Apr 23, 2020 11:05:00

'R2', an automated driving car that carries medicines in 'contactless delivery', will be put into actual battle, aiming to establish delivery that does not contact people

Nuro , a startup related to self-driving cars that has attracted the most attention in the United States, will deliver an unmanned delivery vehicle `` R2 '' that performs `` contactless delivery '' to medical facilities that fight new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) within a few weeks Announced that it will be put into actual battle.

Helping the Heroes during COVID-19-Nuro-Medium
https://medium.com/nuro/helping-the-heroes-during-covid-19-49c189f216a2

Delivery robots move medical supplies to help with COVID-19 response | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/04/delivery-robots-move-medical-supplies-to-help-with-covid-19-response/

Treatment of COVID-19 requires a large number of medicines, medical devices and food. However, it has been pointed out that the infection spreads even when such materials are delivered.

Nuro's newly announced automatic driving car 'R2' will provide contactless delivery without human contact. The R2 is an aircraft originally developed for use in unmanned delivery by major supermarkets.

Announced that a major American supermarket will introduce `` unmanned delivery by automatic driving car ''-GIGAZINE

The actual appearance of R2 is as follows. It's much smaller than a typical passenger car.

Nuro has also released a movie explaining how R2 is operated.

How Nuro Is Helping The Heroes During COVID-19-YouTube


On hard, smooth surfaces such as aluminum and glass, viruses can live for up to 72 hours . Therefore, the virus on the car body may survive for several days, but R2 has a function to recognize the 'hand signal' and open and close the door, so it is not necessary to touch the vehicle . Thumbs up next to the car body ...

With this feeling, the side door will open automatically.

The R2 will be operated at the basketball stadium Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California and an event center in San Mateo County, which is temporarily used to house COVID-19 patients. The R2 is capable of traveling at a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour (approximately 40 km / h), but indoors at a speed of 5 miles (approximately 8 km / h) to pay close attention. The following is how it is actually operated in the facility.

A camera is attached to the side of the vehicle.

It should be noted that even after the R2 is actually operated, the car on which a person rides will follow behind for a while for support.

Nuro CEO Dave Ferguson said at the time of the announcement, 'The doctors and nurses fighting COVID-19, grocery store employees, and paramedics are the heroes.' 'I volunteered to help them.' comment. 'R2 not only saves time, but also helps the safety and health of both patients and healthcare professionals,' he said, 'contactless delivery services like R2 break the COVID-19 problem. It doesn't give us all. It is important that we all work together in their respective roles. '

IT news site Ars Technica pointed out that although there is great demand for delivering groceries and other daily necessities, there is currently no technology to meet that demand. I argue that R2 may solve this problem.

Note that Nuro is not the only company trying to contribute to the COVID-19 problem with self-driving cars.

Kiwibot, a startup related to self-driving cars, has also started a project to deliver medicines, masks, etc. with the 'Delivery Doctor', a self-driving car of a radio controlled size.