The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Kathryn Williams
Asda customers will from today be taking delivery of groceries from vehicles that drive themselves as the supermarket has started a trial using autonomous cars.
The retailer claims the move is Britain’s biggest autonomous grocery home delivery trial to date.
Customers across London will have their shopping delivered to their homes by ‘self-driving’ Jaguar I-Pace electric cars.
In partnership with Wayve, a developer of artificial intelligence for driverless vehicles, the year-long trial will enable Asda to autonomously deliver orders to a catchment area of more than 170,000 residents across 72,000 households in London.
The vehicles will join Asda’s existing delivery fleet at its Park Royal store in west London.
Asda will start delivering food to customers across London from today using driverless cars
The retailer claims the move will be Britain’s biggest autonomous grocery home delivery trial to date
Asda Park Royal customers who place their delivery orders online as normal could be selected at random to have their items delivered in a self-driving vehicle.
However, the cars won’t be completely unattended.
During the trial, both an Asda colleague and supervising Wayve safety driver will be in the car when making deliveries as a safety net for the technology.
Asda employees will load and unload the groceries at the customer’s house, but they will be transported from the retailer to the door using the London-based tech firm’s self-driving software.
Wayve’s ‘AV2.0’ uses machine learning to train its AI software to learn from experience how to drive safely in any environment, according to Asda.
The company explained the system was designed to ‘constantly monitor the road’ and identify ‘potential hazards’ to make the safest possible decision.
The launch follows a two-year partnership between the retail giant and autonomous vehicle technology start-up, which aims to lead the way on developing a self-driving vehicle solution for the food market.
Customers across London will have their shopping delivered to their homes by ‘self-driving’ Jaguar I-Pace electric cars
In partnership with Wayve, a developer of artificial intelligence for driverless vehicles, the year-long trial will give Asda the ability to autonomously deliver groceries
Asda colleagues will load and unload the groceries at the customer’s home, but they will be transported from the store to the door in a self-driving vehicle
Simon Gregg, Vice President of eCommerce at Asda, said: ‘Asda has long understood the value of bringing tech innovation to the online grocery sector and we are always looking at new and innovative partnerships to improve delivery options for customers.
‘We believe autonomous technology is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of delivery, not only at our Park Royal store but throughout our nationwide operation.
‘Through our partnership with Wayve, we are trialling this technology to understand how it can assist our busy store operations, whilst also adding a unique, reliable and efficient option for Asda customers to have a whole range of products delivered to their doors.’
Wayve’s ‘AV2.0’ method uses machine learning to train its AI software to learn from experience how to drive safely in any environment, according to Asda
Alex Kendall, Co-founder & CEO at Wayve said: ‘We’re excited to partner with Asda on the largest urban autonomous grocery delivery trial in Europe.
‘The trial is a demonstration of how autonomy can meet fleet owner needs. We started developing our AV technology over five years ago: it’s incredible to see it delivering real value today as part of Asda’s daily operations.’
‘We value our work with Asda to build the foundations of future autonomous grocery delivery. Trials like this one accelerate our road to deployment.
‘They provide the learnings required to bring the benefits of AV technology to customers sooner while ensuring that businesses, like Asda, are prepared to deploy AVs at scale.’
