Technology
company exhibited how a driverless vehicle could be used to stage and deploy
delivery robots, taking packages all the way to the consumer – even when
they’re not able to physically receive them.
The seamless integration of a
driverless vehicle – in this case, the Continental Urban Mobility Experience
(CUbE) – and a delivery robot present a more effective and efficient
distribution of goods. Driverless vehicles like the CUbE, Continental’s autonomous
electrified development platform, are generally considered as a solution for
urban “first or last mile” mobility. This type of vehicle – often referred to
as a robo-taxi or pod – will be a part of the seamless mobility value chain.
The purpose of these vehicles will be extended to goods delivery to further
utilise the available transport capacity and reduce idle times. Market
estimations show that the need to transport goods will even outpace the
strongly growing need for people transport in densely populated areas.
With expertise in scalable technologies and
solutions like sensors, environment perception and modelling, localisation,
positioning, situation analysis, decision making and mechatronic actuators,
Continental has the solutions and know-how to address this need.
“With
the help of robot delivery, Continental’s vision for seamless mobility can
extend right to your doorstep. Our vision of cascaded robot delivery leverages
a driverless vehicle to carry delivery robots, creating an efficient transport
team,” said Ralph Lauxmann, Head of Systems & Technology, Chassis &
Safety division, Continental.
“Both
are electrified, both are autonomous and, in principle, both can be based on
the same scalable technology portfolio. These synergies create an exciting
potential for holistic delivery concepts using similar solutions for different
platforms. Beyond this technology foundation, it’s reasonable to expect a whole
value chain to develop in this area,” said Lauxmann.
Urban delivery can use synergies from automated driving
Goods
and parcel delivery to residential areas is a growing and dynamic market,
driven by e-commerce sales that are increasing every year. With the growth of
this segment, delivery cost per hour is gaining importance. This positions last
mile and delivery services as a differentiator. Automated goods delivery is
forecasted to provide an answer for up to 80 percent of all
business-to-consumer deliveries, according to multiple research sources.
Continental
views automated goods delivery as an integral part of future urban mobility as
an addition to conventional goods delivery. Driverless vehicles like the CUbE
can carry one or multiple delivery robots and deploy them to handle the last
yards of the goods and parcel delivery logistics chain. “Industrialising the
automation of goods delivery requires reliable, robust, high-performing and
best-cost technology – a mix perfectly reflected in the automotive equivalent
of automation. It is this very profile of expertise that has made Continental
one of the industry-leading suppliers of advanced driver assistance systems and
vehicle automation,” Lauxmann said.
With
existing delivery robots serving as a development platform, Continental is
ready to transfer and scale automotive technology to meet robot manufacturers’
requirements. “The challenges to a delivery robot parallel what we already
solve for in automated vehicles,” said Jeremy McClain, Director of Systems
& Technology, Continental North America, adding that “Plus, delivery robots
will require technology that is just as advanced and robust as our automotive
solutions.” With the ever-increasing popularity of online shopping and the
growth of megacities, unique solutions for package delivery will be needed.
Driverless vehicles combined with delivery robots could be the perfect answer.
Seamless mobility for Smart Cities
Driverless
vehicles will represent a very important element in the Smart Cities of the
future. They are considered by many experts as a key element of future mobility
concepts to solve the challenges of urbanization. A driverless vehicle can be
in use almost 24/7. Innovative city planners see driverless vehicles as a
valuable addition to public mass transport by eliminating the need for a
privately owned car to get to the nearest point of access to other means of
transport.
“There
will be peaks in demand for driverless vehicles during the day. To make use of
driverless vehicles outside those peak ‘rush’ hours is where robot-delivery
comes in,” said McClain. “We see great potential in our automotive technology
to support robotics companies in developing autonomous delivery robots as an
additional use case for driverless vehicles,” he added.
Since
many deliveries are made during the day, when many people are working, at
school or otherwise occupied, the robo-taxi’s off-peak hours could be perfectly
utilized for such delivery trips when combined with delivery robots such as
this.
Source: Continental