Asda is trialling self-driving cars for grocery delivery.
The British supermarket chain has teamed up with AI company Wayve to experiment sending groceries to shoppers from their Park Royal superstore in West London using self-driving vehicles.
Alex Kendall, co-founder, and CEO of Wayve, told UKTN: "The trial is a demonstration of how autonomy can meet fleet owner needs. We started developing our AV technology over five years ago: it’s incredible to see it delivering real value today as part of Asda’s daily operations. Trials like this one accelerate our road to deployment. They provide the learnings required to bring the benefits of AV technology to customers sooner while ensuring that businesses, like Asda, are prepared to deploy AVs at scale."
The AI company is headquartered in London and has so far raised more than $258m in funding, with backing from the likes of multi-billionaire Microsoft founder Sir Richard Branson and the Ocado Group.
According to Wayve, the supermarket will serve 72,000 households over the course of the next year and all deliveries will be monitored by delivery drivers in the interests of safety, in what has been described as the "largest" trial of its kind in the UK.
