UPS is using virtual reality training (VR) for delivery drivers in key European markets in the sector’s latest application of the technology.
The company’s training centres in the UK and Germany will use VR headsets to simulate the experience of driving on the respective roads of the two countries.
The programme uses proprietary content created by UPS’s own IT team, with users required to identify potential road hazards. It replaces a previous touch-screen programme.
It is currently available for package delivery drivers but UPS plans to expand it to tractor trailer drivers and other operations staff.
“Virtual reality offers a technological leap in the realm of driver safety training,” said Juan Perez, UPS chief information and engineering officer.
“VR creates a realistic streetscape that will impress even the youngest of our drivers, whose previous exposure to the technology may have been through video games.”
DHL is another major carrier that has made use of virtual reality, which means technology which fully immerses a user in another setting through digital graphics. The company worked with Invirt Reality to create a proof of concept for a VR warehouse picker.
DHL has also used augmented reality technology, which consists of digital graphics interspersed on the user’s view of the real world. It recently became one of the first companies to launch the latest version of Google Glass to aid in its warehouse processes.
