Udelv unveiled its first cab-less autonomous electric delivery vehicle for multi-stop delivery, the Transporter at CES this year.
The electric delivery vehicle features a detachable modular cargo pod called the uPod that can carry up to 2,000 pounds of goods, make up to 80 stops per cycle at highway speeds, and cover ranges between 160 and 300 miles per run. It is operated by Udelv’s mobile apps to seamlessly schedule, deliver, track, and retrieve packages.
In 2018, the company made its debut in California with the first-ever autonomous delivery. Since then, it has completed over 20,000 deliveries in California, Arizona, and Texas. Udelv aims at having 50,000 units of the Transporter on roads by 2028, with the first Transporters being commercially deployed in 2023. The Transporter is driven by the Mobileye Drive self-driving system with a robust suite of cameras, LiDARs, radars and the fifth generation of EyeQ, Mobileye’s System-on-Chip for automotive applications.
Hailed as ‘world’s first autonomous delivery vehicle’, the company has already garnered more than 1,000 reservations, including from US-based Donlen and Europe-based Planzer and Ziegler Group. Last year it was awarded a contract by the US Air Force.
“We aim to drastically improve the efficiency and safety of last and middle-mile delivery services and make them affordable for everyone and everything – from electronics and auto parts to groceries and medical supplies”, says Daniel Laury, CEO, Udelv, in an exclusive interview with Geospatial World.
The main objectives of smart mobility are to substantially decrease the number of car accidents and casualties on our roads, reduce traffic congestion and air and noise pollution, improve transfer speed, and reduce transfer costs between different modes of transportation.
Autonomous delivery vehicles will be better able to manage energy consumption than humans due to smoother driving behaviors and software-driven route optimization, leading to an additional level of systemic sustainability for the transportation industry.
Automotive trends that will have a bearing on both innovation and sustainability are:
Udelv’s roadmap for 2022 is to complete the design validation process of the Transporter in view of launching the first units for initial public road testing towards the end of the year.
We believe that life will resume its normalcy very quickly with the pandemic solidly in our rear-view mirror in the second half of the year. What is here to stay however, is a double-digit growth of home deliveries and e-commerce as people have got used to being delivered more and more of the goods that make up for a good portion of their needs. This will continue to bear a heavy toll on the current massive shortage of drivers and pave the way for a robust demand of autonomous delivery vehicles around the world.
End-to-end last mile battery-electric autonomous delivery solutions answer the two greatest challenges of modern commercial fleets: a massive shortage of drivers and the electrification of fleets. But they also require the end consumer to meet the delivery vehicle at a time and location of their choosing to retrieve their goods.
Henceforth, a large-scale adoption of autonomous deliveries will change people’s habits when it comes to ordering and receiving their goods. They will be prompted to make an “appointment” with the vehicle at a time and location of their choice, with this time and location potentially being the office or a coffee shop or any other convenient place, with short delivery window increments and a high precision of timing.
Instead of systematically being delivered at home, users will learn how to have their goods delivered at a location convenient to them and any time of the day or night. The position of the delivery vehicle will be available in real time via the Udelv app.
The partnership between Udelv and Mobileye advances Mobileye’s global Mobility-as-a-Service ambitions and provides us with a rapid growth and market grabbing opportunity. The companies plan to produce more than 50,000 Mobileye-driven Transporters by 2028, with commercial operations beginning in 2023 in select areas.
With Mobileye’s REM high-resolution 3D maps available for North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, Udelv will be able to ramp up and scale its fleet of L4 self-driving Transporters faster than other similar autonomous driving technologies. Mobileye’s True Redundancy ensures a level of safety that makes possible the operation of Udelv’s cab-less Transporters at regular highway speeds.
Udelv’s proprietary tele-operations system will augment Mobilieye’s self-driving capabilities by allowing for the maneuvering of the vehicles at the edges of the mission, in parking lots, loading zones, apartment complexes and private roads.
Celebrated for creating the world’s first custom-made ADV that completed the first autonomous delivery in early 2018, Udelv has quietly performed extensive deployment trials with customers across various industries.
Donlen, one of America’s largest commercial fleet management companies at the forefront of fleet management innovation and technology, placed the first pre-order for 1,000 Transporters. This pre-order is perhaps the largest till date for an autonomous delivery vehicle.
Udelv was selected in November 2021 by the United States Air Force (USAF) AFWERX program for a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to improve flight line readiness by enhancing the delivery turnaround time of critical equipment to and from maintenance tool rooms and back shop areas at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
During its recently completed Phase I effort for the Air Force, Udelv identified that the requirement to pick up and drop off items across base consistently takes personnel away from their primary duties. These delays in parts deliveries impact readiness. We recognized that self-driving vehicle will alleviate the requirement for personnel to deliver parts, tools, and equipment, allowing them to focus on completing the primary assigned duties while increasing the speed at which equipment is delivered via on-demand delivery.
By providing an autonomous delivery solution, Udelv will reduce the delivery turnaround time of critical equipment and tools to and from maintenance tool rooms and other back shop areas that support aircraft maintenance to increase flight line readiness. The period of performance for this Phase II Contract is fifteen months.
End-to-end last mile battery-electric autonomous delivery solutions answer the two greatest challenges of modern commercial fleets: a massive shortage of drivers and the electrification of fleets.
By providing an autonomous delivery solution, Udelv will reduce the delivery turnaround time of critical equipment and tools to and from maintenance tool rooms and other back shop areas that support aircraft maintenance to increase flight line readiness. The period of performance for this Phase II Contract is fifteen months.
5G networks will enable even faster and more robust connections between vehicles (V2V), between vehicles and infrastructure (V2X) and between vehicles and their command-and-control centers, thereby significantly reducing the latency for tele-operations.
We estimate that the latency will be reduced by a factor of ~5X while network stability will be improved giving tele-operators a better control over the machines from distant locations, resulting in the ability to remotely drive vehicles at higher speeds.
Udelv’s tele-operation system currently operates at a latency inferior to ~100ms glass to glass at 2,500 miles of distance giving us comfort to operate at speeds under 12mph; we estimate it possible to be able to achieve 20ms with 5G to give us comfort to operate at speeds under 50mph.
