Amazon has been testing its Scout delivery robots near its headquarters in Snohomish County, Washington, for a few months. Today, it announced that it’s expanding the program, and it’s set to start testing the robots in the Irvine, California, area on a larger scale.
To start, Amazon will only have “a small number of Amazon Scout devices,” which will only deliver packages on weekdays during daylight hours. Each Scout robot will also be accompanied by a human Amazon employee to keep an eye on things (at least as the program kicks off), even though the robots will be autonomously navigating and delivering their packages. These are the same policies that Amazon has been using for its initial test in Washington, but the expansion to a new city proves that the company views it to be at least somewhat successful.
According to Amazon, the Scout robots will be seamlessly integrated into orders for customers in the Irvine area. If you buy something on Amazon, depending on what makes the most sense logistically, you’ll either get it shipped through normal means or it’ll be delivered by a Scout robot.
Amazon has been training the Scout delivery robots for months, using a mixture of real-world tests and digital simulations of cities (using actual mapping and 3D data of landscapes and obstacles). Scout isn’t Amazon’s only foray into automated deliveries, however. The company is also exploring using aerial drones for its Amazon Prime Air service — although, like the Scout program, it’s still in the early stages.
—
Photo Credit: Jeramey Lende / Shutterstock.com