- General
- November 10, 2020
- 4 minutes read
Walmart Teams Up With GM Cruise
Photo credit: Walmart Mega retailer Walmart has teamed up with self-driving company GM Cruise to pilot a driverless pickup…
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| Photo credit: Walmart |
Mega retailer Walmart has teamed up with self-driving company GM Cruise to pilot a driverless pickup and delivery service in the state of Arizona. The pilot will begin early next year and will see customers become able to place orders from local Walmart outlets and have items delivered to them in one of Cruise’s all-electric self-driving cars.
Walmart’s partnership with GM Cruise falls under the retailer’s goal to experiment with new technologies as well as reach zero emissions across its operations by 2040. The pilot is part of Walmart’s Express Delivery program which is available across 2,800 Walmart outlets in the US.
This isn’t the first time Walmart is piloting driverless deliveries with a partner as the retailer teamed up with automaker Ford and another self-driving company, Gatik, to do the same thing in recent years. Walmart has increasingly sought to adopt new technologies including autonomous vehicle and drone deliveries, although the company doesn’t yet have a scaled-up program in those two areas.
On the other hand, Walmart isn’t GM Cruise’s first retail partner, as the self-driving company has previously partnered with on-demand delivery company DoorDash for autonomous deliveries.
Amid a pandemic that has increasingly boosted the need for contactless delivery services, retailers have rushed to pilot innovative delivery methods using driverless vehicles and drones. Recently, a self-driving company that works primarily with retailers in the space named Nuro raised $500 million in funding to further its work.
