Ford teaming up with Walmart and Postmates on robot deliveries

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Self-driving vehicles delivering groceries in Miami

Ford is joining forces with Walmart and Postmates to create a grocery delivery service using self-driving vehicles in Miami, the companies announced Wednesday.

Ford has been using Miami as a test bed for its self-driving vehicles since earlier this year. And more recently, the auto giant joined with Postmates to see how people ordering takeout food would interact with an autonomous delivery van.

Now Ford is moving to the next stage: grocery delivery. The company says it will experiment with different vehicle types, as well as modifications to those vehicles needed to keep perishable food items fresh. It will also experiment with a variety of scenarios, such as multiple deliveries on one trip and the user experience of retrieving delivery items from a fully driverless vehicle.

Continue reading… “Ford teaming up with Walmart and Postmates on robot deliveries”

The first self-driving Ford could be a delivery van and rolling hive for flying drones

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Ford’s new “Autolivery” van concept has a terrible name, but is actually based on interesting core ideas. The van is yet another result of Ford’s fruitful “last mile mobility” internal employee challenge, and this one pairs an electric self-driving van with autonomous drones that nest within to help transport packages that last few feet to a customer’s door.

Continue reading… “The first self-driving Ford could be a delivery van and rolling hive for flying drones”

Electric vehicle sales could be up 25% by 2020: Ford COO Mark Fields

2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid

At this year’s Detroit North American International Auto Show Auto Blog Green had the opportunity to interview Ford’s newly-promoted chief operating officer Mark Fields. He will most likely be the most likely successor to CEO Alan Mulally.

Continue reading… “Electric vehicle sales could be up 25% by 2020: Ford COO Mark Fields”

Will Electric Cars Be The Next Red/Blue Divide?

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Focus-ing on a new perspective.

Ford–which is about to release an all-electric version of the Focus–just put out the above map of the United States with the cities it feels are best suited to electric car ownership. And with a few exceptions, it looks like the flyover states aren’t making preparations for the messianic arrival of the electric car. What do you want to bet that in the next presidential election, we’ll add “electric-car” to the litany of liberal-associative words like arugula, lattes, and sushi.

Continue reading… “Will Electric Cars Be The Next Red/Blue Divide?”

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