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Comment by wmf | Hacker News Reader

Amazon is buying 100K custom delivery vans so integrating self-driving is a logical step. They can even use existing delivery routes to map out a city before turning on autonomy. https://electrek.co/2020/02/06/rivian-amazon-electric-delive...

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But isn't a driver still necessary for moving packages form the van to a home/business?

Yes, that is a critical step, of course. But the "last mile" problem is only a part of the logistics business. Trucks drive loads of packages between warehouses/fulfillment centers before being placed on smaller vans for home delivery.

Or you get enough vehicles running 24/7 that you can get the customers to come get the package: "Free delivery if you can come pick your package from the van between 545am and 555am on the 24th" and then you can notify the customer as the van arrives. You make the van into a mobile Amazon Locker Hub or whatever those are called (we have one in my apartment complex). You can even schedule a half dozen deliveries at once for houses close together with a larger window: "Your Amazon Delivery Hub Van will be located 100 yards from your home to the west, at 123 Main St. from 5PM until 6PM tomorrow, please enter 123456 to get your package."

Introducing Amazon ElastiChute! Are you tired of employing delivery drivers who take a few seconds of their day to go to the bathroom?

With Amazon ElastiChute, you can seamlessly transfer hundreds of physical packages from delivery van to a client's front door. ElastiChute elastically expands to envelop a package and jettison it at just the right speed at a customer's door.

Only pay for the hydraulic fluid you use.

Perhaps not always.. https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/

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