[AutonomousVehicles] Walmart to launch autonomous delivery service with Ford and Argo AI Kirsten Korosec

[Cornelius Butler]

Hi Everyone,
Wal Mart is going to launch a self driving delivery service. Article Link
and Text is below.


Article Link:
https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/15/walmart-to-launch-autonomous-delivery-service-with-ford-and-argo-ai/

Article Text:

Walmart to launch autonomous delivery service with Ford and Argo AI
Kirsten Korosec

@kirstenkorosec / 7:00 AM EDT•September 15, 2021

Walmart has tapped Argo AI and Ford to launch an autonomous vehicle
delivery service in Austin, Miami and Washington, D.C., the companies said
Wednesday.

The service will allow customers to place online orders for groceries and
other items using Walmart’s ordering platform. Argo’s cloud-based
infrastructure will be integrated with Walmart’s online platform, routing
the orders and scheduling package deliveries to customers’ homes.
Initially, the commercial service will be limited to specific geographic
areas in each city and will expand over time. The companies will begin
testing later this year.

Walmart and Ford have partnered before in a limited test with Postmates in
fall 2018. In that pilot program, which focused on Miami-Dade County, they
used simulated self-driving vehicles to study the user experience of
delivering groceries. Argo was not involved in that study.

This latest collaboration will use Ford vehicles integrated with Argo AI’s
self-driving technology. The aim is to show the potential for autonomous
vehicle delivery services at scale, according to Argo AI CEO and co-founder
Bryan Salesky.

The announcement illustrates Ford’s two-track system to launch a commercial
service that uses autonomous vehicles to shuttle people and possibly
packages. The automaker has been testing the business side of how a
dedicated fleet of autonomous vehicles might operate in the real world. It
backed Argo AI in 2016 and tapped the company to develop and test the
self-driving system.

It also shows how Austin and Miami have become central to their initial
commercialization plans.

Earlier this summer, Argo AI and Ford announced plans to launch at least
1,000 self-driving vehicles on Lyft’s ride-hailing network in a number of
cities over the next five years, starting with Miami and Austin. The first
Ford self-driving vehicles equipped with Argo’s autonomous vehicle
technology are expected to become available on Lyft’s app in Miami later
this year.
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