Delivery

Drones, driverless trucks and zippy little cargo pods could all feature as part of Walmart's future delivery services, and a new agreement with EV outfit Canoo brings another next-gen vehicle into the mix – the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV).

Amazon is looking to reduce its carbon footprint in central London with the launch of a micromobility hub for e-cargo bikes and walking couriers, which will replace thousands of traditional van trips each year.

Many of us will be familiar with package deliveries by truck, some may get their hot meals delivered by cargo bike and a few might even have had meds arrive by drone. Now Renault has combined all three for the E-Tech Master OptiModale concept.

Back in January, Elroy Air showed off a pre-production version of an autonomous cargo drone capable of carrying 500-lb loads over 300 miles, and we've now learned FedEx plans to soon put these capabilities to the test.

Eugene-based electric mobility company Arcimoto has teamed up with Silicon Valley autonomous driving startup Faction Technology to transform its three-wheeled electric Fun Utility Vehicle into a "driverless" pod for last-mile deliveries.

Nuro has revealed the design for its 3rd-gen autonomous delivery pod, which can carry more groceries per trip, and comes with an external pedestrian airbag to the front that's "optimized to reduce the force of impact" in the event of collision.

General Motors new spin-off BrightDrop has completed its first delivery less than twelve months after it was launched. The company's EV600s have been handed off to FedEx, who will put them to work along its growing charging network in California.

Sydney-based ebike maker Zoomo has announced the US launch of the Zoomo One utility ebike, which has been designed to encourage last-mile delivery operations to make the switch from gas-powered mopeds to cleaner package hauling.

Around this time last year, robotics startup Nuro was granted a deployment permit in California for its autonomous delivery vehicle. Now the company has partnered with convenience store chain 7-Eleven for the first commercial delivery service.

Volta Trucks has reached another milestone in its plans to get purpose-built 16-tonne electric haulers onto city streets. Production of the first road-going Volta Zero prototypes has begun at a bespoke facility in Coventry, UK.

Although we hear a lot about the development of urban aerial delivery drones, it's quite likely that autonomous ground-based delivery vehicles will be in wide use first. REE Automotive's Leopard EV is one example, and it's just been unveiled as a physical concept vehicle.

Riding on the back of a US$400 million investment from Luxembourg's GEM Global Yield, startup Biliti Electric is looking to bring the GMW Taskman three-wheeled electric delivery vehicle to the US, debuting at AutoMobility LA on November 17.