Tuesday, January 30, 2018

And Who Will Carry It To The Door?

I'm not saying such a thing would have no useful applications, but like Segways, I think the usefulness of all of these self-driving ideas (even if they work!) is much more limited than people think.

It seems super boxy, fully-autonomous concepts are all the rage these days. And now there’s a new startup looking to join the fray. Nuro.ai, started by two former Google engineers, revealed a driverless prototype that’s designed to handle low-speed, last-mile deliveries. Think dry cleaning or food.

Self-driving vehicles have a "last 200 feet" problem, and delivery vehicles have a "last 20 feet" problem. Whether pizzas or groceries, if it doesn't come right to my door it's a lot less appealing.