A Swiss international company has announced that fully autonomous delivery vehicles will be coming to the streets of Bern by 2023. The new robot drivers have now been approved by the government and will begin fulfilling deliveries as part of a first pilot phase in the spring.
The autonomous delivery vehicle, developed by LOXO, seeks to revolutionise the way groceries, shopping and other items are sent to households. The device is able to carry 64 deliveries simultaneously, with a maximum driving range of up to 110 kilometres.
While the vehicle is able to operate without a driver, as it is given a 360-degree field of view to avoid objects, technicians are still able to take control of the device remotely to avoid road accidents, although the final product would see one driver control several vehicles simultaneously. With a restricted top speed of 30 kilometres an hour, it is also one of the fastest fully autonomous vehicles on the market.
Speaking to 20 minuten, LOXO co-founder Lara Amini said that the main purpose of the vehicle is to reduce CO2 emissions on short journeys. “Instead of everyone going shopping in their own vehicle, shopping is shared. You use a shared vehicle and thus save CO2,” she explained.
“Autonomous delivery is now becoming a reality,” noted LOXO CEO Amin Amini. “We are proud to have taken this step in the most innovative country: Switzerland.”
Their product has certainly gone down well with the Federal Roads Office, which has given the vehicle its approval. The pilot phase of the project will see the vehicle take to the streets of Bern in spring 2023.
For Swiss Association for Autonomous Mobility board member Thomas Probst, it is now a case of convincing people to use the new Swiss invention, especially with driverless passenger vehicles already on the horizon. “We are only talking about the transport of goods, but in the future, you will also have to ask yourself whether you want to get into a vehicle as a passenger without a driver or attendant,” he told 20 minuten.