udelv’s intentions, I spoke with its CEO, Daniel Laury, by phone today. He explained that his company’s delivery trucks could be useful in quarantine situations such as the one in Wuhan because they can be tele-operated. There is still someone driving the delivery van, they are just housed in a remote location. Vans could be sent in to deliver food, medicine or other supplies without putting a human driver at risk.

Additionally, Udelv trucks are built with customizable individual cargo compartments. Each order has its own delivery cubby that is unlocked with user’s phone when it arrives. So a grocery route could have multiple stops with people only able to access their own orders.

Asked if he would charge for the use of Udelv’s services, Laury told me “This is done with the best intention. I’m not charging. I’m not going to make money on this.”

In talking with him, it seemed like Laury saw what was going on and saw that his company might be able to help. He hasn’t worked through all of the details yet; for example, rules around autonomous vehicles on public roads have only recently been enacted here in the US, though I imagine there could exceptions made for extreme quarantine situations. And Laury doesn’t have a particular sanitization workflow in mind. It’s one thing to not have a human driver, but if you have an infected person touching or coughing at the inside of a cargo hold, that cargo hold will need some kind of scrub down.

“We’re expert in autonomous trucking, not viruses,” Laury told me. He considers Udelv’s truck just another tool that could be used to help fight the outbreak. Udelv would provide vans to a government agency like the CDC, and they would institute proper sterilization procedures. His company would just make sure supplies gets from point A to B.

So far Udelv has not been contacted by any government agencies either at home or abroad. Udelv doesn’t even operate in China, but Laury said he’s happy to put some vans on a boat if they want. “I don’t know anyone at the CDC or the administration that I can contact directly,” Laury said. “It’s one of the reasons I put out this tweet. Maybe it’s picked up by someone who is in charge.”

If someone in charge is reading, perhaps you can take look at how autonomous vehicles might be able to help.

Udelv Partners with HEB for Autonomous Grocery Delivery Test

Autonomous vehicle startup udelv has partnered with Texas-based grocery chain HEB to run a self-driving delivery pilot in the San Antonio area, according to TechCrunch. The HEB agreement adds to udelv’s customer roster, which also includes Walmart and online grocer Farmstead.

The pilot will start with one of udelv’s second-generation Newton self-driving cargo vehicles. Udelv vans come equipped with compartments to store goods or, in this case groceries. Once loaded at the store, the vehicle autonomously travels to its delivery destination (there’s a human on-board for safety) where the user can unlock the compartment with their phone to retrieve their groceries.

If you’re interested in getting your groceries via a self-driving car, Texas is the place to be. In addition to the forthcoming HEB/udelv partnership, earlier this year, Kroger expanded its self-driving grocery delivery via Nuro vehicles to Houston.

The whole self-driving grocery delivery space is just getting off the ground, and exactly what it will ultimately look like remains to be seen. Udelv uses full-sized cargo vans for its deliveries. Nuro uses low speed pod-like vehicles that are half the size of normal cars. Meanwhile, Robomart, which also uses pod-like low-speed vehicles, has partnered with Stop&Shop not for deliveries but to drive around mobile mini-stores that sell various groceries autonomously on the spot.

Vehicles like udelvs have a long delivery range, but their high-speed and heavy mass may encounter more regulatory hurdles as lawmakers learn to cope with self-driving vehicles. Smaller, low-speed vehicles may have an easier time with local laws, but won’t be able to travel as far or as fast.

Hanging over all of this innovation, however, is the question of whether or not customer want autonomous delivery. Once a vehicle arrives at your house, you still have to go out to the curb and lug heavy bags into the house, which can be a pain if you live up a bunch of stairs or are infirmed. That’s one reason why AutoX, which uses regular self-driving sedans for its deliveries and mobile commerce, moved more towards restaurant delivery.

Despite its drawbacks, self-driving delivery has its advantages too. With no humans (eventually) to pay, deliveries can happen around the clock, and software-determined driving, which keeps track of all kinds of data along its path, can make for more efficient routing and delivery.

If you’re a HEB customer in Olmos Park, TX, tell us if you chose self-driving grocery delivery, and how it went.

AI-Powered Grocer Farmstead Running Self-Driving Delivery Pilot

Farmstead, the grocery startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to precisely manage its inventory, announced yesterday that it has been piloting grocery delivery via self-driving vehicles in the Bay Area.

This autonomous delivery is made possible through a partnership with fellow Bay Area startup Udelv, which makes the autonomous delivery vehicles and has been running other grocery delivery pilots in Oklahoma. The two companies began this latest pilot last month in the Bay Area.

Farmstead customers receiving their orders via self-driving vehicle are notified when their delivery has arrived and given a code via SMS. Customers use that code to open a designated compartment on the delivery van and retrieve their groceries. For now, there will be a human operator still in the delivery van for safety reasons, per California regulations.

Farmstead’s hook in the grocery world is that it has developed an AI platform that uses factors such as product popularity and expiration dates, to accurately stock its shelves without over or under-purchasing items.

Using an autonomous vehicle can extend that accuracy into routing and delivery. “We have a car that’s controlled by code,” said Farmstead CEO and co-founder Pradeep Elankumaran said during a phone interview. “That’s extremely compelling to us.” Autonomous vehicles will get more metrics along its delivery path, picking up data on things like time per stop, etc.. Using that data can help Farmstead continually refine its logistical routes.

For example, Elankumaran said, if a customer isn’t home for a delivery, rather than having a human debating whether or not to wait for the person to arrive or figure out what to do next, an autonomous vehicle can be programmed to wait X minutes and then re-engineer their route automatically to return to the house in an efficient manner.

Autonomous vehicles are becoming quite the rage in the grocery industry. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, AutoX is piloting its self-driving grocery delivery program, and in Arizona, Kroger is testing out autonomous delivery in a partnership with Nuro.

For its part, Farmstead also “farms” out its AI platform to other grocers. Elankumaran wouldn’t provide any details on how that program is proceeding, but now we’ll see if and how autonomous delivery plays into the offering as well.