For the first time in its history, British supermarket chain Tesco home-delivered a customer’s online order using a robot
Tesco Now
The robots, with an anti-theft system incorporated, are completely independent and can ship in a five-kilometer radius of a Tesco supermarket. Customers can track their order with a special app.
The robot trial, only limited to this one time, was done for Tesco Now, the company’s one-hour online delivery service. Tesco already trialed the service in April and wants to roll it out across several locations in London.
“We are always looking at new ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers. We carried out a one-off trial as part of our Tesco Now initiative in partnership with a technology company. We learnt a great deal from this trial and we’ll be reviewing feedback before deciding our next steps”, Tesco said. The robots were developed in collaboration with Starship Technologies.
Tesco’s robot, first unveiled at the end of 2015, is an idea from Ahti Heinla and Janus Friist, two of Skype’s co-founders. The robot can drive 99 % autonomously, but a human driver can take over at the first sign of trouble.
