4. Delivery without a driver
Consumers in three European cities will soon have no reason to tip a delivery driver. Through a collaboration of delivery specialists, retailers and tech firms, six-wheeled droids will soon be hauling customers’ orders through the sidewalks of London, as well as Dusseldorf, Germany, and Bern, Switzerland.
Details are sketchy, but Bloomberg reported that the robots can haul up to 20 pounds to homes as far as three miles away. One of the partners in the venture told the news service that humans will monitor the droids’ journeys and take over the pudgy little vehicles’ navigation if need be. The devices will travel via sidewalks rather than on roads. In nine months of testing, that wasn’t a problem, according to the collaborators.
Partners in the endeavor include a new delivery app, Just Eat, and a delivery service, Pronto. The restaurants signing on to use the robotic service were not revealed.