Last year Amazon ordered 100,000 electric delivery vehicles – the largest-ever order of electric delivery vehicles – from Rivian. It’s now unveiled more details of the vans and their new technology features.
Manufactured at Rivian’s plant in Illinois, they will come in three size variants and support multiple battery sizes so they can be optimized for specific delivery routes.
Each vehicle is designed to include a suite of advanced safety technology features, including automated emergency braking, lane keep assist, a pedestrian warning system, traffic design recognition, and an automatic warning system that detects and alerts distracted driver behavior.
Amazon Alexa will also be integrated into the trucks offering drivers the ability to ask for help or use simple voice commands in the cargo bay when sorting packages without having to manually enter commands.
Commenting in an Amazon blog, R.J. Scaringe, CEO of Rivian, says: “We are focused on driving efficiency into every aspect of the vehicle design – everything from cabin heating to driver ergonomics to drivetrain design has been optimized for time and energy. And then the echo effect of this, of causing other logistics players in this space to also look at how they drive up efficiency within their fleet, will have a very large impact.”
Ross Rachey, director of Amazon’s global fleet and products, adds: “We’re trying to build the most sustainable transportation fleet in the world. It also needs to be the most functional, the highest performing, the safest.”
Amazon’s new electric delivery vehicles will begin delivering packages to customers in 2021. The company plans to have 10,000 of the vehicles on the road as early as 2022 and all 100,000 vehicles on the road by 2030 – saving millions of metric tons of carbon per year by 2030.
