Parcel delivery firm DPD has announced it is to start autonomous robot deliveries in two Milton Keynes neighbourhoods, as part of a trial with AI-powered robotics and last-mile delivery company Cartken.
Operating out of DPD’s Knowlhill depot, the robots will navigate the city’s traffic-free Redway network to access the residential neighbourhoods of Shenley Church End and Shenley Lodge.
The robots, which use AI to ‘learn’ the routes to find their way to delivery addresses, fully autonomously, are powered by Cartken’s level 4 autonomy and navigation technology.
DPD parcel recipients will be notified of a robot delivery in advance, and once they confirm that they are at home to accept the parcel, the robot will be dispatched.
Customers will be able to track the robot’s progress on a map and will be notified when it reaches their property.
Watch: Video showing a DPD autonomous delivery robot in action in Milton Keynes
They will then use a code to open a secure compartment and access their parcel. Once the compartment is closed, the robot will return to the depot for its next delivery.
If the trial is successful, DPD intends to extend the sustainable, autonomous final-mile solution across the city, which could enable it to start removing delivery vans from the road network.
Elaine Kerr, DPD UK CEO, said: “This is a really important trial for us. We want to understand the role that delivery robots could play in certain locations in the UK.
“They are a sustainable solution, and we genuinely want to find out if they could help us take vans off the road in future.”
The trial is part of series of green initiatives from DPD, which has already announced plans to have over 3,000 electric vehicles on the road in the UK this year and 5,000 by 2023, when it will be delivering to 30 towns and cities on all-electric vehicles.
