Richmond-based Novex Delivery Solutions announced Wednesday that they have been quietly experimenting with a Tesla Model 3, purchased last year by the company with an eye towards deploying the autonomous vehicle for its same-day deliveries in the future, as well as continuing to reduce its environmental impact.
Novex’s testing, which included a three-week span where the vehicle was used for deliveries, has shown that there is still a ways to go before the courier company can go fully driverless in urban areas. A human driver inside the car was poised to take over if the AI ran into trouble, as it did often. While the Tesla’s autonomous feature was able to manage on its own nearly half the time in less condensed areas, it struggled in downtown Vancouver, and not just in finding a parking spot.
According to Coupar, Novex faces other “practical obstacles” as well, such as how, exactly, an autonomous car would deliver a couriered package to a customer’s front door.