Groceries at your doorstep, delivered by self-driving cars
What's the story
UK-based online retailer Ocado Technologies is looking to get driverless vehicles on the road to deliver groceries to their customers, reports said. It began testing its own fleet of self-driving cars this week in an attempt to make driverless groceries possible. Ocado has partnered with University of Oxford's self-driving division, Oxbotica to run the test trials.
Do you know?
What are autonomous cars?
Autonomous cars are those which are driven without any human input. They are programmed, robotic cars, aimed at reducing car crashes due to human error. The autonomous cars are programmed to sense their environment and navigate accordingly.
Autonomous cars
Project CargoPod: Testing out newer avenues for home delivery
The project undertaken by Oxbotica and Ocado is dubbed as 'CargoPod', and the trial is restricted to south-east London boroughs for just ten days. The project will be monitored by two human supervisors while the groceries are being delivered. The 'CargoPod' can carry up to eight boxes, which is lesser than the eighty boxes that are carried in Ocado's fully-functional vehicles.
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How do customers obtain their groceries?
Although the new venture promises cost-effectiveness due to lesser manpower and manual intervention, the convenience requires customers to step out of their houses to collect their groceries from the autonomous vehicles.