Magna has developed and is piloting a novel last-mile delivery solution for urban environments. The solution integrates a purpose-built, on-road, lightweight, electric robot; Magna-developed low-speed autonomous driving system; and delivery software.
With the goal of significantly reducing last-mile delivery costs and carbon emissions in cities, the Magna new mobility team built a “full-stack” solution from the ground up, leveraging hardware and software from its automotive products. Magna’s solution enables retailers and other stakeholders to offer end-to-end last mile delivery across a range of potential business models.
The Magna-developed robot was launched on a pilot basis with a pizza restaurant in the Detroit area in March 2022. Since then, it has delivered hundreds of pizzas to residential and commercial locations near the restaurant. Magna is using data and consumer feedback to refine the service.
Magna’s robot can travel at speeds of up to 20 mph on public streets and the Magna-developed low-speed autonomous driving system uses cameras, radar, LIDAR and other hardware.
“Expanding into the growing world of new mobility is a key part of our ‘Go Forward’ strategy that takes Magna beyond its existing technical strength in automotive and vehicle systems, and into entirely new markets and business models,” says Matteo Del Sorbo, executive vice president of Magna International and global lead for Magna New Mobility. “The next phase in this pilot program is to apply our learnings to further refine the solution for a broader range of applications and use cases, scale, and unlocking innovative new business models.”
“Our expertise lies in the ability to design, engineer and scale at higher volumes. Additionally, we want to explore opportunities to generate additional revenue streams,” Del Sorbo adds. “These moves allow us to enter a space where we could offer mobility as a service, not just a point-of-sale product.”