Magna, a Canadian company specializing in automotive equipment, has unveiled a small three-wheeled robot designed to deliver pizzas. The company hopes to tap into a booming market.
Kiwibot, Digit, Scout… More and more delivery robots are hitting the American streets where companies want to reduce their delivery costs as well as their ecological impact.
A robotic delivery solution for the last mile
At the International Auto Show in Detroit, Magna explained how it is leveraging its expertise in electrification and autonomy to develop new business opportunities in mobility. She thus unveiled her solution for delivering products over short distances, without revealing the name of the robot.
The latter was designed with two objectives in mind: to reduce delivery costs and carbon emissions for “last mile” delivery. Equipped with delivery software and an autonomous driving system developed in-house by Magna, the robot can move at speeds of up to 32 km/h. Its driving software uses cameras, radar and LiDAR.
The Canadian company tested its vehicle in Detroit during a pilot program, during which it delivered hundreds of pizzas. In a demonstration video, we can see the employee of a pizzeria depositing a pizza in the vehicle which will then go slowly to its destination. When this is done, the customer receives a notification telling her that her food has arrived, and also receives a code allowing her to open the robot and collect her pizza.
A rapidly changing industry
With this demonstration, Magna’s objective is to demonstrate to companies its know-how in order to offer them delivery solutions for the last mile. ” Expanding into the growing world of new mobility is a key part of our “Go Forward” strategy which allows Magna to go beyond its current technical strength in automotive and security systems. vehicles, and access entirely new markets and business models. The next phase of this pilot program will be to apply the lessons learned to refine the solution for a wider range of applications and use cases, scale it and unlock new innovative business models. explains Matteo Del Sorbo, Executive Vice President of Magna International and Global Head of Magna New Mobility.
For the time being, it is therefore not certain that the pizza delivery robot will be marketed as such, but it gives a good idea of what could be deployed in the future in the field of robotized delivery. greatly across the Atlantic.
Sources: magna, Electrek
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