UK supermarket group the Co-op has announced it is extending its autonomous robot delivery service to Wakefield, offering deliveries to 13,000 residents in the west Yorkshire town.
Wakefield Council has partnered with the Co-op and Starship Technologies to offer the service to Outwood’s residents.
Food delivery app
Residents in some 6,500 households can place orders through the Starship food delivery app, which will be picked fresh from the local Co-op store on Meadow Vale, Outwood, and delivered in minutes.
The launch of the service in Wakefield continues the expansion of autonomous robot deliveries, and follows recent roll-outs in areas of Leeds and Greater Manchester, along with several other locations across the UK including: Milton Keynes; Northampton, Bedford; Cambourne and Cambridge.
“We’re excited that this cutting-edge technology is coming to our district and helping our residents who might find it difficult to get out and about with an affordable and convenient way of doing their food shopping,” said councillor Matthew Morley, Wakefield Council’s cabinet member for planning and highways.
“The service is also environmentally-friendly – the robots are zero emission; people won’t need to drive to the shops in their cars, and it will help to reduce food waste as people can order a small shop with the exact ingredients they need.”
With a delivery fee starting from 99 pence (sterling), Starship’s robots are battery powered, lightweight and travel at the speed of a pedestrian. The robots use a combination of sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to travel on pavements and navigate around any obstacles, while computer vision-based navigation helps them map their environment to the nearest inch.
“We are committed to exploring new and innovative ways to increase access to our products and services, and delighted to be able to roll-out autonomous robot deliveries to provide additional online flexibility, choice and convenience for our members and customers in Wakefield,” said Chris Conway, Co-op ecommerce director.
Starship Technologies claims since its launch five years ago, the company’s robots have safely completed more than four million deliveries around the world, undertaking 140,000 road crossings every day.
“We are delighted to officially launch our service in Wakefield and provide local residents with the opportunity to have their groceries delivered by our fleet of battery powered robots,” added Andrew Curtis, UK operations manager at Starship Technologies.
“The robots have been widely welcomed everywhere they operate for the benefits they provide in terms of ease and convenience for people, while also having a positive environmental impact. We all want cleaner air to breathe, and our robots make short car journeys to the supermarket a thing of the past.”
Read more: smartcitiesworld.net
