The idea behind Ford to revolutionise home delivery with autonomous cars

Autolivery is the response from the designers of the oval brand to automate the “last mile” of autonomous deliveries.

Ford plans to use the context of the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona to present its vision of the city of tomorrow. At this event, Ford will showcase its ideas on how to improve people’s lives in cities congested by traffic, presenting its three intriguing innovations: a robotic single-seat platform called Carr-E, an electric tricycle called TriCity, and the innovative concept called Autolivery, which is set to revolutionise city deliveries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEnVQWs8Bt0

Many companies are finding it difficult to automate their delivery fleets because of the challenge of the final 15 metres of delivery. If the van arrives at its destination without a driver, who will deliver the packages? The solution Ford proposes at the WMC will use drones to overcome this obstacle.

The Autolivery concept imagines that in the future electric and autonomous vans will be used together with drones to deliver and collect packages in urban areas. At the Ford stand at the World Mobile Congress, this idea can be seen through virtual reality glasses showing an example. In this virtual representation, we will see how the combined use of the autonomous van and drones saves a dinner party that was missing an ingredient, delivered just in time despite a traffic jam in the city.

“While the scenario shown today is not yet possible, ‘Autolivery’ suggests that our ongoing research into mobility could enrich our lives in a more sustainable ‘City of the Future’,” says Ken Washington, Vice President of Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford Motor Company.

Autolivery has been conceived by designers Euishik Bang, James Kuo and Chelsia Lau, who work for Ford in Hong Kong. Ford plans to develop by 2021 a vehicle capable of Level 4 autonomous driving intended for commercial use, both for carsharing and goods delivery.

Source: Newspress