Case | Automated food delivery in autonomous vehicles
Cu.be Solutions and Mobile Locker Revolutionize Autonomous Food Delivery for Cruise
Cu.be partnered with Mobile Locker, an innovative locker storage solutions provider, to create a groundbreaking autonomous locker system for Cruise, a division of General Motors (GM). This system was designed to integrate into the Cruise Origin, an autonomous vehicle developed by Cruise, to redefine food delivery by enabling fully automated, contactless transfers between restaurants and customers.
The Challenge
The goal was to integrate a seamless locker storage system into the Cruise Origin. The lockers needed to operate autonomously, ensuring that restaurant owners could securely place food inside a designated unit and customers could retrieve their orders with ease. This required a sophisticated software-hardware integration, incorporating automation, computer vision, and precise user interaction.
The Solution
Cu.be took charge of the software development, creating an advanced system capable of:
Automating locker access, ensuring the correct compartment opened for the designated restaurant.
Utilizing computer vision to detect whether a locker was occupied or empty.
Managing real-time operations to ensure smooth delivery from restaurant to customer.
Mobile Locker, in turn, developed the hardware, designing robust, secure, and seamlessly integrated lockers that fit inside the Cruise Origin vehicle. Their engineering expertise ensured that the lockers were not only durable but also optimized for the automated system’s needs.
Implementation and Results
The Cruise Origin vehicle would autonomously navigate to participating restaurants.
Upon arrival, the appropriate locker would automatically unlock for the restaurant to place food inside.
The vehicle would then drive to the customer’s location, where the system would trigger the correct locker to open for retrieval.
Computer vision ensured that only available lockers were used, preventing errors and optimizing space.
This fully automated approach provided an unprecedented level of convenience and efficiency. The integration of Cu.be’ intelligent software with Mobile Locker’s high-tech hardware created a seamless, hands-free experience that had never been implemented before in the food delivery industry.
Technologies used
- PHP
- Symfony
- OroPlatform
- Vue.js
- Python
- Docker (local, test, staging and production)
- MySQL / Postgres
- RabbitMQ
- Websockets
- Arduino and Pololu motor controllers
- and much more
