[msb-alumni] Autonomous delivery vehicle conveys the value of being small and slow
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2019 14:49:51 -0400
BlankAutonomous delivery vehicle conveys the value of being small and slow .
Peter
Holley.
REV-1 could appeal to consumers seeking safe, last-mile service In Houston,
Phoenix
and San Francisco, drivers have been sharing busy roads with autonomous
delivery
vehicles for months now. In Ann Arbor, Mich., the creators of a new autonomous
vehicle have designed their robot to operate on local streets - but more like a
bicycle than a car. Built by a start-up called Refraction AI, the REV-1 - a
four-foot
robot that weighs about 80 pounds and travels at a top speed of 15 mph - can
operate
in both driving and bike lanes. The company claims the three-wheel vehicle's
ability
to move between bike and driving lanes gives the REV-1 flexibility and helps it
avoid
traffic clogs. Its small size allows it to come to a full stop in about five
feet,
enabling the company to use lower-cost sensors such as cameras to see what's
ahead
and avoid crashes. "We're trying to emulate what it is to be a cyclist," Matt
Johnson-Roberson, the company's co-founder and co-director of the University of
Michigan Ford Center for Autonomous Vehicles, told Wired. The REV-1 is handling
food
orders from two Ann Arbor restaurants and making deliveries to the company's
employees. In coming months, the company plans to expand its service to the
general
public. Refraction AI then will find itself competing in an increasingly busy
space
alongside big-name companies such as Kroger, Domino's Pizza, Uber, Nuro, Waymo,
Walmart, Amazon, DoorDash and Starship Technologies that are vying for
territory and
experimenting with food delivery. With 16 cubic feet of space inside (enough to
hold
about four grocery bags), the REV-1 is one of the smallest and slowest
autonomous
delivery vehicles on the road. By comparison, Nuro's R1 - which has been
delivering
groceries for Kroger in Houston and Scottsdale, Ariz., since last year - can
reach 25
mph and is about half the width of a Toyota Corolla. Because of the vehicle's
greater
size and speed, engineers designed it to "prioritize the safety of humans,
other road
users, and occupied vehicles over its contents," according to the company.
Unlike
some of its competition, the REV-1 doesn't need an expensive and complicated
suite of
navigational tools such as lidar sensors. Instead, the vehicle relies primarily
on
cameras, radar and ultrasound, which reduces the cost of the vehicle to about
$5,000.
For now, the REV-1 is making deliveries between a half-mile and 2.5 miles away.
That
could help Refraction AI attract customers eager for safe and quick last-mile
delivery solutions, Bob Stefanski, managing director of eLab Ventures, told
TechCrunch. "Their vehicles are also lightweight enough to deploy more safely
than a
self-driving car or large robot," Stefanski said. "The market is huge,
especially in
densely populated areas.
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