The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Exoskeletons
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Markets
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Security
  • Financial
    • Investments
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Earnings
  • Resources
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
    • Digital Issues
    • Publications
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
      • Robotics Business Review
    • RBR50 Winners 2022
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
    • Leave a voicemail

Nuro R2 driverless vehicles delivering COVID-19 supplies

By Steve Crowe | April 22, 2020

Nuro R2

A Nuro R2 driverless vehicle making a contact-free delivery for COVID-19 relief. | Credit: Nuro

What a start it’s been for the Nuro R2 driverless vehicles, which were introduced in February 2020. The second-generation vehicles were granted a major exemption by the U.S. Department of Transportation, received permission to test on the streets of California, and now they’re helping COVID-19 relief efforts.

Nuro R2 driverless vehicles this week started making contact-free deliveries at two make-shift medical facilities in California. At Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, a former NBA arena now being used to house up to 400 COVID-19 patients, Nuro is delivering medical supplies to help COVID-19 patients. And at the San Mateo County Event Center, which was recently converted into a multi-purpose facility for housing, medical care and testing, the Nuro R2s are transporting food, water and other supplies.

Nuro Co-Founder Dave Ferguson announced the initiatives in a blog. He wrote that these contact-free deliveries can help ensure healthcare workers have the supplies they need, save them time, and might help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We are mindful that contactless delivery services like ours are not going to solve this crisis. Not even close,” he wrote. “Getting through this will require an unprecedented coordinated effort from all of us, and most of all from the heroes on the front lines. But we are grateful to have the opportunity to play a small part and have been inspired by what we have seen along the way. And to the heroes, thank you.”

At the moment, a handful of Nuro R2 driverless vehicles are involved, but that number could grow. Nuro is not being paid for these services.

Nuro’s Head of Robots, Andrew Clare, is speaking at RoboBusiness Direct on July 2. His talk, “Building Zero Occupant Autonomous Vehicles to Accelerate the Benefits of Robotics Today,” will explore some of the non-passenger applications of autonomy. He will also discuss how Nuro is tackling the challenges associated with designing vehicles and putting forth a consumer-facing service.

Another autonomous vehicle company, Boston-based Optimus Ride, is doing something similar. It paused its autonomous vehicle operations and is now helping deliver meals and Amazon packages to residents of Paradise Valley Estates (PVE), a retirement community for people ages 55-plus in Fairfield, Calif. Unlike Nuro, however, Optimus Ride’s vehicles are being manually driven by a human.

Nuro raised $940 million in February 2019 from the Softbank Vision Fund. The Nuro R2 was built to operate exclusively as an autonomous vehicle. It lacks side mirrors, rear visibility, and a windshield that can be seen through, all of which are required in human-driven vehicles, according to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The vehicles can also operate its rearview cameras while moving forward, since the vehicle will never be occupied by a human driver.

Nuro R2

About The Author

Steve Crowe

Steve Crowe is Editorial Director, Robotics, WTWH Media, and co-chair of the Robotics Summit & Expo. He joined WTWH Media in January 2018 after spending four-plus years as Managing Editor of Robotics Trends Media. He can be reached at [email protected]

Comments

  1. Nick Tanas says

    April 17, 2021 at 7:29 am

    We are interest to import this R2 to few Mediterranean countries. We are a USA company with business in Mediterranean countries for the last 16 years.
    Kindly have someone contact us. Thank you

    Reply

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles Read More >

UR+ ecosystem adds module to automate blasting processes
Intuitive collaborating with Creo Medical to enhance surgical robots
scythe autonomous mower
Scythe Robotics autonomous mower cuts down commercial milestone
whiz
SoftBank Robotics America makes 6 senior appointments

2021 Robotics Handbook

The Robot Report Listing Database

Latest Robotics News

Robot Report Podcast

Robotics Summit 2022 recap
See More >

Sponsored Content

  • Meet Trey, the autonomous trailer (un)loading forklift
  • Kinova Robotics launches Link 6, the first Canadian industrial collaborative robot
  • Torque sensors help make human/robot collaborations safer for workers
  • Roller screws unlock peak performance in robotic applications
  • Making the ROS development cycle manageable

RBR50 Innovation Awards

Leave us a voicemail

The Robot Report
  • Mobile Robot Guide
  • Collaborative Robotics Trends
  • Field Robotics Forum
  • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
  • RoboBusiness Event
  • Robotics Business Review
  • Robotics Summit & Expo
  • About The Robot Report
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Exoskeletons
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Markets
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Security
  • Financial
    • Investments
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Earnings
  • Resources
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
    • Digital Issues
    • Publications
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
      • Robotics Business Review
    • RBR50 Winners 2022
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
    • Leave a voicemail