Developing an autonomous delivery vehicle for use in on-demand food delivery

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Snabb Delivery, a London, ON based on-demand food delivery service, looks to develop an autonomous vehicle in collaboration with Fanshawe College's School of Applied Science and Technology (AST) to be used in food deliveries in the London downtown core. Building from a concurrent Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) II project to develop a remote-operated delivery vehicle, the project team will use an integrated approach of fuzzy logic and machine learning to develop the navigation system required for fully autonomous operation of this vehicle. Given the rising cost of labour and the relatively small pool of available drivers, the creation of this fully autonomous delivery vehicle is essential to finding a cost-effective way to continue to expand delivery operations in urban areas. As such, this vehicle offers the potential for significant labour savings for Snabb, particularly if the technology can be scaled to offer the possibility of multiple autonomous vehicles supervised by a single human operator. For the faculty and students involved in the project, this represents the chance to gain firsthand experience working in the development of an autonomous vehicle, with the potential for crossover skills that could be applied to the development of commercial autonomous vehicles. For the faculty, this experience can be brought back into the curriculum and incorporated into classes to provide learning opportunities for more students, developing a future workforce with knowledge of autonomous vehicle systems. Similarly, for the students involved, this represents a chance to develop next-generation skills that will significantly increase their employability and put them in a good position to participate in what should be a fast-growing segment of the economy. Ultimately, this project will help to drive forward the development and adoption of autonomous vehicle technology in Canada and continue to establish Southern and Southwestern Ontario as hubs for these emergent technologies.