Amazon may have been focused on buying cargo aircraft over the past few years in a bid to control more of its delivery network, but now the company is turning its attention to trucks and removing the need for human drivers.
As Bloomberg reports, Amazon has ordered 1,000 autonomous driving systems from the company Plus, which upgrades trucks to drive themselves. Amazon is clearly confident Plus’ technology works as it has also acquired the right to purchase preferred shares in the company which amounts to a 20% stake.
Plus uses radars, LiDARs, and cameras to allow each truck to have 360-degree vision, which it calls a “fusion-based perception system.” It also mitigates failures with multi-level redundancy, allowing the self-driving system to continue to operate safely even when some sensors fail. The tech is already being used by Chinese delivery company SF Holdings, and Plus has established a partnership with European truck manufacturer Iveco while also working with Cummins Inc. on self-driving trucks powered by natural gas. Most recently, Plus partnered with Good Machine to move equipment and help address “wildfires, food insecurity, illicit wildlife poaching, and illegal fishing.”
Amazon’s entire retail operation requires a reliable and extensive distribution network and that means Amazon operates tens of thousands of trucks. Removing the need for a human driver would also remove the need for breaks, and ultimately create a more efficient, faster delivery network. This order and right to purchase shares looks to be a first step towards ensuring that slowly starts to happen over the next few years. Meanwhile, Amazon’s electric vans have started making deliveries this year, although they still require a (closely monitored) human driver.
