Walmart To Begin Driverless Deliveries With Ford and Argo AI (arstechnica.com) 26
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Our streets might not be overflowing with robotaxis as we were promised circa 2017, but here and there, AV companies are beginning commercial deployments. Argo AI, the AV startup heavily backed by Ford, Volkswagen, and others, is one of those companies. On Wednesday, Argo, Ford, and Walmart revealed that they will be working together to roll out last-mile deliveries from the retail giant's stores in Austin, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Washington, DC. "Our focus on the testing and development of self-driving technology that operates in urban areas where customer demand is high really comes to life with this collaboration," said Bryan Salesky, founder and CEO of Argo AI. "Working together with Walmart and Ford across three markets, we're showing the potential for autonomous vehicle delivery services at scale."
"Argo and Ford are aggressively preparing for large-scale autonomous vehicle operations across a broad footprint of US cities," said Scott Griffith, the CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles and Mobility Businesses. "Pairing Walmart's retail and e-commerce leadership with Argo and Ford's self-driving operations across these multiple cities marks a significant step toward scaling a commercial goods delivery service that will ultimately power first-to-scale business efficiencies and enable a great consumer experience." Argo AI and Ford have been testing their AV systems in Miami and DC since 2018 and began testing in Austin the following year. The trio says that the first autonomous deliveries to Walmart customers will begin later this year. Around the same time, Ford and Argo will start deploying passenger-carrying robotaxis in Austin and Miami.
"Argo and Ford are aggressively preparing for large-scale autonomous vehicle operations across a broad footprint of US cities," said Scott Griffith, the CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles and Mobility Businesses. "Pairing Walmart's retail and e-commerce leadership with Argo and Ford's self-driving operations across these multiple cities marks a significant step toward scaling a commercial goods delivery service that will ultimately power first-to-scale business efficiencies and enable a great consumer experience." Argo AI and Ford have been testing their AV systems in Miami and DC since 2018 and began testing in Austin the following year. The trio says that the first autonomous deliveries to Walmart customers will begin later this year. Around the same time, Ford and Argo will start deploying passenger-carrying robotaxis in Austin and Miami.
let's see how many days they can last in boot camp (Score:1)
let's see how many days they can last in boot camp and if they get an Blanket party
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cool.
lets start with you.
princess
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....TV hosts, most of Fox, and slowly, their voters.... all install cameras so we can watch them die of COVID!
Off topic. All the Fox News hosts are vaccinated. They don't even believe the stuff they're saying on the air. It's all about lying to a gullible audience, telling them what they want to hear, and making $$$. Fox News won a court case by arguing that, "No reasonable viewer takes Tucker Carlson seriously." In other words, officially at least, it's satire and entertainment.
Ford is a bit behind. (Score:3)
I am not sure why Walmart would choose Ford.
Ford and GM with their Autonomous driving functions are well behind the likes of Tesla and Waymo. Ford and GM, use high definition GPS maps as an electric rail, while Tesla and Waymo better use the current environment to make its decisions with more advance predictive AI. The BlueCruse feature still freaks out if the road as more than the slightest bend.
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Ford and GM, use high definition GPS maps as an electric rail, while Tesla and Waymo better use the current environment to make its decisions with more advance predictive AI.
Don't they all do both?
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The question is to what extent. Ford and GM primarily rely on maps, their situational awareness AI is in its infancy. Tesla and Waymo started with their situational awareness AI and use maps to enhance precision.
When the maps aren't available, or the road conditions change the companies show very different capabilities.
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Maybe because delivery is kind of "on rails". Kind of like bus routes.
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Now this part is speculation but I bet autonomous vehicles will be perfectly capable of navigation without GPS, now or soon. Just like a person who has driven a route many times doesn't ne
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Technically it uses more [autoweek.com] than just GPS. Tesla also uses maps of it's own creation. [insideevs.com] And pretty much all assisted driving systems are level 2. [jdpower.com]
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I am not sure why Walmart would choose Ford.
Ford and GM with their Autonomous driving functions are well behind the likes of Tesla and Waymo. Ford and GM, use high definition GPS maps as an electric rail, while Tesla and Waymo better use the current environment to make its decisions with more advance predictive AI. The BlueCruse feature still freaks out if the road as more than the slightest bend.
You see this isn't about making the system work... it's about getting free advertising for Walmart (who's struggling against Amazon) and Ford (who's struggling against their own irrelevance).
They don't expect this to actually work, well beyond getting their name splashed across a few websites with the buzzword of the day (which seems to be AI).
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If you're the shittyist retailer on the planet it makes sense that you'd ally with the shittyist vehicle maker on the continent as well.
and after the next Elaine Herzberg how long will t (Score:4, Interesting)
and after the next Elaine Herzberg how long will the shutdown time be?
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One of my co-irkers used to drive that route in Phoenix every day, he said that woman must have been dumb as a box of rocks to cross there at any time of day, much less at night. If you watch Uber's video of the accident there are really very few human drivers who could have avoided hitting her, and those who did miss her would probably have crashed into other nearby traffic. I've been driving for 44 years, and there is no way that I could have avoided that.
Need laws (Score:2)
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Put in a wider context, the bot cars could have driving habits that differ enough from real drivers that the bot cars cause more accidents. It would take time for people to adjust. And there wouldn't be just one kind of bot cars, every company with dreams of working in this space will field a fleet that has different driving characteristics from the rest.
I can't help but thinking this is a technology no one asked for and few want. I admit bot cars could come in handy for older people and disadvantaged peopl
companys may have differnt profiles of driving (Score:2)
companys may have differnt profiles of driving in there software.
Ranging from
Old Granny to PIZZA MAN beating the clock mode
With things like will only do the speed limit even when it's unsafe next to other cars.
Watting forever to make an trun.
Mexican Standoff at the 4 way stop sign
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You mean unexpected things like stopping for a red light in NYC?
Whats the cost of delivery (Score:2)
ANTIFA cybercriminals raiding the silk road! (Score:2)
Thanks, but no thanks (Score:2)
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Exactly. They'll just plop it in the street? Really? In the rain and snow? In the searing California sun?
Translation: many dead kids and pets soon (Score:2)
If you've seen how AI deals with normal streets in Seattle, where it causes the vehicle to veer into pedestrians, you'll love the new Walmart Kid Killer AI, which is even cheaper!