American auto-driving take-away, when does China start?

This is not the first time in the US auto-driving company to provide autopilot delivery services. However, compared with the automatic driving delivery service of American autopilot companies, Chinese autopilot companies have tried very little in this regard, and they have not even heard that they are conducting tests on passenger car L4 level autopilot companies. Why is this?

1, delivery service has been provided

Previously, Ford‘s autopilot subsidiary Argo had an autopilot delivery service with Postmates in June 2018. The same time autopilot startup Nuro also collaborated with American supermarket chain Kroger in Scottsdale, Arizona. It provides automatic driving delivery services, from the beginning of the conversion of self-driving cars, to the end of 2018 announced the delivery of completely unmanned delivery vehicles.

As a self-driving leader, Waymo‘s idea is a bit strange. First, in April 2018, it was reported that Honda should cooperate with Honda for "delivery and logistics." Yes, it is Japan‘s auto giant Honda. The cooperation between the two should follow Honda invested in Cruise and ended.

Subsequently, in July 2018, Waymo announced a partnership with Wal-Mart and DDR. However, it was not a delivery, but a delivery. The consumers who placed orders from the Volvo website were sent from home to the Wal-Mart store, and then sent back, but, consumption. Instead of getting off the bus, employees of Wal-Mart send the goods to the car. So why not just deliver it directly?

Basically, the first echelon companies in the US auto-driving field have tried to deliver goods. Ford Argo‘s delivery service even uses a specially modified vehicle to provide delivery service for take-away or groceries. In contrast, American autopilot companies are still relatively advanced in this regard. Why?

2, delivery VS to give people

Two major applications of autonomous driving technology: one is to give people, the other is to deliver goods. It is relatively easy to understand, and delivery may be more professional, including cargo trucks for trunk logistics, mini trucks for city delivery, and terminal delivery for the last mile. The automatic driving distribution carried out by the above-mentioned American automatic driving company can be understood as the last mile of delivery.

Companies that aim to drive their cars at the L4 level, such as Waymo, Cruise and Argo, are hoping or have already launched the Robotaxi service, which is the driverless taxi service. The scope of taxis is mostly in the city. The working environment for transporting passengers is relatively close to the last mile of distribution in the logistics field. This is one of the reasons why American Autopilot Services provides autopilot delivery services, but not all.

In addition to the similar working environment, providing autopilot delivery services has the following benefits:

1. Accumulate open road test data;

2. Part cover automatic driving open road test cost;

3. Improve the automatic driving service process.

Accumulating open road test data, this is easy to understand, and the cost of cover testing is easy to understand, because the leader Waymo has more than 10 million miles of public road tests, which are basically purely consumable consumption tests. The company is still relatively high, so providing autopilot delivery services can cover part of the cost, such as Nuro and Kroger previously had a fixed fee of $5.95.

Perfecting the automated driving service process is very important for autonomous driving companies. Because the process of automatic driving and the process of sending people to Robotaxi are not involved by the driver, the process of picking up the goods and the process of taking the passengers require detailed service. For example, where to pick up the goods, which is the same as where the passengers get off; how to pick up the goods and how the passengers get on and off and the starting process is similar, etc. These aspects are polished in detail.

At present, Waymo‘s WaymoOne service also needs to polish the details of these services in the process of providing self-driving passenger services. Waymo CEO John Krafcik scored 10 million miles of open road test miles at Waymo, indicating that these are one of the key tasks.

3, the delivery market is really big

Logistics has become an inaccessible part of human life, especially in the last mile of distribution. It has a broad market in the field of take-away, in the retail field and in the field of express delivery. Our city life has become accustomed to take-away, express delivery and other services. The cost of these services is basically linear growth, and it is a labor-intensive industry.

China‘s express delivery market is moving toward a daily order of 1 billion singles. In the take-away market, the US group and the hungry data. The US group announced in the middle of 2018 that the daily order amount exceeded 20 million, and it was hungry because it was Ali. Mergers and acquisitions, there is no public data available for inquiry. It is conservatively estimated that the takeaway day orders on the market are at the level of 50 million orders.