Some Asda customers in London will now have their shopping delivered by a self-driving vehicle as part of the UK’s largest trial of the technology in the grocery sector.
In partnership with Wayve, the year-long trial will give the supermarket the ability to autonomously deliver groceries to a catchment area of over 170,000 residents across 72,000 households in the capital.
The Wayve self-driving vehicles will join Asda’s existing online delivery operation at the Park Royal superstore in West London and have the capability to drive themselves to customers’ homes.
Local Asda customers will place their next-day delivery orders online as usual but could be randomly selected to have their shopping delivered in a self-driving vehicle.
During the trial, both an Asda staff member and supervising Wayve safety driver will be in the vehicle when making deliveries. The Asda worker will load and unload the groceries at the customer’s home, but they will be transported from store to the door in a self-driving vehicle.
The retailer noted that this is the first trial in the UK that can launch directly into commercial operations, without diverging from the operation of Asda online delivery processes.
Wayve’s ‘AV2.0’ solution uses machine learning to train its AI software to learn from experience how to drive in any environment. This results in AV technology that is not geo-fenced by highly detailed maps or pre-defined routes and can autonomously drive anywhere in its urban domain, even to places it’s never been to before.
The system is designed to constantly monitor the road, identifying potential hazards and making the safest decisions possible.
The launch follows a two-year partnership between Asda and the autonomous vehicle technology start-up that aims to lead the way in developing a self-driving vehicle solution for the grocery market.
Simon Gregg, Vice President of eCommerce at Asda, said: “Asda has long understood the value of bringing tech innovation to the online grocery sector and we are always looking at new and innovative partnerships to improve delivery options for customers. We believe autonomous technology is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of delivery, not only at our Park Royal store but throughout our nationwide operation.
“Through our partnership with Wayve, we are trialling this technology to understand how it can assist our busy store operations, whilst also adding a unique, reliable and efficient option for Asda customers to have a whole range of products delivered to their doors.”
Alex Kendall, Co-founder & CEO at Wayve, added: “We’re excited to partner with Asda on the largest urban autonomous grocery delivery trial in Europe. The trial is a demonstration of how autonomy can meet fleet owner needs. We started developing our AV technology over five years ago: it’s incredible to see it delivering real value today as part of Asda’s daily operations.
“We value our work with Asda to build the foundations of future autonomous grocery delivery. Trials like this one accelerate our road to deployment. They provide the learnings required to bring the benefits of AV technology to customers sooner while ensuring that businesses, like Asda, are prepared to deploy AVs at scale.”
