inbound
If you want a peek at the future of
last-mile delivery and have some
extra frequent-flier miles to burn,
then book a trip to Yokosuka City
in Japan. Stroll over to Umikaze
Park, a three-acre green space
at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, and
download the “Rakuten Drone”
app onto your smartphone. You
can then use the app to place
an online order with Japanese
supermarket chain Seiyu GK that
will be delivered to your exact
location via robot.
The innovative service is part
of a pilot that allows visitors to
Umikaze Park to order any of the
approximately 400 products—
including fresh food and beverages for barbecues—carried by
the nearby Seiyu Livin Yokosuka
store. Deliveries are made by
four-wheeled self-driving carts
to the location of the customer’s choice within the park. The
technology is the result of a partnership between e-commerce
giants JD.com and Rakuten to
develop unmanned delivery
solutions that include drones
and autonomous delivery bots.
The limited-time service follows
a successful pilot using drones to
deliver orders to customers on
Sarushima Island in Tokyo Bay
this summer.
JD started developing autonomous delivery robots in 2016 in
a bid to streamline deliveries to
office and residential buildings
in high-density urban areas. The
program in Umikaze Park, which
runs Sept. 21 to Oct. 27, marks
JD’s next move—opening up its
unmanned technology capabilities to partners in a range of
industries.
Japanese firms test
robotic picnic
delivery
Ever since milkmen began delivering fresh cream to customers’ doorsteps by
horse-drawn wagons in the 19th century, perishable-food delivery has been one
of the most challenging tasks in the supply chain. Now, a Northeast regional
grocer is experimenting with a program that’s aimed at reducing these spoil-age-prone shipments.
Rather than shipping bread baked at a central facility to stores throughout the
region, supermarket chain Stop & Shop is piloting an automated system that
bakes loaves right inside the store. The grocer has
installed a baking machine called “The Breadbot”
at its Milford, Massachusetts, site, promising
shoppers a constant supply of “sandwich-style
bread that is fresh-from-the-oven, delicious, and
affordable.”
Formally known as “The Mini Bakery,” the
machine mixes, forms, proofs, bakes, and cools 10 loaves of $3.99-per-loaf
artisan bread per hour, including varieties like white, wheat, whole wheat, nine
grain, sourdough, and honey oat. The bread will be free of the artificial preser-
vatives commonly found in on-shelf bread, since it will all be made and sold the
same day, Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop said.
“Making the bread locally, right in the store with The Mini Bakery, has a
very positive environmental effect,” Randall Wilkinson, CEO of the Breadbot’s
vendor, Washington-based Wilkinson Baking Co., said in a release. “The fleets
of delivery trucks and the fuel they use are reduced, since only dry ingredients
need to be shipped. And, because The Mini Bakery keeps track of its production,
it’s able to predict how much bread it should bake in order to meet demand.”
Stop and slice
The days are long gone when Amazon shoppers could place an order and expect
to see a UPS, FedEx, or U.S. Postal Service vehicle roll up a few days later. Over
the years, Amazon has broadened its delivery base beyond the traditional package carriers, adding players like local couriers and
part-time citizen drivers. The landscape shifted even
further in the past year when the giant e-tailer began
building its own contract delivery-fleet network and
FedEx severed its relationship with Amazon.
Now, the Amazon delivery experience is set to
undergo another shift—this time on the equipment
side. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant announced in September that it had
ordered 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Plymouth, Michigan-based
car-maker Rivian. Amazon says the Rivian vans will begin delivering packages in
2021. The company plans to have 10,000 of the battery-powered vehicles on the
road as early as 2022 and all 100,000 on the road by 2030.
The initiative is part of Amazon’s commitment to meet the Paris Agreement
climate goals 10 years early. The company has set a target of running entirely
on renewable energy by 2030 and operating with net zero carbon emissions by
2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Accord’s 2050 deadline. Amazon says the move
to electric vehicles will save 4 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2030.
Amazon opts for electric avenue
