Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann Photograph by Fortune Magazine

Amid tittle-tattles of Postmates shopping itself to several buyers, CEO Bastian Lehmann appeared at a recent Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference  to talk about the delivery company and the gig economy on the whole. Lehmann addressed acquisition rumors with a casual statement of “..I can’t comment” although he later said the “..plan is to take it public”. Postmates confidentially filed for an IPO earlier this year but hasn’t [soon-after] followed up with an official S-1 filing as conventionally done.

Shortly after the Fortune conference, Lehmann also penned an op-ed on CNN that pushed for improvement of workforce conditions for gig economy workers and corporation with labor unions. “…Gig companies don’t have a long history of working with organized labor, but the way forward depends on us viewing unions as working partners, not sparring partners.” Lehmann wrote in his op-ed. “Our business models may be new, but labor organizers have grappled with the challenges facing independent workers like janitors and port workers for decades — so there’s a lot we can learn from them.” He said.

In the midst of all this, Lehmann also courted attention with Serve, Postmates’ delivery robot, which accompanied him on-stage at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference. Postmates first pulled the curtains on the delivery robot late last year, unveiling a cute little delivery robot complete with two eyes for some good gaze communication. Postmates built the delivery robot from the ground up and did that thanks to harvested data from millions of deliveries and research on delivery interactions.

Postmates delivery robot, Serve Photograph by Fortune Magazine

Although the plan for Serve is full autonomy, the delivery robot currently functions as a semi-autonomous vehicle, accompanied by remote operators who step in if needed. Serve navigates using several sensors including Ouster lidars. The robot also uses an Nvidia Xavier processor. Capable of carrying 50lbs worth of deliveries, Serve can go 30 miles on a single charge. The delivery robot interacts with Postmates customers using a touchscreen and cameras.

The robot features dynamic lighting in its eyes and a light ring atop to signal movement to passers-by. It presently only roams on sidewalks, making short distance deliveries. In response to a question about what Postmates does with the data its delivery robot collects, Lehmann joked that the company would stay true to Silicon Valley’s rep.

“We’ll do like everyone else and just sell to highest bidder,” he said, prompting laughter from the audience.“Given that I was born in Germany, maybe its part of my evil plan.” Lehmann also said he doesn’t expect the robot to replace any of Postmates’ 400,000 couriers, but to work together with them in the delivery process.

image: Postmates

“It will help, it will augment, it will make things possible that weren’t possible before,” he said. “They are here to help us fulfill the dream of having an infrastructure that can deliver goods locally at close to zero cost.”

The current version of the Serve is its first iteration. Later versions of the bot could feature more customer interaction, Lehmann said. The serve currently operates in the Los Angeles area, a vicinity whose on-demand delivery scene is dominated by Postmates.

• July 24th 2019 [10:38 PM] – a correction was made to indicate Postmates’ delivery robot made use of Ouster lidars, not the Velodyne lidar.

Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin

Whatsapp

Email

Print