The United States Postal Service has a long and proud history of delivery people weathering the elements to make sure you get your mail — and occasionally, you neighbor’s bills and postcards, too.
The way they go about doing that will change dramatically in the coming years, as the USPS has formally declared its intention to assess how it can work self-driving vehicles into its operational strategy—and it’s even building a prototype along with the University of Michigan.
In a green paper published last week, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) laid out a preliminary list of five specific areas in which it’s considering implementing self-driving vehicles as the technology matures.
It envisions vehicles driving themselves down the street in much the same ways that drivers do currently, but with the fundamental difference that the carrier can spend the time sorting, rather than driving
In the case of walking routes, the vehicle could follow along, cutting the need to carry large loads and return to the same point time and again to fetch more mail. A second mail truck can even be dispatched from the postal center to meet the carrier with a fresh load of postage. By that same token, OIG argues that deliveries could be made more efficient if vehicles are capable of finding their own parking spot.
Read more of the original article, go to The Car Connection.
