Israel’s Mobileye, an Intel Company, and California company Udelv have joined forces to get the first fleet of an autonomous electric delivery pod, called Transporters, on the streets by 2023. Udelv and Mobileye plan to produce at least 35,000 self-driving electric cargo haulers by 2028.
On April 12, the companies announced the commercial availability of the self-driving system ― branded Mobileye Drive ― which consists of:
- A sensor suite that includes thirteen cameras (including parking cameras)
- Six radars
- Three long-range LiDARs
- Six short-range LiDARs
- Built-in safety and redundancy systems
- An EyeQ5 computer system that runs the sensors and software
- A proprietary autonomous vehicle mapping solution that features high-definition maps for Europe, the US, and some countries in Asia.
The Mobileye Drive Level 4 autonomy system will be installed in the Transporters by Udelv, with technical oversight from Mobileye and over-the-air software support from the latter.
There are five levels of autonomy; the 4th Level describes a self-driving system that can drive full time under the right circumstances. If the system encounters something it can’t take on, it will ask for humans to intervene. However, if humans can’t offer their assistance, then it will park itself so that passengers are not in danger.
The Transporters, capable of reaching a top speed of 65 mph (104 km/h), complies with the ISO 26262 safety standard for electric systems on-road vehicles and supports DC fast charging.
Fleet operations will be controlled by Udelv’s teleoperations system, which offers ultra-low latency monitoring from the 360-degree camera and sensor data streams. This system enables interventions by operators (in case the delivery pod gets into trouble), has route optimization, a multi-layered failure system, and more.
During the announcement, Udelv confirmed the first pre-order for the Transporter, with 1,000 of the self-driving delivery pods heading to Donlen, one of the largest commercial fleet management companies in the US, once production begins.
Tom Callahan, Donlen’s President, said:
We are thrilled to be the first customer for the Udelv Transporter. The combination of Udelv’s zero-emissions Transporter and automated delivery management system with Mobileye Drive will enable sweeping delivery cost reductions, make our roads safer, and lower carbon emissions across America.
Last year, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted robotics company Nuro approval to run low-speed autonomous delivery vehicles. As a result, Nuro deployed its low-speed delivery vehicles to shuttle groceries for Walmart in Houston.
