Asda launches self-driving grocery home delivery trial

Supermarket group Asda has launched a trial of delivering groceries to customers using self-driving vehicles.

Customers of the Park Royal superstore in London will be the first to have grocery orders delivered by self-driving vehicles . The year-long trial covers a catchment area of 72,000 households in London, making it the largest trial in the UK.

During the 12-month trial, both an Asda colleague and supervising Wayve safety driver will be in the vehicle when making deliveries. Asda colleagues will load and unload the groceries at the customer’s home, but they will be transported from store to the door in a self-driving vehicle.

Asda is the UK’s second largest online supermarket, with over 20% of the market and delivers more than 800k orders every week. This is the first trial in the UK that can launch directly into commercial operations, without diverging from the operation of the store’s online delivery processes.

This autonomous grocery delivery trial is the latest development in Asda and Wayve’s partnership which began in 2021. While the Park Royal store is the first to benefit from this technology, Wayve will be able to offer autonomous delivery in further Asda locations should the trial be extended to other areas.

The launch follows a two-year partnership between the retail giant and autonomous vehicle technology start-up that aims to lead the way on developing a self-driving vehicle solution for the grocery market.

Simon Gregg, Vice President of eCommerce at Asda, said: “Asda has long understood the value of bringing tech innovation to the online grocery sector and we are always looking at new and innovative partnerships to improve delivery options for customers. We believe autonomous technology is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of delivery, not only at our Park Royal store but throughout our nationwide operation.

Alex Kendall, Co-founder & CEO at Wayve said: “We’re excited to partner with Asda on the largest urban autonomous grocery delivery trial in Europe. The trial is a demonstration of how autonomy can meet fleet owner needs. We started developing our AV technology over five years ago: it’s incredible to see it delivering real value today as part of Asda’s daily operations.”