Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Self driving cars will fit in well with Amazon's quest for last-mile delivery.

Take a look at how long it takes to deliver a package today. The driver drives up, parks. Gets out, goes to the back and finds your package. Grabs it, walks over to your door, drops it off (and takes a pic), then walks back, closes the door, straps on the seat belt, looks up directions to the next stop, and then drives off.

With an automated truck, you wouldn't have a driver; you'd just have a delivery person. While the truck is driving, the delivery person (DP) would grab the next package. As soon as the truck stops, s/he hops out with the package and drops it off. Then, the moment s/he climbs back on and and sits down, the truck is off to the next stop.

By my estimate, it would cut down the delivery time to half of what it is currently. IOW, a DP + truck could deliver 2x as many packages. You can expect the tech to pay for itself in just a few years.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: