Ford has been using Miami as a testing ground for its autonomous cars for the past few months. Driven by its determination to deliver fully-autonomous vehicles by 2021, Ford is currently working really smart to make sure its plans will be carried out. Ford has been working on delivering fully-autonomous vehicles by 2021 for a long time.
Ford announced that it would launch a service to test self-driving food delivery in Miami. Earlier this year, Ford Motor signed up a partnership with a delivery startup Postmates, based in San Francisco to test the capacity of their self-driving vans. Another agreement includes a two-month pilot period with Domino’s Pizza.
One of the long-term objectives is to find a new way to reduce the maddening traffic problems in the area. Through the tests, the company aims to evaluate the reactions of customers when a self-driving vehicle delivers their order. Moreover, Ford will continue to test actual autonomous vehicles at the same time as it keeps on pursuing commercially viable technology.
Vehicles will be outfitted to look like there is no driver, but there will actually be one. That will allow the companies to study human interaction with a seemingly driverless car delivering food.
The process begins after you order a meal via an application. Once the food is prepared, a restaurant worker taps a numerical code into a keypad on the outside of the vehicle and a locker opens. The food is placed inside. The customer receives a text message when the order arrives and uses the code to access their order.
In the videos released by the company, they claim that driverless cars mean tip-less deliveries and encourage the citizens to “jump at the chance to contribute to the future of delivery.”
However, there are concerns for loss of work for already underpaid delivery drivers when the vehicles go truly driverless.