FedEx Expresses Interest in Unmanned Technologies for Future Deliveries
FedEx is very interested in autonomous and robotic technologies, according to the company’s chief information officer Rob Carter. Among the many unmanned innovations that the company is considering are driverless delivery vehicles and robots.
To make some of these ideas a reality, FedEx is working with Peloton Technology, which has developed semi-autonomous technology that links trucks electronically, creating small caravan groups known as platoons. FedEx is also working with several automakers, including Daimler and Volvo, to address its interest in the possibility of making trucking completely autonomous.
FedEx has also expressed interest in allowing its customers to initiate a shipment by talking to their Amazon Echo or Google Home virtual assistant device. According to Carter, the company has created its own Artificial Intelligence-enabled Alexa app that will eventually be able to understand certain commands.
“You [will be able to] just talk your way through and [Alexa will] ask the right questions to make sure you’ve completed the work and then you can expect a truck to roll up to the front door of your office, pick up the shipments, and move them along,” Carter says in an interview with MIT Technology Review.
In terms of robotics, Carter believes that rolling robots are a better option than UAS for deliveries. Besides UAS being limited in the weight that they can carry, and also needing to obtain permission to operate UAS in densely populated areas, Carter also said that rolling robots are more energy-efficient than their UAS counterparts, and robots could be used to make deliveries the same way postal workers make deliveries, by dropping off packages at a pre-defined receptacle at a home or business.
