25/10/2024

There is no doubt that unmanned delivery is the future. More and more companies, including giants, are investing in the development of logistics in this area. Yandex was responsible for the first transportation of goods along the M4-Don.

What is known about the vehicle?

The truck was developed on the platform of the Chinese Shacman X6000. This is a reliable and very passable tractor. Plus, it is cheaper than similar vehicles from European manufacturers.

The designers have offered many amenities for drivers, although in unmanned conditions this is completely unnecessary.

The tests were conducted with a driver in the cabin. This was done in order to teach the AI ??to plan the vehicle's trajectory. The routes are planned to be made weekly - trucks are currently delivering goods from Moscow to Tula during the day, but will soon begin traveling back and forth at night.

About the prospects

Unmanned logistics is developing, but slowly. So far, unmanned delivery has too many difficulties: first of all, expensive equipment, the machines themselves, and difficulties in the transportation of goods.

Nobody wants to invest in something that will start to bring profit in decades, if everything goes well.

Therefore, it is too early to talk about drones being used everywhere. This will happen only when the technologies are available in all regions of the country.

If we talk about the advantages, there are many. These include lower personnel costs (drivers will not be needed), and reduced risks (AI cannot fail to work or disrupt the shipment of goods), and the cost of transportation (in the future).

But for now, these advantages do not outweigh the disadvantages: machines cannot go everywhere, there are a lot of expenses for training AI and equipment.

Conclusion

But if we do not develop this area, then logistics will remain stuck on the transport that we have now. The service will not improve, delivery times will not decrease.

And stagnation is the worst thing that can happen to the sphere. Let's hope that this doesn't happen. And in the future, driverless transport will become something as commonplace as courier delivery.