Amazon's autonomous delivery robots are headed to a sunnier locale.
After first letting them loose near its hometown of Seattle in January, Amazon is now bringing its electric-powered Scout devices to Southern California, the company announced Tuesday. There, Amazon will initially deploy a "small number" of Scouts to make deliveries Monday through Friday during daylight hours.
"Customers in the Irvine area will order just as they normally would and their Amazon packages will be delivered either by one of our trusted carrier partners or by Amazon Scout," VP Sean Scott wrote in a blog post. "The devices will autonomously follow their delivery route, and initially be accompanied by an Amazon Scout Ambassador."
Back in the Pacific Northwest, Amazon has already deployed six Scout devices in Snohomish County, Wash. There, the six-wheeled, cooler-sized robots, which Amazon says have been designed "from the ground-up with safety and convenience in mind," have already encountered plenty of obstacles and challenges. They've had to navigate around "trashcans, skateboards, lawn chairs, the occasional snow blower," and deal with lots of rain plus "the biggest snowstorm the area's seen in the last decade." Southern California's mild weather should make things a bit easier.
Based on Amazon's latest blog post, it seems residents of Snohomish County don't mind sharing the sidewalks with Scout.
"One of our favorite parts of this journey so far has been witnessing how excited customers are when they see the delivery device for the first time and how they've welcomed Scout into their neighborhood," Scott wrote. "In the span of a week, our Ambassadors witnessed a child ask her dad for a Scout for Christmas, and another customer ask if he could hitch his two dachshunds to Scout and use it as a dog walker."
Meanwhile, Amazon isn't the only company testing delivery robots. Grocery chain Kroger, logistics company Postmates, and others have also been testing out similar concepts, not always successfully.