Ocado partners with Oxbotica to build self-driving vehicles

The move comes as the online grocery retailer continues to make strides in technological innovation, with the company eventually envisioning a completely autonomous delivery service.

Ocado partners with Oxbotica to build self-driving vehicles

Online grocery retailer Ocado has partnered with software company Oxbotica to develop self-driving vehicles for itself and others who use its platform, as the company forges ahead with autonomous driving technology. As part of the push, automatic forklift trucks at warehouses and self-driving delivery vans could be manufactured for use by Ocado.

Ocado has also purchased a £10 million stake in Oxbotica. Alex Harvey, Ocado’s Chief of Advanced Technology, stated that the company envisions ‘the entire end to end operation, ultimately, to be autonomous - from the receipt of stock to the warehouse all the way through to the customer's door’. He went on to describe the company’s vision of future transactions for customers:

‘From a customer's perspective you open your door and outside you will see an autonomous van or another autonomous vehicle pull up outside your house, and most likely an autonomous robot will get out of that autonomous vehicle, will collect your groceries, and hand them to you at the doorstep’.

Despite Ocado’s lofty ambitions, it has admitted that getting permission from regulators to allow autonomous vehicles on public roads to facilitate deliveries will most likely take some time. The company did note that deliveries to customers’ homes constitute a large part of an online retailer’s costs, though autonomous vans could prove to be a money-saving solution long-term. In the more immediate future, it sees such autonomous vehicles operating in limited areas such as its own warehouses, with prototypes slated to come within two years.

Ocado has aimed to present itself as more than just an online grocery retailer in recent years, instead positioning itself as a technology platform for other global retailers to make use of. It has developed robots to pick and pack groceries at its fulfilment centres and American supermarket Kroger has recently opened a warehouse that operates using Ocado’s technology. 

Header Image Credit: Markus Winkler

Author

Ali Muzaffar

Ali Muzaffar Kickstart Team

Ali is a Trainee Journalist with Voice. He graduated from the University of Leeds in English Literature and maintains a strong interest in reading new books whenever possible. A self-professed film nut, Ali enjoys movies from a wide range of genres, although he can be counted on to gravitate towards thrillers or dramas!

Recent posts by this author

View more posts by Ali Muzaffar

0 Comments

Post A Comment

You must be signed in to post a comment. Click here to sign in now

You might also like

In This Climate: Mother Earth's struggle and the power we hold

In This Climate: Mother Earth's struggle and the power we hold

by Primrose Jarvis

Read now