FORD

TUESDAY DELIVERY SERVICE WITH VANS AUTOMATICS IN MIAMI

Ford has taken another step forward in its standalone vehicle testing program in Miami, United States, in partnership with Postmates, a home delivery service company that works with restaurants, snack bars, hardware stores and other retailers. When the customer places an order with Postmates, he has the option of receiving his order in a stand-alone Transit van.The vehicles used in this program have all the equipment and look like an autonomous model, with only one difference: in fact, they are driven by a trained driver. This is because the focus of research is on the first and last stages of delivery."The goal is to test how companies and consumers interact with a standalone car and whether there are obstacles to be overcome," said Alexandra Ford English of the Ford Automotive Business team. "Our autonomous steering technology continues to be tested and developed in other vehicles."The research van was set up to test various interfaces such as the touch screen, multiple compartments and the external audio system of the Ford stand-alone car designed to hit the market in 2021. To serve multiple customers on the same journey, the vehicle has three closed compartments: two rear and one side, passenger side, with different sizes to test the ideal configuration for each product.

The delivery process is basically the same: a store clerk enters his access code on the screen to open the compartment and ship the product. When the car reaches the destination, the customer is warned by a text message. It then enters a code to retrieve the order, in the compartment that is informed on the screen and by signal lights. The process is also accompanied by audio guidelines - a feature that surveys have shown to be well accepted by users.

More than 70 companies participate in Ford's program with Postmates in Miami. These are businesses that have already grown with home delivery and are interested in knowing how autonomous vehicles will impact their future.
"The goal is to make it easier for people to interact with autonomous vehicles by testing different methods to make deliveries efficient for both suppliers and customers."



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