Renault brings its robo delivery concept to life with Renault EZ-PRO, an autonomous delivery design featuring shared customisable robo-pods, which use a field-based human ‘concierge’ for special deliveries and driverless robo-pod fleet management.
“Renault EZ-PRO shows our vision of last-mile delivery integrated with the ecosystem of smart cities of tomorrow and the needs of professionals,” said Ashwani Gupta, Renault Senior Vice President, LCV. “This concept is a solution that would unlock countless opportunities for our various partners.”
The concept consists of an autonomous leader pod and driverless robo-pods. Renault believes that the management of the last mile will not be completely automated as people will remain at the heart of transport activities for the foreseeable future.
In leader pod a human ‘concierge’ supervises the delivery of goods and services and its fleet. Released from today’s constraints of driving, the ‘concierge’ can focus on value-added tasks, such as supervising the itinerary planning and driverless robo-pods, or ensuring efficient and customised service, such as in-person, premium delivery of groceries or fragile objects. The fleet of driverless robo-pods either follow each other by platooning or can move independently.
A convoy of pods leaving from the same hub and managed by the same logistics operator can carry different types of goods and merchandise, each pod having its own paymaster, theme, clientele and delivery place. They are however operated by the same electric and autonomous platform. In the same manner, a pod can make a series of deliveries for one online store and another series for a different store. These shared scenarios contribute to maximise productivity and save costs.
Recipients will be able to choose a convenient delivery time and location of their choice. The end user will also be able to choose between receiving his parcel by the concierge or accessing self-service lockers in the driverless robo-pods. These lockers, accessible 24/7, can be opened by the recipient via a mobile phone application.
The shipping solution for consumers will also feature real-time tracking options via mobile with alert services for an even smoother delivery experience.
