Scout, Amazon's delivery robot, starts delivering parcels after a successful small-scale test. From Monday to Friday, the robot drives around the Irvine region in California. The reason Amazon starts in sunny California is because of the weather. It doesn't rain much and the sun shines a lot, so there's little chance that the robot will have to drive in all weathers to deliver a package. In Seattle, where the robot was tested, it was different.
Guidance by Amazon employee
At the moment another Amazon employee is taking the robot with him to ensure that transport runs smoothly and that questions from customers can be answered immediately. This gives the company the opportunity to find out how the robot delivery works in practice and to experience possible improvements.
Boring design
The inventors and designers of Scout have also looked at how the robot fits into the environment in which it drives. Partly for this reason, they wanted to keep the design 'boring'. It shouldn't stand out too much or distract road users. Amazon wants Scout to be quickly perceived as normal by local residents, which is why the robot only looks ordinary. Moreover, it has to be able to withstand a lot of stress, travel many kilometres a day and survive.