Ocado invests £10m to trial self-driving delivery vans
Ocado are the latest retailer to announce a partnership with Wayve technology following Asdas announcement last month.
Ocdao have confirmed plans to invest £10mln in self-driving technology start-up Wayve to accelerate the development of autonomous grocery deliveries.
As part of a partnership deal, London-based Wayve’s technology will be fitted onto a selection of Ocado delivery vans and tested on urban delivery routes for 12 months.
“This trial will help Ocado explore first-hand how Wayve can handle the congested streets and challenging manoeuvres that last-mile delivery technology must be equipped to navigate,” Wayve said.
“Ocado Group has been driving innovation in global grocery logistics for decades,” said Wayve chief executive Alex Kendall.
“Globally, there is huge momentum to transform mobility in grocery operations right now,” he said. “Through this partnership with Ocado Group we aim to unlock autonomous delivery faster in more places worldwide.”
Under the deal, some of Ocado’s existing delivery fleet will also be outfitted with Wayve’s data collection devices to provide data for training and validating Wayve’s technology.
