E-commerce behemoth Amazon.com has stopped work on its “Scout” parcel delivery robots.
“During our limited field test for Scout, we worked to create a unique delivery experience, but learned through feedback that there were aspects of the program that weren’t meeting customers’ needs,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “As a result, we are ending our field tests and reorienting the program. We are working with employees during this transition, matching them to open roles that best fit their experience and skills.”
Amazon launched Scout in 2019 without explaining why the devices are necessary other than its desire to offer “more sustainability and convenience to customer deliveries.”
Scout was described as “the size of a small cooler” and capable of moving at “walking pace”. At the time, Amazon also emphasised that “the devices can safely and efficiently navigate around pets, pedestrians and anything else in their path.”
Amazon’s note said exactly what went wrong with the bots, but The Register notes that home delivery at walking pace is a niche already filled by the postal service, and that the USA is hardly short of logistics outfits willing to move parcels in larger and faster vehicles.
The decision to bin Scout stands in marked contrast to Amazon’s Chinese analogue Alibaba, which in June 2022 pointed out that its own fleet of 500 delivery-bots had made ten million deliveries.
But those numbers don’t represent a “Wow, China is overtaking the rest of the technology world” moment because Alibaba’s bots rolled around University campuses, environments rather easier to navigate and more tightly packed with drop-off destinations than the Seattle suburbs where Amazon tested Scout.
Alibaba’s bots are also larger than Scout, so can carry more packages.
The Chinese company’s interest in bots is fuelled by an ageing workforce that makes delivery drivers hard to recruit and retain, plus a desire to improve delivery productivity.
Amazon appears never to have articulated an economic rationale for exploring Scout’s potential. ®
