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Home » Amazon Delivers Packages by Robot

Amazon Delivers Packages by Robot

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Amazon delivers packages by robot
Photo: Amazon

Amazon is making a big deal about its latest service – robot package delivery by a small electric vehicle named the Amazon Scout.  The wagon-style EV is strikingly similar to one which has been delivering mail in Switzerland since 2016.

Amazon reports Scout is being received with enthusiasm in cities where it is being tested, including in Everett, close to company headquarters in Seattle.

It’s also being tested in Irvine, California, home of several automotive design studios which also are developing robots; Atlanta, Georgia; and Franklin, Tennessee.

Scout is a small rechargable autonomous vehicle on wheels, designed to carry small packages short distances.

robot delivers mail in switzerland
Photo: Swiss Info

Robots deliver mail in Europe

A similar self-driving delivery robot, by a company called Starship Technologies, has been delivering mail and other packages for the Swiss postal service in several cities  since 2016.

A similar postal delivery service by robot was tested in Germany, where the company is based, also in 2016.

Here’s what I wrote about the autonomous Swiss robot delivery wagon in 2016 – and a short video.

“These are courteous robots, sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians, and stopping when they get close enough to bump into one.

The special delivery self-driving robots are at work in a couple of Swiss cities, including Bern, the Swiss capital, testing delivery of special mailings, including packages that require flexible and rapid local delivery.

If the robots behave, their role could be expanded in the future for same-day and same-hour delivery of food or medicine, according to Switzerland’s Federal Roads Office.”

Read the entire article here.

See also – Robots Deliver Luggage at DFW

The Swiss and Amazon models look strikingly similar to me.

Working to make delivery robots people-friendly

Amzaon is working with advocacy groups to make Scout more accessible, such as partnering with the World Institute on Disability to test the device’s interactions with people with disabilities.

Just as with the autonomous robot mail and small package delivery services in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, do not select a robot for delivery.

In Switzerland, the postal authorities decide whether the package is delivered by person or by robot.

With Amazon, customers order the usual way – on the app or on the website, with the same same delivery options—including free Same-Day, One-Day, and Two-Day shipping for Prime members.  Packages are then delivered by one of the company’s partners, or by Scout.

Of course, if you don’t live in a city where Scout is being tested, your package can’t be delivered by a robot for a selfie.

Amazon also has partnered with businesses in all  field-testing locations by renting space for Scout Home Bases. These structures house Scout devices – a robot garage and recharing station – and act as  dispatch points for hyper-local deliveries.

As demand for home delivery continues to surge, such high-tech bijou robots are allowing Amazon to reduce the number of vehicles on neighborhood roads, which also reduces pollution and congestion.

 

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Filed Under: Electric Cars, Going Green, Grab Bag, Green Travel Tagged With: Amazon, autonomous delivery, robots, Switzerland

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ecoXplorer is your guide to smart spending and eco-friendly living

Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and guidebook and smartphone app author – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

Evelyn currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), and is a past Board Member of a prestigious professional group for travel journalists.

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.

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