The co-founder and CEO of Nuro, a startup that aims to change the way commercial delivery is done, was at the conference.
The company is known for its cute self-driving delivery vehicles, which are purpose-built to carry pizzas and packages rather than people. The Nuro is a third generation electric delivery robot that is being built at a new $40 million manufacturing facility and closed-course test track in southern Nevada.
Domino's, Kroger, FedEx and 7 Eleven are some of the commercial partners that Nuro has locked down.
Matt Burns sat down with Zhu to talk about Nuro's path to commercialization, the opportunities and challenges of AV delivery, and where the industry is headed.
There are three key things that came out of their discussion.
Nuro is currently operating and testing in California, Arizona and Texas, with a focus on Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area as the company's initial markets. Los Angeles might be the next market for the startup, even though Nuro might make an announcement about that soon.
We recently announced that we are also doing data collection and mapping in LA.
In a Medium post in April, Nuro said that it would soon begin testing self-drive vehicles in the LA area using its fleet of Toyota Prius vehicles.
Over the next few months, Angelenos can expect to see Nuro's vehicles on public roads, and later this year, we will begin testing autonomously driving in specific neighborhoods throughout LA County.
Nuro is not a delivery company or a self-driving car company. Our goal is to make everyday lives better.
Dave Ferguson, Nuro's president and co- founder, believed that within 20 years, robots would be everywhere, helping people to have a better life. The decision to focus on delivery was not about the feeling that delivery was the most important avenue, but about the fact that it would be one of the first.
We looked at a lot of different things and decided which one would have the biggest impact on a lot of people. Which product can have an impact in a reasonable time frame, not 10 years from now, but something that we can see and use for in a reasonable time frame?
For the time being, the market opportunity for transporting goods allows for Nuro to be an actual business, not just a science experiment. Americans take up to 100 billion trips every year for shopping. A lot of people would benefit fromAutomating that. Nuro has not ruled out other ways to save time.
He wants a robot that can fold his laundry in the future.
Nuro has a partnership with BYD North America on its newest generation delivery robot.
The first vehicle that will be mass manufactured is believed to be automotive quality.
Being able to manufacture vehicles with the backing of a major automaker is critical to scaling and becoming profitable as Nuro works on getting its self-driving tech up to speed.
Being able to include safety features is another benefit. The Nuro is able to drive up to 45 miles per hour, which makes it a lot of geographic coverage, but also eliminates the need to drive on the freeway. It has safety features like an air bag in the front of the vehicle, rather than on the inside, so it can protect vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists. The Nuro can deliver a hot pizza and a cold beer at the same time.
TC Sessions: Mobility 2022
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