It looks like Ford is decided to develop new ideas for its future. ideas that could assist the mobility challenge and that could help people deliver more easily.
The Blue Oval unveiled a concept that combines autonomous vehicles and drones working hand-in-hand to transform city deliveries.
“Autolivery” service idea and innovations, including robotic riding platform, Carr-E, and innovative tricycle for getting around cities, TriCiti, are demonstrated at Mobile World Congress.
The “Autolivery” concept, developed by a team of Ford employees for the company’s Last Mile Mobility Challenge, imagines electric self-driving vans used together with drones to pick up and drop off goods and packages in urban areas.
Widely considered the most challenging part of the goods delivery process to automate, many companies are working on how to solve the complexity of delivering packages the last 15 metres, or from kerb to door. The pressure to solve this challenge is expected to increase globally in coming years with GDP growth, and a rise in local deliveries due to online sales.
Ford intends to have a fully autonomous, SAE level 4-capable vehicle for commercial application in mobility services such as ride sharing, ride hailing or package delivery fleets in 2021.
It also expects continued growth in electrified vehicle offerings, to the point where they outnumber their petrol‑powered counterparts, in the next 15 years. Shared modes of transportation will continue to gain popularity, and connected communications between vehicles and infrastructure will grow.
