Is this the future of last-mile transport in big cities? In Estonia,
unmanned delivery robots on the road are no longer science fiction.
Sander Agur - CEO, Clevon Our vision is an electric,
on-demand vehicle that doesn’t really produce any CO2.
In recent years, Estonia has become the place where the
rubber hits the road for autonomous driving tech.
The latest unmanned innovation isn’t confined to sidewalks or pre-programmed routes:
The domain of the Clevon 1 delivery vehicle is the road.
Estonian startup Comodule was one of the world’s first business customers
to receive a parcel from an unmanned teleoperated delivery robot last year.
Tarmo Sepp - Comodule employee
Until now, we have received our parcels the most traditional ways using couriers
who bring them up by vans, or big trucks. This is the first time we’ve used the robot.
Comodule, a mobility company, currently receives up to 10 parcels
this way per week, in two to three deliveries. They say
reducing emissions is the prime benefit of unmanned, electric parcel delivery.
Tarmo Sepp - Comodule employee Receiving a parcel with Clevon
was extremely satisfying because the pollution rate is really low when we
use robots and electric vehicles. As we receive mainly small parcels at Comodule,
in the future, this is something we’d definitely be using only.
Clevon says its autonomous vehicles could
reduce last-mile labor costs by 80-90% -- all emission-free.
A Clevon 1 is about half the size of a typical delivery van.
It only weighs 320 kilograms when empty.
In 2020, Clevon became the first company in Europe with a permit
to operate unmanned vehicles on public roads.
According to Clevon, the vehicles have since clocked over 40,000 kilometers.
Buyers get to customize the colors of their vehicles.
Sander Agur - CEO, Clevon
So, Estonia has been the testbed, where we have managed to show the world that unmanned
vehicles are a safe delivery and transportation method. We’d like to make last-mile delivery
more efficient by providing the precise tools required for inner-city rapid last-mile delivery.
The explosion of e-commerce is a major reason why
urban last-mile delivery traffic has grown significantly in recent years.
By 2030, 36 percent more delivery vehicles will roam inner city streets globally. Yet last-mile
delivery is considered one of the least efficient and most polluting processes in a supply chain.
Congestion and air pollution caused by last-mile transportation are especially
bad in densely populated urban areas. More than 300 cities in Europe now have
low-emission zones where fossil-fuelled vehicles are banned or restricted.
Unlike their human counterparts, robo couriers might one day
operate non-stop - thanks to wireless charging during loading or unloading.
And how does self-driving technology work? First, the operational area is
mapped with teleoperated vehicles, producing a high-precision semantic map. In autonomous mode,
the vehicle then uses the map to find the most optimal route.
Cameras provide a 360° view, and the front radar and neural networks detect
and predict the movement of surrounding objects, on the basis of which the vehicle
can prevent possible accidents. Thanks to 4G, latency is not an issue, Clevon says.
Making self-driving mode safe is not the only challenge pioneering unmanned parcel
delivery brings about. For one, what happens when recipients don’t collect their parcels?
Remo Kirss - CEO, DPD Estonia “We need to understand the possibilities and how
consumers accept these deliveries. It's a slightly different approach, they need to come down from
their apartment buildings to get the parcel, so consumers also need to adapt a little bit, too.
There should be one small urban depot within city area, and from there several vehicles
are heading out, delivering in city area. Then, we already see very good efficiency increase.”
Another innovation both DPD and DHL Estonia are currently testing is separating the cargo space,
so parcels can be delivered to up to six individual consumers per delivery round,
thus increasing efficiency.
Sander Agur - CEO, Clevon “We are selling each unit together with the
top application, which we manufacture in-house as well. That top application is actually customized
to each customer’s individual requirements because the vehicles have different purposes.”
Some Clevon 1s deliver packages, which means they need a parcel locker on wheels;
others deliver food items, which require a grocery-specific refrigerator.
Clevon vehicles are limited to 25 km/h for now. They are
still controlled by humans in the background.
Each of these so-called teleoperators, who need a category B driver’s license and must first
complete a 2-week course, will one day be able to monitor up to ten vehicles simultaneously.
Unlike other autonomous vehicle makers,
Clevon is building autonomous driving systems on the basis of teleoperation.
Sander Agur - CEO, Clevon “We are saying that 96%
autonomy is enough to make a significant mark, cost reduction and efficiency increase in the
last-mile delivery space. 96% means we still use some level of teleoperation and human
touch to allow the fleet of vehicles to be operated on the public roads.”
Autonomous vehicles still need to clear major regulatory hurdles on the road to
replacing traditional delivery vans. So far,
only France and Germany have authorized some level of autonomous driving.
An EU-wide regulation could speed things up, but currently,
it’s just a legal framework for the approval of automated and fully driverless vehicles.
Aside from DPD and DHL Express Estonia,
the hardware and software company has one customer each in Lithuania, Belgium and the US.
Clevon says more than 50 other companies are waiting to test the unmanned robo couriers.
The manufacturer aims to have a fleet of 100
vehicles doing deliveries in 2024, and 1,000 in 2025.
Clevon also plans to build a larger version of its unmanned delivery robot.
And it envisages a driverless vehicle that can one-day transport people.
Can unmanned, electric vehicles fix the massive problems plaguing last-mile urban delivery?
Sander Agur - CEO, Clevon “Fewer and fewer vehicles driving on
petrol will be allowed in the city centers. So we see that having an electric, small, and efficient
vehicle to replace gas-guzzling trucks is where the world is going. Our technology can
be deployed globally. We’re actually providing a tool to gradually increase the level of electric,
efficient trucks on the roads. It’s a continuous process over many, many years.”
In the meantime, Clevon is striving to make semi-autonomous transportation
part and parcel of a sustainable future, one delivery at a time.