Perhaps you saw these little cars circulating in Antigone? The metropolis of Montpellier (Hérault) has launched in this district the experimentation of vehicles, responsible for making deliveries. The project is one of the 16 tests selected by the State in France to define the contours of the autonomous vehicle industry. It is, however, the only one aimed at testing its application on urban logistics.
These droids, electric and silent, are clad with sensors, which allow them “to perceive their environment, to locate, but also to detect any obstacles in their path, and to assess the risks”, explains Vincent Talon, the co-founder of the start-up TwinswHeel, which created them. However, they are not let loose in the urban jungle without precaution: the robots circulate on “virtual roads”, mapped in advance in an ultra-precise manner.
Accompanied by a pilot
“And if we give him a new mission, for example that of going to pick up a package, in a warehouse, to go deliver it to a merchant, he will alone determine, among all these routes, which one is the best,” continues the engineer. By avoiding risk areas. We are not going, for example, to make the robot roll in front of a school at 8 am, or cross the market place on Wednesdays. And if it detects an obstacle, it stops short, and does not resume its journey until all risk is removed.
These machines, capable of carrying heavy loads, do not actually need anyone to move around. But full autonomy is not yet for tomorrow: as part of this test phase, they will be accompanied by a pilot, who will be held less than ten meters away. “If it detects that there is a potential risk of an incident, it takes control of the robot,” explains Vincent Talon.
Help postmen
Two models are being tested in Montpellier: a white robot, tested by the Stef company, intended to transport fresh products from the warehouse to the greengrocer, to the restaurant or to the butcher, and a yellow robot, adopted by the Post Office, to mail and parcels. And there is no question, assures Philippe Dorge, general manager of the group, that these droids take the work of the factors. “This should not be seen as an attack on employment,” he says. These innovations are at the service of our factors, they provide them with additional assistance and efficiency. »And they make it possible to erase, a little, the arduousness of their work. “I am thinking in particular of large parcels,” resumes Philippe Dorge.
These droids, the launch of which, in a real situation, in the Escutcheon, is only expected in two years, is timely for the development of the ZFE, the Low Emission Zone. They will allow, hopes the metropolis, to leave the polluting vans outside the city, and to ensure deliveries on “the last mile” without any CO2 emissions. “Until when am I going to jump, at 11 o’clock in the morning, on the Comedy, when I go to see trucks!” », Scolds Michaël Delafosse (PS), the president of the metropolis. “That’s the issue: do we want big delivery trucks on the last mile, or small vehicles like these? “