Since 2019, the Amazon Scout robot has been roaming the streets of some US states, the experiment was stopped for several weeks.
400 people worked on this program
Autonomous electric delivery robot “Scout” has completed its work. Born to reduce CO2 emissions, the number of vehicles on the road and the cost of delivery, it moved slowly on 6 wheels on the sidewalks of cities, for example, in Southern California.
He opened his trunk when he arrived at Amazon customers
This robot was programmed by engineers to open the trunk upon arrival at the buyers, who had only to pick up their package. 400 people worked on the program to develop this solution. Employees will be assigned to other positions within the Amazon group.
Some aspects of the program did not meet their needs.
But then why such a decision? According to Bloomberg, a drop in sales (the current economic context) and new priorities would be fatal for him. Alice Carroll, a spokeswoman for Amazon, offers a different explanation: “We were working in the field to create a unique delivery experience, but we learned from customer feedback that some aspects of the program did not meet our expectations, their needs.”
Upcoming delivery drone dubbed MK30
Meanwhile, Amazon (Amazon Prime Air) has just unveiled its new delivery drone called MK30. It should enter service in 2024 and replace the MK27-2. To date, the American giant believes that to deliver goods on a very large scale in less than an hour or thirty minutes, drones are the most viable solution.
In a recent note, Amazon pointed out that “reducing the noise signature of our drones is an important technical challenge our team is working on.” The MK30 will also have a longer range than the MK27-2.