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Good day,
Here are a couple of the offers and technology unveiled by the robotic delivery companies during the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) last week.
The second largest Chinese e-commerce company, JD.com, has exhibited an autonomous four-wheeled robot capable of delivering parcels up to five kilometers. The company also announced the launch of two smart delivery stations in the cities of Changsha and Hohhot. The stations will act as research and development stations for further testing on robots and other last mile innovations.
Udelv, an independent startup based in California, debuted the new version of its autonomous delivery van, the Newton. As part of a new partnership, Newton will distribute groceries for Walmart in Phoenix and XL Parts in Houston this year.
Newton is powered by an autonomous driving platform designed by Baidu, the Google of China. The Udelv-Walmart delivery service is in direct competition with another WalMart delivery partnership in Chandler, Arizona. That collaboration involves Waymo, the auto-driving division of the parent company of Google Alphabet.
Did you know?
Amazon, the current smart speaker market leader, will see its market share fall to 63% this year from 67% in 2018, when the e-commerce giant will face more competition close by Google and other companies. (eMarketer forecast)
Quotable:
"The fourth level will never come as a revolutionary and revolutionary technology, but it will come very gradually."
– Chief Daimler Martin Daum
In other news:
Blockchain: the last one
The Israeli cargo shipping company Zim launches blockchain to all customers in certain sectors. (Coin Telegraph)
Appliances, furniture and more
FedEx Corp. is testing full-service residential delivery of bulky products purchased through e-commerce. The $ 9 billion market typically carried by several traditional trucking companies. (Bloomberg)
Relief from Puget Sound congestion
The Port of Everett gets the designation "Marad Short Sea Shipping", allowing non-repayable loans to finance infrastructure improvements and equipment to improve the service of barges. (Maritime professional)
Chugging to victory
The railway age is now accepting registrations for its annual short-haul / regional railway competition. (RailwayAge)
Final thoughts:
For all the clamor around driverless transport, space is shrouded in secrecy. Consider, for example, the announcement by Daimler during last week's ESC that he would put a level four truck on the road this year. But as far as we know, Daimler has been managing those trucks for a long time, "said consultant Richard Bishop at the retreat. "The information is insufficient to make that determination," Bishop said. The lack of information also makes it almost impossible to determine which of the numerous truckless outfits – Waymo, TuSimple, Embark – is paving the way for technical and commercial progress. So where does it leave us? Waiting to see who will drop the next bomb, whether it's a $ 570 million investment by Daimler, the sale of Uber's self-produced truck unit or the launch of another new player.
Defeat everyone!
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