Google autonomous car spin-off Waymo is ready to put its vehicles on the road! By the end of March 2020, the company will start transporting packages in Arizona for the delivery company UPS. The self-driving cars will shuttle parcels from UPS stores in and around Phoenix to the UPS hub in Tempe.
UPS has invested an immense amount of money into futuristic electronics. It is dishing out $20 billion over the next three years to install automation at its sorting facilities, and last year it took a minority stake in startup TuSimple – an autonomous-truck manufacturer.
Waymo is using Chrysler Pacifica minivans rigged with Waymo’s self-driving technology. The cars will drive without human assistance; however, there will be a Waymo employee riding in the “driver seat” to monitor the vehicle’s performance.
This isn’t the first driver-less car project by Waymo. In 2018, the company launched Waymo One – America’s first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service – also in Arizona. Some of the cars used in the service don’t even have safety drivers anymore! Waymo is now regarded by many professionals in the field as the leader in the industry autonomous-vehicles industry.
Waymo is also trialing autonomous vehicles, including semi-trucks, in Georgia, Texas, Michigan, Washington, and California. The company’s partnership with UPS is not its first collaboration. Last year, the company began a pilot project with AutoNation to deliver vehicle parts.
Likewise, the parcel-delivery company’s partnership with Waymo is not its first shot at using self-driving cars. TuSimple has been moving UPS Freight loads since last summer around Arizona.
As scary as all this (automated package-sorting and driver-less delivery trucks) may sound for the UPS 500,000-odd workforce, UPS chief marketing officer Kevin Warren says their employees have nothing to worry about. The technology will augment the company’s human capital, not replace it.
The UPS chief strategy and transformation officer, Scott Price, says companies like FedEx and UPS are on route to double the number of parcels they move in the next ten years. All those packages will be sorted and delivered by both humans and machines. They say that nobody will lose their job over this, and UPS will continue to hire new workers for seasonal and permanent employment.
