Nuro: the next big thing in transport?

Now there’s an alternative to those bakkies, vans and trucks when it comes to last-mile transport. It is called Nuro, and it could just be the next big thing in grocery transport.

Dinky-toy sized transporter

Actually, it’s a bit of a misnomer to call the Nuro a big thing. It is anything but. Some 20% smaller in width than average passenger cars, this autonomous and fully electric delivery vehicle is a fraction of the size of many other means of transport.

The Nuro is the third vehicle developed by an American robotics company based in Mountain View, California of the same name. Nuro – founded in June 2016 by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson (who previously worked at Google, allegedly on the company’s self-driving car project, Waymo) – previously launched the R1 and R2 self-driving delivery vehicles.

Improving safety is key

According to Ferguson, who is now the company’s president, the Nuro does more than just deliver goods; it also elevates levels of safety. “When we founded Nuro, we set out to build a new class of vehicle, designed purely for transporting things instead of people. A self-driving vehicle, but not just a driver-less vehicle — a passenger-less vehicle. A zero-occupant vehicle.

“We were convinced that such a class of vehicle had the potential to be safer than passenger vehicles: more nimble, narrower, and better able to prioritize the well-being of other road users. And by building such a vehicle we could also lower vehicle cost, improve the customer experience, and accelerate autonomous technology deployment by solving problems jointly through both hardware and software development,” he maintains.

And, by all accounts, the Nuro is indeed super safe. It has cameras and sensors that can see – and thus avoid – both small children and pets. In addition to being able to sense everything from the difference between a bundle of leaves and a pet to how many pedestrians are standing at a crosswalk in dense fog, the Nuro also has the ability to clean its own sensors. This self-cleaning function is important to maintain operations and retain sensitivity throughout the day.

Pedestrian airbag upfront

The Nuro is approximately 20% smaller in width than average passenger cars. That significantly smaller footprint gives cyclists and pedestrians more room to manoeuvre alongside the bot. Furthermore, it is equipped with an external pedestrian airbag across the front of the bot, which reduces the force of impact and number of injuries in the event of a collision.

Furthermore, the company maintains that “the safest vehicle is a vehicle that lets you stay home while your goods come to you”. “Our bots are more nimble, narrower, and better able to prioritize the well-being of other road users,” it stresses.

But how safe is a driverless vehicle? Surely it can never be as safe as a delivery vehicle with a capable driver behind the wheel? The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has conducted research into this very topic and it concluded that zero-occupant vehicle design can reduce the risk of death in a crash by nearly 60%.

Easy to use

So, how does a consumer use a Nuro? The first step is finding what the company terms “a partner”. Current partners in the United States include 7-Eleven, FedEx, Domino’s and Walmart. The consumer places an order with one of the partners and selects “autonomous vehicle” when he or she checks out. Once a Nuro vehicle picks up the order and is on the way, the consumer receives a link via text to track its progress. An access code is provided in order for the consumer to retrieve the delivery from the Nuro.

The Nuro can transport around 24 bags of groceries – weighing a total of about 227kg. There are modular inserts that fit inside the Nuro’s compartments that allow for heating and cooling, with a range of temperatures from -5 to +46 degrees Celsius. Practically, this means that cold drinks stay cold while pizza stays warm. The Nuro can do 72km/h, meaning consumers don’t have to wait too long for their orders.

Secure and great for the environment too

What happens if a Nuro is hacked? The company says it has engineered “defensive and detection mechanisms into the system for early warning about potential attacks and ensure the safety margin is maintained in every conceivable scenario”. “Early detection throughout our system is continuously evaluated by an internal offensive security test and evaluation team that conducts penetration testing emulating highly funded and exceptionally skilled attacks,” it says.

We cannot comment on that; cyberattacks are, after all, so common today. But we certainly can comment on the Nuro’s environmental benefits: the vehicles are battery-electric and therefore emission-free (assuming that the electricity is coming from a green source).