Autonomous delivery vehicles on the road in Vilnius

Since the end of July, Vilnius has been the first city in Europe to have a fleet of autonomous delivery robots delivering groceries to the busy streets of the city centre.

Orders are collected from the IKI branch on Mindaugas Street and delivered free of charge directly to customers’ homes in the city centre. The “Autonomous Robot Carriers”, or ARCs for short, deliver the goods. They have lockable compartments of different sizes that are suitable for smaller and larger online grocery orders. In total, the robot fleet can deliver 7 customer orders in a single run in the capital’s New Town and Old Town neighbourhoods.

Neither traffic jams nor rain disrupt operations

The ARCs, which have been delivering goods in Vilnius city centre since Tuesday, were developed by Clevon, a global autonomous delivery company based in Estonia. Last year, iki, LastMile and Clevon trialled autonomous vehicles for the first time in Lithuania in the Vilnius suburb of Balsiai. In three months, the robot travelled around 2,000 km and showed promising results.

The trial paid off with an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 points, and the customers were very keen to try out the innovation. In the meantime, we have seen that thanks to the electric motors, we can deliver goods even more efficiently and flexibly with less impact on the environment. Following a successful test, we are now taking the next step: for the first time in Europe, up to three autonomous vans will be on the road in city centres. We are convinced that these robots will give us a significant advantage in the area of delivery, as customers will receive their goods quickly even in the city centre and even at peak times. Speed is becoming one of the most important criteria for them when choosing a delivery method – as many as 95 per cent of our customers buy goods with delivery within a few hours, says Tadas Norušaitis, CEO and co-founder of LastMile. The pilot project has also proven that the robots can drive autonomously in a variety of conditions – in the rain, on unpaved roads, in the snow and in puddles after rain. Nijolė Kvietkauskaitė CEO IKI Lithuania, observes a dynamic e-commerce market in Lithuania: Today’s customers expect an even more seamless shopping experience – and we are helping to fulfil this expectation with bold technological innovations such as autonomous shops and autonomous cars that deliver purchases quickly, safely and conveniently. We can promise our customers that we will continue to be at the forefront of introducing retail innovations in Lithuania that offer an even better shopping experience, says N. Kvietkauskaitė

Clevon CEO Sander Sebastian Agur, sees the collaboration with REWE Group through IKI and LastMile as a great success: Our team continues to prove that autonomous deliveries are on the rise and we are expanding our operations from individual vehicles to fleets in Europe, the US and the Middle East. Clevon was the first company in Europe to receive authorisation to operate autonomous vans on public roads in 2020. Now we are making history again by being the first company to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery robots for commercial deliveries on Europe’s public roads, right here in Lithuania. This is just the beginning!

Safety is our top priority

Since 27 June, the autonomous carriers have been delivering groceries and driving through the streets of the capital’s city centre for two months in a larger and much busier area than the pilot project. To ensure maximum safety, the autonomous vehicles will travel at a maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour. Thanks to 360-degree cameras and special sensors, they will be able to navigate the streets safely. The vehicles are monitored by teleoperators who follow the journey in real time.

At the launch, the autonomous vehicles mastered a specially designed obstacle course flawlessly during a public demonstration. Autonomous delivery will be completely free of charge. After ordering, customers will receive a text message with details of the robot’s arrival time and a code for picking up the goods.

More than 300,000 registered users in Lithuania use the LastMile app. Customers can use the app to choose from a total range of more than 30,000 products from more than 40 partner shops. The retail chain IKI is part of the international REWE Group together with the start-up LastMile. IKI has been operating in Lithuania since 1992. With 237 shops across Lithuania, IKI is one of the largest retail chains.