Autonomous delivery systems are poised to begin widely proliferating soon. Several firms, including Bolt and Starship Technologies, are testing autonomous, last-mile delivery products “and plan to launch robot deliveries in as many as 500 cities across 45 countries,” Restaurant Technology News reported in September.
Meanwhile, Uber (NYSE:UBER) is trialing Nuro’s robots, which provide “driverless food deliveries,” and Grubhub has implemented ” a robot food delivery service” at a Texas university. Finally, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans to use a drone to deliver packages in the UK in 2024. Since labor costs are almost always much higher than the expense of operating computers and robots, autonomous delivery will save many companies huge amounts of money. Here are three stocks well-positioned to get major boosts from the trend.
Aurora Innovation (AUR)
By the end of next year, Aurora (NASDAQ:AUR) plans to commercialize its product that enables trucks to drive autonomously. Moreover, as of last month, the company had already achieved 84% of the safety measures that it needs to finish before fully launching its product.
Also noteworthy is that AUR is shipping 75 loads weekly for its customers in Texas using its autonomous software and has completed 3,200 autonomous deliveries for them. Among the customers taking part in its ongoing pilots are heavy hitters FedEx (NYSE:FDX), Schneider, a major trucking firm, and Uber.
In light of Aurora’s tremendous progress, it looks poised to generate large revenue from its autonomous delivery offering starting in late 2024. As a result, I believe it’s one of the best autonomous delivery stocks to buy.
Uber (UBER)
Given the huge number of drivers that it pays, Uber (NYSE:UBER) can save huge amounts of money by utilizing autonomous delivery on a wide scale. Of course, such a development would tremendously increase Uber’s bottom line, causing UBER stock to rally sharply.
And the company appears to be moving towards implementing the latter vision. Specifically, about a year ago, Uber began offering autonomous rides in Las Vegas through a partnership with a joint venture called Motional, and it’s doing the same in Phoenix by allying with Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo. Eventually, Uber should start offering autonomous rides in many other cities.
And as I mentioned in the introduction, Uber is partnering with a start-up called Nuro to deliver food autonomously. Among the cities where the companies provide such deliveries are Houston, Mountain View, California, and Fairfax, Virginia. Also noteworthy is that another start-up called Serve plans to utilize “up to 2,000 AI-powered sidewalk delivery” to carry out deliveries for Uber in several cities.
And finally, as I noted in the section on Aurora Innovation, Uber is partnering with Aurora on autonomous truck deliveries.
Given these points, UBER stock looks poised to get a big lift from autonomous deliveries within the next few years.
Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon recently unveiled a new, improved, autonomous delivery drone called the MK30. Featuring “lighter and smaller” propellers than its predecessor, the MK30 has twice the range of the previous model. AMZN plans to deploy the drone soon, which is already being used in two “small markets” in America, the U.K., and Italy.
The MK30 will also start delivering prescription drugs to Amazon’s customers within an hour near College Station, Texas.
As of last May, Amazon had only completed 100 deliveries using drones. According to the company, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is dragging its feet when it comes to allowing the company to expand its drone deliveries to additional locations.
But I’m sure the agency and the conglomerate will eventually get their acts together, enabling the company to deliver a meaningful number of packages with drones.
Autonomous delivery will enable Amazon to save money on drivers and deliver products much faster. As a result, the company’s market share gains should significantly accelerate. These developments should lift AMZN stock a great deal.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer held a long position in AUR. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
