Alibaba reveals new driver-less delivery bot

Alibaba reveals new driver-less delivery bot

Unlike its car vending machine concept, Alibaba's ideas for robots have been more ordinary and mainly restricted to warehouses (the same kind that Amazon uses). But today, the Chinese eCommerce titan introduced a package-delivering 'bot that uses LiDAR to navigate around. The package locker it carries uses facial credit to make sure it's got the right receiver before bursting open its doors.

The G Plus, as it's called, is being developed with Chinese company RoboSense. The robotics group lends its LiDar technology to the robot, which uses it for the same reason as self-driving cars: To create a 3D map of its surroundings and avoid obstacles. The G Plus is basically a delivery locker on wheels, capable of carrying packages and food at a sedate (and pedestrian-friendly) pace, maxing its speed at less than ten miles per hour and reducing it to just over six if there are people or cars around.

In a press release, Alibaba and Robosense pushed the G Plus as a reduced cost option compared to cars or delivery trucks, as well as being easier to mass-produce. The company is testing the unmanned vehicle on roads around its headquarters in Hangzhou and expects to begin building them by the end of 2018.