LM previews first autonomous grocery delivery van

Logistics Manager’s editorial team got a preview of Ocado’s autonomous truck as it paced the streets of Woolwich during its live grocery delivery trials.

The delivery trials are part of the TRL-led GATEway project, which involves ‘CargoPod’, an autonomous vehicle developed by Oxbotica.

Two weeks of live trials have been taking place in the residential areas of Berkeley Homes, Royal Arsenal Riverside and Royal Borough of Greenwich. During which time, 100 Ocado customers have received their orders via these new trucks.

At the trial, Graeme Smith, chief executive of Oxbotica said that the trucks include an added box with eight individual lockers, for eight individual orders. The whole back can be dropped down and a forklift can lift all the shopping into the back.

“Ocado Technology is delighted to have worked in partnership with the GATEway Project to a complete a very successful grocery delivery trial using driverless vehicles,” said David Sharp, head of Ocado Technology 10X. “We are always looking to come up with unique, innovative solutions to the real-world challenge of delivering groceries in densely-populated urban environments. This project is part of the on-going journey to be at the edge of what is practical and offer our Ocado Smart Platform customers new and exciting solutions for last mile deliveries.”