Ford has come up with an autonomous delivery solution that uses both self-driving vans and autonomous drones. The company’s “Autolivery? concept uses self-driving vans to deliver everything from groceries to emergency medical supplies, and drones can bring the goods to hard to reach or unsafe places.
“It’s all about making life in the city easier. The possibility of harnessing autonomous and electric vehicle technology with drones to quickly and easily send and deliver parcels could help to make life better for everyone,” said Euishik Bang, designer of Autolivery by Ford.
This is a part of the company’s vision for the “City of tomorrow.” Ford’s vision is to overcome mobility challenges in urban environments. Autolivery was developed as part of Ford’s Last Mile Mobility Challenge, and according to the company, the last mile is often the most challenging part of automating the delivery of goods. Together the drones and vans pick up good and packages in urban areas.
“Ford has at its heart a culture of disruption and innovation designed to come up with solutions that put people first, to save them time, money and aggravation, and also to make our cities easier to navigate and better to live in,” said Ken Washington, vice president of research and advanced engineering of Ford.
