I admit that I was one of those who believed, until a few months ago, that Continental was a manufacturer of automobile tires, no more, no less. I intone the mea culpa, and I bring here, before talking about driverless cars and autonomous delivery robots, the definition that the company makes of itself: Continental is a leading company in the development of pioneering technologies and services in sustainable and connected mobility . Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, smart and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. Well, the truth is that traditional automotive companies themselves no longer brand themselves as such, and all of them are now talking about the new fashionable concept, ‘mobility’.
It was only a few months ago, during CES in Las Vegas last January, when Continental presented its proposal for a driverless vehicle and robots capable of delivering packages directly to consumers, even when they cannot physically receive them. Continental Urban Mobility Experience (CUbE) is its autonomous electrical development platform, considered as a solution for “first or last section” urban mobility. This type of vehicle, also called “robotaxi” or autonomous taxi, will be used according to experts in the delivery of goods to make better use of the available transport capacity and thus reduce downtime.
Driverless vehicles will represent a very important element in the smart cities of the future. Thus, many consider them a key element of future mobility concepts with which to solve the challenges of urbanization, since a vehicle without a driver can be in use almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The most innovative urban planners see in this type of vehicle an added value to mass public transport, since they eliminate the need for a private car to reach the closest access point to other means of transport.
There will be spikes in demand for driverless vehicles throughout the day, and it is outside of those peak hours that robotic deliveries come into play. And since deliveries often take place during the day, when we are normally working, studying or doing any other activity, the hours of little use of the “robotaxi” could well be used for delivery when combined with delivery robots.
Market estimates suggest that the demand for freight transport will even exceed that for the transport of people in areas with high population density. “With the help of robotic cast, our vision for end-to-end mobility can even extend to the receiver’s door,” explains Ralph Lauxmann, Head of Systems and Technology and of the Chassis and Safety division at Continental. “The robotic cascade delivery uses a driverless vehicle to transport robots, creating an efficient transport team. In both cases they are electric and autonomous vehicles and, in principle, they can depend on the same scalable technology portfolio ”.
Parcel delivery to residential areas is a growing and dynamic market, driven by the year-over-year increase in e-commerce sales. This growth means that the cost of delivery per hour is gaining ground, positioning last-mile services and delivery as a differentiating value, since automated delivery is expected to provide a response in up to 80% of total deliveries between companies and consumers, according to various research sources.
For Continental, the automated delivery of goods as an integral part of future urban mobility complements the conventional one. Thus, the CUbE can transport one or more delivery robots and deploy them to manage the last links in the logistics chain for the delivery of goods and packages. Will we see you soon?
