Walmart launches delivery of goods on unmanned vehicles Ford

On September 15, 2021, Walmart brought in Argo AI and Ford to launch an unmanned vehicle delivery service in Austin, Miami and Washington. The service will allow customers to place online orders for food and other goods using the Walmart ordering platform.

Argo's cloud infrastructure will be integrated with Walmart's online platform, routing orders and planning to deliver parcels to customers' homes. Initially, the commercial service will be limited to certain geographical areas in each city, and will expand over time. Companies will begin testing at the end of 2021.

Walmart launches delivery of goods on unmanned vehicles Ford

Walmart and Ford have already collaborated on a limited test with Postmates in the fall of 2018. In that pilot program that focused on Miami-Dade County, they used simulations of self-propelled cars to learn the user experience of delivering products. Argo did not participate in this study.

This latest collaboration will use Ford cars integrated with Argo AI autonomous driving technology. According to Argo AI CEO and co-founder Brian Saleski, the goal is to scale out the potential of autonomous delivery services on cars.

This announcement illustrates Ford's two-track system for launching a commercial service that uses autonomous cars to transport people, and possibly parcels. The automaker is testing the commercial side of how a dedicated fleet of autonomous cars can operate in the real world. In 2016, he supported Argo AI and entrusted it with the development and testing of an autonomous driving system. It also shows how Austin and Miami have become central to their initial commercialization plans.^[1]

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