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3. JD.com (China) and Kiwi Campus (US) are Leading Players in the Autonomous Last Mile Delivery Market

Autonomous last mile delivery comprises autonomous vehicles both ground and aerial (example drones) to deliver the product or service to the customers doorstep devoid of any human intervention in the complete process. On-demand delivery services are expected to witness a major change due to the commercialization of autonomous aerial delivery drones and ground delivery robots used to deliver packages. These delivery drones and robots are used in the retail, food & beverages, logistics, and healthcare industries, among others to deliver parcels. Ground delivery robots are being designed in such a way that they not only pick up subtle cues provided by pedestrians or other structures present on and along roads but also follow street signals while navigating.

Based on platform, the autonomous last mile delivery market in the aerial segment is divided into Cargo Drone and Delivery Drone and for ground segment the market is divided into Delivery Bots and Self Driving Trucks and Vans. Based on range, the autonomous last mile delivery market in the aerial and ground segments comprise of Short Range (< Kilometers) and long range segment (>20 Kilometers). By Payload Weight, Aerial and Ground segments are divided into <5 kilograms, 5–10 kilograms, and >10 kilograms. Based on application, the aerial delivery drone market has been segmented into logistics & transportation, healthcare & pharmacy, and retail & food. Based on application, the ground delivery vehicles market has been segmented into logistics & transportation and retail & food. Based on solution, the aerial delivery drone/ground delivery vehicle market is classified into hardware, software, and infrastructure.

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The autonomous last mile delivery market is segmented according to five key regions in this report, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin America and Africa along with their key countries.

The autonomous last mile delivery market is valued at USD 860 million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 4,964 million by 2030, at a CAGR of 21.5%. The Incorporation of advanced sense and avoid systems in aerial delivery drones, expansion of e-commerce, and increased use of low-cost and light payload drones by startups for product delivery have led to the growth of autonomous last mile aerial deliveries worldwide.

Also, growing usage of autonomous ground delivery vehicle is witnessed in food and retail sector. It is mainly due to congestion in urban areas. Due to congestion, product delivery to far-flung and remote locations, invalid or incorrect address details, hard to locate destinations, clubbed with the issue of severe labor shortage often result in increased product delivery costs. Automatic delivery could be transformational for the retail industry, decreasing delivery costs by 80% to 90% compared to a human being doing it. Furthermore, advancement in technology for autonomous ground delivery vehicles and increase in venture funding for the development of next-level ground delivery vehicles has enhanced the market growth.

Agreements, collaborations, new product developments, contracts, expansion, acquisitions, and partnerships are among some of the key strategies adopted by the leading market players to strengthen and sustain their position in the autonomous last mile delivery market. For example Kiwi Campus (US) unveiled next-generation robot Kiwibot 4.0 in partnership with Knight Foundation, Chick-Fil-A, and revealed manufacturing cooperation with Segway. Winners of autonomous last mile delivery market are Starship Technologies (US), JD.com (China), Nuro (US), Amazon (US), Kiwi Campus (US), Zipline (US), United Parcel Service (US), Wing (US), Flirtey (SkyDrop) and Aerodyne Group (Malaysia).

JD.COM

JD.com, Inc. was founded in 1998, and is headquartered in Beijing, China. The company is publicly listed and registered on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol, JD. JD.com operates in 2 business segments, namely, JD Retail and New Businesses. The JD Retail segment represents its e-commerce business, and the New Businesses segment includes technology and logistics services provided to third parties, overseas businesses, insurance, and online businesses to offline businesses. The company focuses on the development and maintenance of the technology platform of data science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality, automation, robotics, and autonomous vehicle systems. In June 2018, JD.com introduced robotic deliveries in Beijing, with the largest vehicle able to carry 30 parcels at once. The company has a wide distribution channel in the Asia Pacific and the US and operates 100 drones and 50 driverless ground vehicles in China. JD’s autonomous delivery robot effectively made its first delivery in Wuhan in February 2020. The robot left from JD’s Renhe delivery station and delivered products to Wuhan Ninth Hospital, which is the assigned hospital for the treatment of the novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China.

KIWI CAMPUS

Kiwi Campus is a Colombian-owned startup firm offering autonomous food deliveries in California, United States, especially serving students at university campuses. A customer can order from the company’s allied restaurant menu available on the mobile app. The company is building an autonomous delivery infrastructure to deliver food from restaurants to consumers. It has designed and developed 4 robots, namely, Restaurant Bot, Kiwi Triike, and Kiwi Bot 3.3 and new in market Kiwibot 4.0. With the introduction of ground delivery robots into the service, the company aims to attain faster delivery time, and at the same time, reduce the cost of delivery. The company’s product features autonomous obstacle avoidance and is coupled with artificial intelligence. It has introduced 40 ground delivery robots in 12 different university campuses in the US. As of July 2020, the company began service in San Jose, US.

STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES

Starship Technologies was founded in July 2014, and is headquartered in California, US. The company develops self-driving robotic vehicles to deliver local parcels or groceries directly from stores or hubs to customers. The company opened its first office in Tallinn, Estonia, in December 2014. Other than Estonia, the company has a presence in the UK, US, Germany, and Switzerland. The products offered by the company have traveled 100,000 km in more than 100 cities across the world, encountering 12 million people, and making 30,000 deliveries. The company received seed funding of USD 25 million from Matrix Partners, US and Morpheus Ventures, US in June 2018 and USD 17.2 million from Daimler AG, Germany in January 2017. In early 2019, Starship associated with Sodexo to launch robot food delivery services at George Mason University, US. In January 2021, Starship with a fleet of 25-30 robots, revealed that it has completed 1 million deliveries and raised another USD 17 Million further expansion its delivery services. 

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE

United Parcel Service (UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions, including the transportation of packages and freight, the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to manage the world of business more efficiently. UPS partnered with Matternet for aerial drone delivery and uses the Matternet’s M2 quadcopter, which can carry 5 pounds of weight and has a range of 12.5 miles on a single charge. The company is running a pilot project for the delivery of medical supplies in North Carolina, US through aerial delivery drones.

WING

Wing, a privately held company, was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in California, US. The company was originally a part of X, the Moonshot Factory, and now Wing is an Alphabet company. It offers products which provide on-demand delivery of food, medicines, and other items within minutes. The company has also developed an unmanned traffic management system which can guide its drones safely through the sky. It offers faster and safer services, producing a lower environmental impact than traditional deliveries. The company is providing its services in the US, Australia, and Finland. Very soon, Wing, is about to surpass 100,000 deliveries.

ZIPLINE

Zipline is a US-based logistics company engaged in the design, manufacture, and operation of aerial drones for delivery applications. The company uses drones to deliver essential medical products, such as blood and animal vaccines, in hard-to-reach communities. It has a flight-testing center in Davis, California, whereas its delivery drones are assembled in the company’s facility in South San Francisco, California. Zipline completed 22,485 deliveries until October 2019. The company is supported by leading investors such as Sequoia Capital (US), A16Z, GV (US), Temasek (Singapore), TPG (US), Baillie Gifford (UK), and Katalyst Ventures (US). As of February 2021, Zipline had made 111,779 commercial deliveries.

Related Reports:

Autonomous Last Mile Delivery Market by Platform (Aerial Delivery Drones, Ground Delivery Vehicles (Delivery Bots, Self-Driving Vans & Trucks)), Solution, Application, Type, Payload Weight, Range, Duration and Region - Global Forecast to 2030