Tech: Ocado is testing self-driving vans that can deliver groceries in London

In 2021, your shopping might be delivered by a robot.

LONDON — One day, your groceries might be delivered by robot.

That's the future online supermarket Ocado has been exploring, as it runs a trial in East London of a self-driving delivery van.

The trial lets residents of a new Greenwich development order free gift hampers, which will then be delivered to their homes. It's a tentative experiment, and the vehicle's capabilities are limited. It still has a human in the driver's seat, for example, ready to take control at a moment's notice. It only travels at around four miles per hour.

But it's also all still early days — and hints at the evolution of home deliveries in years to come.

Ocado is famous for the robots in its warehouses and its focus on tech, but it didn't build the vehicles itself. It enlisted the firm Oxbotica for that.

They're pretty unassuming to look at — like chunky golf buggies, with seats up front for Oxbotica employees.

But once they start moving, that's where the magic happens. Look — no hands!

The vehicles can carry eight loads of shopping with a combined weight of 128KG, and isn't refrigerated. (Again, early days.) It's all stored in these units in the back.

They unlock automatically when they reach each stop, so the customer can retrieve it. (On the day we visited, it wasn't delivering to real residents, just journalists, alas.)

The vehicle uses an array of lasers and cameras to "see" its surroundings.

Oxbotica CEO Graeme Smith said a key goal of the trial was to get experience of the tech "coexisting" with people — how they react to the tech. Ocado's CTO Paul Clarke said the company was looking to build relationships for further trials as the tech evolves.

Ocado says the vehicles are intended to complement human drivers, not make them obsolete — but when should we expect to see them on UK roads?

It all depends on the particular challenges of the environment — not all neighbourhoods are created equal. Smith said he expected to see the first commercial implementations around 2021, a few years off yet.

It was a cool demonstration in a safe environment, but how did the vehicle handle an unintended obstacle — a person, say? To find out, I wandered in front of it. It kept a safe distance, jerking to a halt when I got too close. Success!

In 2021, your shopping might be delivered by a robot. Read Full Story