Walmart is partnering with autonomous vehicle company Udelv on a grocery delivery pilot in Surprise, Ariz.
For the pilot, Udelv will use a cargo van custom-made to deliver fresh groceries, according to a Walmart blog post.
“We’re still learning — it’s a pilot — but we want to make sure we stay on the cutting edge of grocery delivery by exploring what’s new and next,” Tom Ward, senior vice president of digital operations for Walmart, wrote in the blog. “For example, we recently explored a few pilot projects with other self-driving car companies to start understanding how customers will want to use the technology when it comes to their grocery shopping.”
That description of Walmart’s efforts was the same one the retailer used in a previous post describing its partnerships with Ford and Waymo. The pilot with Waymo, first announced in July, was set to take place in Chandler, Ariz. The pilot with Ford, announced in November, was set to take place in Miami-Dade County.