Faction Technology Inc., a driverless-technology company offering solutions in micro-logistics and vehicles on demand, is bringing driverless delivery to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Faction’s first partner is Cocola Bakery, which is using Faction to deliver to its customers around the metro region. Deliveries will be made in lightweight electric vehicles based on three-wheel EV platforms from Arcimoto Inc. and from ElectraMeccanica. Since July, Faction has made regular deliveries to the bakery’s customers, and it’s now looking to add additional delivery partners in the coming months.
Equipped with Faction’s DriveLink and TeleAssist technologies, the company’s vehicle fleet combines autonomy with remote human teleoperation to carry out its deliveries. These technologies allow Faction to provide businesses like Cocola Bakery with a delivery service that seamlessly delivers goods via a driverless fleet in an affordable, safe, and predictable way.
“Cocola Bakery and our customers have been ecstatic with the services Faction has provided us so far,” says Amir Aliabadi, CEO of Cocola Bakery. “We are now able to quickly, affordably, and reliably deliver our products to customers around the Bay Area, something we couldn’t easily accomplish before due to inconsistent gig-worker services.”
Through this initial launch, Faction continues to develop the technology powering its remote and driverless delivery solutions. New customer routes are first qualified with vehicles using safety drivers, in addition to being supervised by TeleAssist operators. System performance and road data are collected during every delivery to aid Faction in consistently improving its technology and further expanding its services for Cocola Bakery and future customers.
“Our partnership with Cocola is just the beginning of what we have planned for Faction,” comments Ain McKendrick, Faction’s CEO. “We’re achieving our cost and delivery targets while securing the data necessary to bring Faction and our technology to more partners in the coming year. The next phase is to make our services available to additional commercial customers in the Bay Area – restaurant chains, hardware stores, auto parts stores and others – to maximize the use of our operating fleet while streamlining delivery in an affordable, reliable, and seamless way.”
Faction is expanding its delivery services within the San Francisco Bay Area, and is currently opening up driverless delivery for other partners starting at under $2 per mile.
