FedEx To Test Home Delivery Via Robot With Partners Pizza Hut, Walmart

As companies continue to invest ample resources into projects aimed at making delivery faster and cheaper, experimenting with robots, drones and self-driving cars has become more and more commonplace.

Now, FedEx is joining the race. According to a recent CNBC article, the company has entered into a partnership with DEKA Development & Research to create and test a robot designed to handle costly “last mile” deliveries to customers’ doorsteps this summer.

The robots' appearance is described as “a cooler on wheels,” and is designed to navigate sidewalks and roadways using a combination of cameras and software. They travel at a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour.

While the project still must win approval in test cities, FedEx plans to partner with numerous businesses in the test, most notably Walmart and Pizza Hut.

On average, more than 60 percent of any given merchant's customers live within three miles of a store location, the article notes, also explaining that the "last mile" to the home accounting for 50 percent or more of total package delivery costs is a huge driving force in the autonomous movement.