Skip to main content

Londoners are having groceries delivered by a driverless ‘CargoPod’

A British online grocery store called CargoPod is aiming to launch the nation’s first driverless delivery service.

Ocado, which launched 17 years ago and makes deliveries from a string of warehouses across the country, has just started testing its first self-driving “CargoPod” truck built by U.K. tech firm Oxbotica.

Recommended Videos

The 10-day trial involves the diminutive delivery vehicle trundling around a small part of London, bringing ordered groceries to the doors of existing customers. Equipped with the usual array of sensors, lasers, and cameras seen on other self-driving vehicles, the electric CargoPod has a top speed of 25 mph and can carry a total weight of 128 kg.

It’s designed primarily for short journeys — or last-mile deliveries — in urban or residential areas, taking relatively small orders to customers rather than weekly or monthly supplies.

The autonomous CargoPod contains eight numbered compartments in the back, each of which can be unlocked by the customer at the press of a button. The current trial includes two engineers accompanying the CargoPod on its daily runs, both monitoring the truck’s progress and ensuring nothing calamitous happens while it’s puttering along some of the capital city’s streets.

Oxford-based Oxbotica, which has already carried out a number of other trials using its core technology, believes it has “the potential to transform our cities, reducing congestion and making transport safer.”

Once it perfects its driverless grocery delivery vehicle, probably in the next four years, Oxbotica and Ocada plan to sell the system to other retailers around the world. However, as in the U.S., developers of self-driving technology have plenty of regulatory hurdles to jump over, but as the capabilities and reliability of the driverless vehicles improve, those hurdles should gradually diminish.

While Oxbotica is focusing on last-mile deliveries, the likes of Waymo and Uber are developing self-driving trucks — big ones — to transport large amounts of goods over much greater distances. Waymo, formerly operated by Google, has already made significant progress with its driverless-car technology, and recently revealed that it’s working to incorporate it into trucks. Uber, meanwhile, last year drove a semi full of Budweiser along more than 100 miles of freeway using driverless technology developed by Otto, a tech company that it purchased for $680 million in 2016.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
2026 BMW iX first drive: I expected BMW to tone things down, but thankfully it didn’t
2026 BMW iX front quarter view.

Electric cars have given automakers a rare opportunity to throw out design and engineering conventions in favor of something truly new, and few automakers have exploited that opportunity like BMW.

The German automaker’s first attempt at a volume-production electric vehicle was the BMW i3, a small hatchback that dispensed with all expectations of what a car wearing BMW’s blue-and-white badge should be, with a novel shape and engineering to match its electric powertrain. While the i3 wasn’t a sales success, its spirit lives on in an EV at the opposite end of the price and size spectrum.

Read more
Toyota unveils 2026 bZ: A smarter, longer-range electric SUV
toyota bz improved bz4x 2026 0007 1500x1125

Toyota is back in the electric SUV game with the 2026 bZ, a major refresh of its bZ4X that finally delivers on two of the biggest demands from EV drivers: more range and faster charging.
The headline news is the improved driving range. Toyota now estimates up to 314 miles on a single charge for the front-wheel-drive model with the larger 74.7-kWh battery—about 60 miles more than the outgoing bZ4X. All-wheel-drive variants also get a boost, with up to 288 miles of range depending on trim.
Charging speeds haven’t increased in terms of raw kilowatts (still capped at 150 kW for DC fast charging), but Toyota has significantly improved how long peak speeds are sustained. With preconditioning enabled—especially helpful in colder weather—the new bZ can charge from 10% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Also new: Plug and Charge support for automatic payment at compatible stations and full adoption of the North American Charging Standard (NACS), meaning access to Tesla Superchargers will be standard by 2026.
Under the hood, or rather the floor, Toyota has swapped in higher-performance silicon carbide components to improve efficiency and power delivery. The AWD version now produces up to 338 horsepower and sprints from 0–60 mph in a brisk 4.9 seconds.
Toyota didn’t stop at just the powertrain. The exterior has been cleaned up, with body-colored wheel arches replacing the black cladding, and a sleeker front fascia. Inside, a larger 14-inch touchscreen now houses climate controls, giving the dash a more refined and less cluttered appearance. There’s also more usable storage thanks to a redesigned center console.
With the 2026 bZ, Toyota seems to be responding directly to critiques of the bZ4X. It’s faster, more efficient, and more driver-friendly—finally bringing Toyota’s EV efforts up to speed.

Read more
Cheaper EVs ahead? GM and LG say new battery cells are the key
2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV front quarter view.

General Motors and LG Energy Solution have announced a new phase in their ongoing partnership: developing a new battery cell chemistry that could significantly lower the cost of electric vehicles. The joint effort centers on lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) battery cells, a variation of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) that’s gaining popularity for being more affordable and less reliant on expensive materials like nickel and cobalt.

This is a big deal because battery costs are still the single largest expense in producing EVs. According to GM and industry experts, LMFP cells could help bring the cost of electric vehicles close to — or even on par with — gas-powered cars. The goal? Making EVs accessible to a broader range of drivers without sacrificing range or performance.

Read more