Google patents self-driving TRUCKS: Delivery vehicles use smart lockers to allow customers to pick up their goods from the kerbside
- Customers type in a code or scan an NFC chip to claim packages
- Truck would use sensors, cameras and range-finding lasers to navigate
- Lockets in the truck would allow customer to retrieve their shopping
Google is developing both delivery drones and self driving cars - but a new patent reveals it is also building a smart delivery truck.
The patent reveals plans for driverless trucks with lockers inside the cargo area and a pin code that grants customers access to their packages.
Customers would receive a message when the vehicle is nearby - meaning the end of uncertainty over delivery times.
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This new award suggests that the search giant is working on designing self-driving delivery trucks. No humans will be needed for drop-offs, as the trucks could be designed with lockers inside and a pin code that grants customers access to their packages
The Autonomous Delivery Platform patent, first reported by Quartz, describes locker-like containers in the cargo area, which the receivers would type in a code or scan an NFC chip to claim their packages.
There is also the option of possibly using the credit card that purchased the packages to open the locker.
‘An autonomous road vehicle is operative to receive destination information, and to drive to a destination based on the destination information,’ reads the patent.
‘A package securing subsytem is attached to the autonomous road vehicle and comprises at least one securable compartment.’
The document describes the use sensors, video cameras and range-finding lasers as a way for trucks to navigate roads and obstacles that may get in its path.
‘Automated road vehicles can use various sensors, for example, video cameras, radar sensors and laser range finders, to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps to navigate a road, and a communication subsystem, such as a wireless communication subsystem, to communicate with a controller and other entities.’
Customers would receive a notification when the truck is about to arrive and if t is late, the truck will also let them know via text.
Google has also suggested that customers could pay for their packages when they receive them, turning the self-driving trucks into a vending machine on wheels.
Some aren’t too surprised to hear the news about self-driving delivery trucks, as Google has been working on its own self-driving car since 2009 that should on the market by 2020.
The document also gives details about how the truck would use sensors, video cameras and range-finding lasers to navigate the road and obstacles that may get in its path. Customers would receive a notification when the truck is about to arrive and if t is late, the truck will also let them know via text
And this isn’t the first idea the firm has had in the delivery industry.
Last month, the Internet tycoon filed a patent that described a ‘delivery receptacle’ designed to take packages from an ‘aerial delivery device’ for deposit to a secure location.
The receptacle would use infrared beacons to connect with drones in the air and then guide them for delivery This receptacle would then take the package to a safe location such as a garage, according to the patent.
But Amazon isn’t going down with a fight, as firm has released several promotion videos and interviews mentioning its drone delivery service – Amazon Prime Air.
Amazon said on its website that the sight of drones flying overhead with parcels will one day be 'as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road'.
The firm told Congress last year that it plans to use drones to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less will be ready in a year.
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