As for the point of items there same day/next-day, that is the problem Amazon Fresh is trying to solve. I have it here locally and it is pretty much amazing.
For the last point - why send out your autonomous vehicle and deal with employees at all? That's so 2024 (as you said). I want an autonomous Amazon Fresh truck, or maybe even an Amazon Prime drone to deliver to me. No employees needed, no human inefficiency.
"For the last point - why send out your autonomous vehicle and deal with employees at all? That's so 2024 (as you said). I want an autonomous Amazon Fresh truck, or maybe even an Amazon Prime drone to deliver to me. No employees needed, no human inefficiency."
Several reasons. It would work with any store or even fast-food/restaurants, sending my car to pick up a burger would be fantastic. Human employees walking the packages to your car (which would have a special lane in front of the store) could be easily replaced by a robot, at the moment it's just cheaper to have a human do the task. For many people who need a low paying and low skill job, that would be a great opportunity for them, there wouldn't be any dealing with customers either.
How would the autonomous delivery trucks you are talking about actually deliver the packages? The very difficult part would be getting the packages from the vehicle to the person's door. It would not work if it required the customers to come outside to pick up the packages, people wouldn't be home, they might be busy at the moment, it would be difficult to ensure they don't take the wrong or someone elses packages. I've considered that before and I just can't figure out a way for that to work.
The drones are also impractical and could only be used for small items. You would basically need a landing zone in your yard, I just don't see that happening nor being part of the free shipping. In my opinion the drone announcement was just a research project (that was full of flaws that can't be overcome) or a marketing stunt.
> How would the autonomous delivery trucks you are talking about actually deliver the packages? The very difficult part would be getting the packages from the vehicle to the person's door. It would not work if it required the customers to come outside to pick up the packages, people wouldn't be home, they might be busy at the moment, it would be difficult to ensure they don't take the wrong or someone elses packages. I've considered that before and I just can't figure out a way for that to work.
Tightly specified mailboxes.
Imagine that if you installed a special "UP-EX" mail box, you could receive packages securely when not at home. The truck has an arm that places the item directly into the receptacle.
> How would the autonomous delivery trucks you are talking about actually deliver the packages?
For the first iteration, I'd have a human take the boxes from the truck to the door. The truck would have one of those laser designators like Kiva uses for amazon warehouses to help the human pick the box. The difference is that the human is a minimum wage drone instead of a unionized teamster, so the savings could be quite substantial.
Plus, since the truck is automated, it doesn't have to be static while the picker is out running with the package.
I have experienced the problem, but I have no idea as to the reasoning or lack thereof behind it.
I love to order my groceries to be delivered, it's very convenient. But I generally fail to order them significantly far enough (24 hours!) in advance, and end up going to the supermarket anyway. I would love same-day delivery. Don't ask me the reason, because I don't know it!
For the last point - why send out your autonomous vehicle and deal with employees at all? That's so 2024 (as you said). I want an autonomous Amazon Fresh truck, or maybe even an Amazon Prime drone to deliver to me. No employees needed, no human inefficiency.