noon.com says it is partnering with China’s Neolix to trial last mile driverless delivery vehicles in the UAE.
Mohamed Alabbar said noon.com has signed a memorandum of understand (MoU) with the Beijing-based technology developer with the indention of introducin autonomous delivery vehicles into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The trials will be conducted in Abu Dhabi and Dubai ‘over the next few weeks’, the company announced in a statement. This will be the first time such technology has been used in the region.
“Introducing new technology to the region that will improve the e-commerce experience for customers is something we’re incredibly excited about. noon is very proud to bring driverless delivery vans to streets in our cities,” said Alabbar. “We look forward to bringing many such innovations over the next few months. We are a hungry, talented and ambitious nation. I hope it will inspire our tech-driven youth to dream big and to achieve those dreams because everything is possible here.”
The driverless vehicles will be built by Neoflix are have been customised to suit the region’s weather conditions, “and are being seamlessly integrated with noon’s logistics platform”.
“Having already created a hyper-efficient homegrown logistics and supply chain setup in the KSA, the UAE and Egypt, noon.com is now looking to make the last mile of deliveries even smoother to give customers in the region a higher quality experience. As well as being reliable and speedy, driverless vehicle technology can remove up to 90% of the cost associated with the last mile of delivery. This partnership between Neolix and noon furthers noons commitment to bring the best technology and solutions to serve our region’s ecommerce customers,” said noon.com/
Neolix first started in 2015 and has subsequently developed the production of autonomous vehicles targeting commercial applications, such as retail, express deliveries, freight and patrolling. It has delivered 150 level-4 autonomous driving vehicles (vehicles capable of driving without human intervention in designated zones and areas) with many of its units in operation at various tourist attractions, campuses, and logistics parks across China.
