UK’s Largest Self-Driving Grocery Home
UK grocers are launching self-driving grocery home delivery, using robot trucks to pick up fresh items and bring them directly to your doorstep. A number of retailers are taking part in pilot schemes with technology firms, and analysts predict the technology could cut delivery times to just ten minutes from purchase.
Asda’s partnership with Wayve
UK?s largest self-driving grocery home delivery trial is set to launch later this year, following Asda’s announcement that it has partnered with Wayve to take advantage of its AV2.0 solution. The trial will cover a catchment area of 72,000 households, and will use Wayve’s AV2.0 solution to transport goods via drone technology from Asda’s stores to a central warehouse.
In addition, Asda will also be launching SMARTDrop kiosks in its stores which will allow customers to recycle their mobile phones in a safe and convenient manner. The kiosks are operated by musicMagpie and enable customers to bring in their old phone, receive a valuation and get paid instantly, with money transferred directly into a bank or PayPal account.
Asda is also partnering with toy giant The Entertainer to convert the toy categories in five Asda stores into branded concessions. This has the potential to expand its store-within-a-store programme and is a clear sign of Asda’s willingness to invest in new concepts, which will help build its brand equity and drive traffic to its stores.
Wayve’s AV2.0 solution uses machine learning to train AI software
Wayve’s AV2.0 solution combines the advantages of a lean, camera-first sensing suite with the embodied intelligence of an end-to-end deep learning system that continually learns from petabytes of driving data provided by its partner fleets.
Using Microsoft’s Azure Machine Learning, PyTorch, and other open-source machine learning frameworks, Wayve can rapidly iterate driving models for complex urban environments and adjust them more nimbly. The company’s platform also provides the scalable capacity to train global AV systems for new domains in an efficient manner and at lower cost than traditional approaches.
In addition to accelerating autonomous vehicle development, Wayve is working to create the data infrastructure to support global autonomy on a commercial scale. This will enable it to rapidly start last-mile delivery pilots and scale its AV system’s ability to drive in new environments.
aiWARE 2.0 is the latest release of Veritone’s AI software platform, with additional features and tools designed to empower businesses to leverage more than 320 cognitive engines across multiple use cases. It includes expanded cognitive capabilities, new electronic document support, structured and unstructured data support, advanced customization options, and multiple industry-specific turnkey applications.
The trial is the first to launch directly into commercial operations
Grocery home delivery is a challenging area for delivering goods. The operation requires superb organizational systems to drive efficiencies, reduce costs and provide an exceptional customer experience.
The delivery experience is a hugely important factor in online sales and one in three consumers will not shop with a company again if they have a poor experience. This is why SmartRoutes has developed a range of solutions to help optimize grocery delivery.
A key aspect of these solutions is a dispatch note taking system which captures all the intelligence of the driver network. This allows the delivery team to make decisions based on what they know about their drivers and their experiences of deliveries.
In addition to this, Bringg offers automatic SMS or email notifications that tell customers when their delivery will arrive. This is a vital part of the service and allows a customer to know exactly when their delivery will be arriving. It also means that they can track their order through the process, making sure that they do not miss any items or are late for collection.
