Walmart is working with Ford and Pennsylvania-based Argo AI to launch an autonomous vehicle delivery service in Miami, Austin in Texas and Washington DC.

This is the retailer’s first multi-city autonomous delivery collaboration in the USA. The last kilometre delivery service will use Ford self-driving test vehicles equipped with the Argo AI self-driving system to deliver Walmart orders to customers.

“Our focus on the testing and development of self-driving technology that operates in urban areas where customer demand is high really comes to life with this collaboration,” said Bryan Salesky, CEO of Argo AI. “Working together with Walmart and Ford across three markets, we’re showing the potential for autonomous vehicle delivery services at scale.”

The collaboration brings together a self-driving technology provider with an automotive manufacturer able to integrate that technology with vehicles at scale, plus the world’s largest retailer. This combination builds on Walmart’s position in adopting emerging technologies to meet growing consumer expectations and enhance the last-kilometre delivery process. The multi-city service will enable Walmart customers to place orders of groceries and other popular items online for door-to-door autonomous delivery directly to customers’ homes.

“We’re excited to expand our autonomous delivery efforts in three new markets alongside Argo and Ford,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president at Walmart. “This collaboration will further our mission to get products to the homes of our customers with unparalleled speed and ease and, in turn, will continue to pave the way for autonomous delivery.”

The commercial service will be available to Walmart customers within defined service areas of the three markets and will expand over time, with initial integration testing slated to begin later this year. As consumer expectations continue to shift to next-day or same-day delivery – especially in the urban core where there is a higher concentration of deliveries – this collaboration will drive key learnings in how autonomous technology can enhance customer experiences, while also optimising logistics and operations.

“Argo and Ford are aggressively preparing for large-scale autonomous vehicle operations across a broad footprint of US cities,” said Scott Griffith, CEO of Ford’s autonomous vehicles and mobility businesses. “Pairing Walmart’s retail and ecommerce leadership with Argo and Ford’s self-driving operations across these multiple cities marks a significant step towards scaling a commercial goods delivery service that will ultimately power first-to-scale business efficiencies and enable a great consumer experience.”

Argo’s cloud-based infrastructure, which is designed to work seamlessly and efficiently with partners’ business operations, will integrate with Walmart’s online ordering platform to route orders and schedule package deliveries to customers’ homes.

In addition to testing self-driving technology in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Palo Alto in California, Argo and Ford have been operating in Miami and Washington DC since 2018 and in Austin since 2019, to build autonomous ride-hailing and delivery services and establish the necessary real estate footprint and commercial fleet management capabilities, including fuelling, servicing and cleaning of self-driving vehicles, to support the customer and keep fleets running. Walmart previously tested with Ford in Miami in 2018.