Covid-19 has caused the acceleration of a series of existing trends, particularly those related to e-commerce, which is constantly growing.
Consumers request brands to improve the quality of their lives as they spend more time at home, from entertainment and health to convenience.
On the other hand, brands are speeding up contactless delivery processes as consumer caution regarding cleaning and contagion increases, brands increasingly offer contactless delivery options that reduce the risk of virus transmission. These services range from delivery robots to smart lockers that limit contact between people during transactions.
Contactless logistics enables consumers to obtain goods and services without directly interacting with people.
If we focus on how e-commerce works. From an application on the smartphone or from the supplier's website, a consumer can choose what to buy, pay electronically and define the point, date and time of delivery. In the warehouse of this supplier, a team of AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicle) and / or AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots), carry out the picking to confirm the order in optimal time and without errors, leaving the package in the dispatch area. Then, depending on the weight and volume of the order, and the delivery distance, a drone or autonomous vehicle takes the order to the customer's door, who receives it free of contact with people.
All of this is not entirely new. China, for example, has spearheaded its use for the transport of emergency food, medicine, and clinical test material.
We are in a situation where airplanes, trucks, cars and railways are restricted, giving space to the circulation of autonomous vehicles.
The consequent increase in demand for e-commerce and delivery encourages the moment to build trust in logistics without human contact. We can say that the situation generated by Covid-19 is providing the space to take the step towards these technologies.
