Driverless cars and the challenge of custom delivery.
It’s straight out of science fiction. A car that drives itself. Once upon a time it was an impossible fantasy. Furthermore, autopilot has always been associated with being in the air. However, times change and technology evolves. For example, the DvD player. There was a time when it was the crown jewel of the home entertainment system. Although the VCR still ruled the at home theater experience, technology was changing things. And changing them fast.
At home delivery has many of the same attributes as the technology upgrade conundrum. It has been a work in progress. Much like driverless cars, the at home delivery is heavy on technology. From scheduling to timing, and even when dealing with payment systems, the at home delivery covers many bases. Furthermore, the delivery app is instrumental in setting up the process. It puts all the different parts of the delivery into one central hub of instruction. The dispatch screen.
The dispatch screen is where it all comes together. The order and the customer, as well as the drop-off location. And there are many other options on a dispatch screen. The ones in a crew environment are different from those of the delivery app. For one thing the crew courier’s dispatch screen is integrated into the merchants POS (point of sale) systems. Therefore the address is in the system along with any previous courier notes. This is one advantage the crew courier has over the delivery app courier. Previous driver insights.
Driverless Cars
Driverless cars are here. Once considered unlikely, and even impossible, they have definitely arrived. The technology and its implementation are still in the works. However, there are reports that it improves daily. In fact, the driverless cars technology exists on the roads already. Furthermore, it’s so effective there doesn’t need to be any additional road additions. No special lights or signs. Just that vehicle over there, cruising along without a driver. No big deal. Happens everyday.
Now for the delivery part. The car arrives on the scene. However, the scene is a huge apartment complex, with several flights of stairs to ascend. Furthermore, the building itself, is quite some distance from the parking area. Now for the real fun, there are at least two trips worth of cargo in the delivery. In other words, there’s more stuff than the courier can carry, in one trip up the steps. This would be a good time for a robot. Driverless cars are like robots, except they are limited to the road.
Not all driverless cars are limited to the road. There’s Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. And who can forget Megatron? However, that type of driverless car is probably still on the rhetorical drawing board. Today’s self-driving vehicles are impressive, but they are a long way from being able to run up several flights of steps. Similarly, Miss Jones’s idea of convenience in a delivery is not a trip down, and then back up, six flights of steps. Twice.
The Challenge of the Custom Delivery
The apartment complex steps are just one form of the delivery challenge. Or, one area where a self-driving car would not be able to help. Miss Jones wants her groceries delivered to her door. In fact, she may prefer to have them handed to her at the door. Many drop-off customers want the full service delivery. It’s about the convenience of the delivery.
There are also situations where the drop-off location is in a very rustic location. Especially when multiple buildings occupy one parcel of land. Sometimes there are special instructions that point to which house it will be once the courier arrives. That is after the courier either braves a drive up the perilous driveway, or decides to get some cardio, and walk it up the hill. Either way this scenario presents more than one problem for driverless cars.
With this in mind, there are many other examples of things that only a human courier can accomplish. Not that the concept of driverless cars and delivery can’t work. It just needs time. Or the transformer Bumblebee. But that is highly unlikely. He probably charges a lot of money since his last movie was so successful.
Driverless Cars the Drones of the Road
There are places experimenting with delivery drones. The trials are interesting. In some of the reports the technology looks promising. However, there are more than a few drawbacks. For one, the drones are loud. For another, they don’t care what they run into. They are drones. Then there are things like the weight of the cargo. Furthermore, things like accuracy and range, are still in the early stages. In other words, it’s technology that works, but the courier is in no danger of being replaced just yet.
There might be areas where a robot excels, and a human falls short. However, there are also places where humans outperform driverless cars in the same way. Of course this is in relation to the convenience of the delivery. The courier plays a large role in the convenience of the delivery. Especially in hard to find places. Or places that are hard to reach because of obstacles. For example, extreme driveways or houses located on extremely busy roads. Sometimes the most difficult delivery is not the hardest one to find.
This is also where safety comes into play. The very busy road puts the courier at risk. However, the very busy road also puts the delivery customer at risk. Especially if they have to go to the curb to grab some chow. In this case, the courier not only offers convenience, but a margin of safety as well. So far it sounds like positive news for the courier. AI isn’t coming for the courier’s job just yet. So it looks like there will still be some job security. At least for the time being. Stay safe out there.
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