Ford Motor is collaborating with Walmart and Postmates to design a self-driving grocery delivery service. The pilot program will launch in Florida’s Miami-Dade county, where the self-driving cars will collect data on consumer preferences and help the companies determine what services to provide, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier this year, Ford started expanding its self-driving food delivery services in Miami where it tested the program with Postmates and Dominos, Coins2Day reported. During its research period, Ford used vehicles with sensors that customers would have to interact with to retrieve their orders. The vehicles came with a locker system, where the order would be placed, and customers could pick up their food from the vehicle after receiving a text message that the order had arrived.
Ford’s newest partnership with Walmart, which the automaker announced on Wednesday, will not only allow consumers to order food for delivery, but will also allow people to purchase other retail goods. The pilot program in Miami-Dade will help the companies determine what kinds of goods people would want to purchase for delivery, and the best ways to interact with the self-driving vehicles for pickup, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“Before self-driving cars can go mainstream, we must get a better sense of how people want to interact with them,” Walmart said, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Together, we will gather crucial data to learn the best way to bring items to customers. There’s no telling what innovation the future will bring, but Walmart is committed to staying on the forefront of change to make getting groceries simple, quick and easy.”