Amazon customers in a US neighbourhood will be able to receive packages via autonomous delivery as part of a new trial.
Six Amazon Scout devices will deliver packages in Snohomish County in Washington state. Customers in the area simply order as they normally would via the site or app.
The robots will deliver between Monday and Friday during daylight hours, autonomously following preset delivery routes. At the initial phase of the trial they will be accompanied by an Amazon employee.
Sean Scott, VP of Amazon Scout, wrote in a blog that the trial would provide learnings about the robots so that in future the marketplace could “provide even more sustainability and convenience to customer deliveries.”
Amazon developed Scout at its R&D lab in Seattle. The robots are about the size of a small cooler and travel at a walking pace, with the capacity to avoid obstacles in their path.
Last November saw Amazon testing the potential of parcel delivery by drones at a new facility in Belgium.
Estonian start-up Cleveron has also launched a prototype for a robot courier.
Image credit: Amazon
