Robots for E-mobility - Can we shape nascent government policy?

Desired outcome

E-mobility, which includes electric cars, electric scooters and bikes, and of course electric robots, creates a host of new challenges for municipalities and they are now developing policy around how these vehicles can integrate with other municipal systems. Some municipalities have expressed an interest in robots being part of the mix - with robots alleviating traffic by engaging in delivery that was previously done by a human driver. Is there a business model where we deliver robotic e-mobility services for municipalities - and if so how do we shape municipal policy Europe wide around this?

Initial Problem Description

Currently ground robots have been deployed to do delivery in municipal settings. However, cities are not adapted for robots like they are for cars, bikes and pedestrians - municipalities haven't developed policy around this and the overall complexity of the environment means that mission completion rates are lower than they need to be.
However municipalities are starting to develop policy around this - so there exists an opportunity to work with municipal and state governments to shape policy in a way that is favorable for operators of robot delivery services. However the business model to do this is unclear, the full scope of municipalities is unclear and the business approach is unclear.
This project will seek to clarify these points, and seek to develop a potential business model around urban delivery using robots. The sorts of questions that need to be answered include: Is there an opportunity to influence policy at a municipal, state or trans-national level? If so which institutions would be most interesting to target? What business models should we pursue? Can robot e-delivery attract government support like public busses do? What challenges can robot e-delivery solve for governments (e.g. road inspection)?

Context

The rise in e-commerce has led to as commensurate rise in last mile urban deliveries. Robots have been used for delivery of small packages and, in theory are a good choice for last mile delivery. Who wants a 13000kg truck delivering a 2 kg package? Its bad for the environment, clogs our roads and provides only low wage employment. Robot delivery is problematic however because cities are not adapted for robots and the environment is complex. As a result overall mission completion rates are relatively low. A number of different approaches have been tried to improve mission completion rates, including increasing the sophistication and number of sensors attached to the robot, different robot drive train designs, different software systems and partial human intervention - however despite all the excellent engineering mission completion rates remain problematic for reliable delivery. As yet - little effort seems to have been put in to minor adaptations of the city

Municipal, state and super-national governments are grappling with the challenge of e-mobility. Electric drive-trains open new possibilities beyond traditional cars and busses. In Slovenia national mandates require that cities above 100,000 inhabitants develop policy around the future of mobility and there are clear challenges around e-mobility and zero emission transport such as E-scooters and bikes. Further cities are challenged by this as they need to map and measure information about available bike routes.

It seems there is potential synergy between a company that provides robot delivery and at the same time a municipality that provides small environmental modifications that are conducive to robot operation.

Connection to cross-cutting areas

This issue has strong connection to general sustainability and circularity. Sustainability because a small 15 kg electric robot delivering a 2 kg package surely has a lower environmental impact than a 13000kg internal combustion engine truck delivering the same package. It also has impacts on circularity as lowering the cost of last mile urban logistics is a major barrier to most recycling programs. Finally there are clear digitalisation implications with this project.

Input

We are already discussing some aspects of this project with regional development agencies in Slovenia. The team would support these discussions and would seek to initiate new discussions with other government agencies.

On the technical side Ubiquity robotics already has a unique indoor outdoor navigation system that uses both GPS and a lidar based fiducial navigation system to navigate the robot in multiple different environments. We have already sold this type of system to a municipality in the US for sidewalk inspection purposes.

Expectations

The team should deliver:
- A template / proposed business model that is based on some discussions with potential stakeholders
- A strategy for rolling this business model out
- A refined offering description that may include broader stakeholder elements (for example the robot company will provide bike lane inspection services to the city, while the city will provide bike lane modifications to enable the robot).
- An initial target list of government agencies / municipalities in Europe where there may be possibilities engage.

Desired Team Profile

The team should have a robot technologist who can perform tests of what is possible and understand what is necessary from a technical point of view along side a set of business oriented participants who can help develop a business model and strategy. Potentially a participant with an interest in government policy may be helpful.

Additional Information

There are a number of companies approaching this problem from a large number of different angles. There are some small scrappy startups such as starship that are attempting to make impact here and have actually deployed a number of robots in various municipalities. There is at least one large well funded startup, Nuro that is going heavily in to the sophisticated sensor / sophisticated software direction. A number of large companies have tried last mile delivery - namely Fedex, and Amazon and have had a lot of difficulty in doing so.

It is unsurprising that none of these companies that are mostly US based has really broken through - cities need to accommodate robots just like they do bikes and cars and this hasn't been a focus up to now. Potentially in Europe, where there is a greater possibility of sponsorship by municipalities, is where we can succeed.

Related Keywords

• Traffic, mobility
• Mobility (road, aerospace, marine)
• Robotic Applications and Concepts
• Robotics
• municipal