Amazon tapped electric vehicle startup company Rivian to handle the development of its electric delivery vans. The company announced this last year and plans to see 10,000 delivery vans on the road by 2021. Amazon is also planning to have at least 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030.
Amazon earlier shared through a blog post some details about its electric delivery fleet. The trillion-dollar e-commerce juggernaut's latest collaboration with Rivian is in line with its campaign to eliminate 4 million metric tons of carbon every year by 2030. The company's transportation team spent almost a couple of years evaluating a wide range of electric vehicle alternatives to lessen the carbon footprint.
According to Amazon, its drivers have inputs on the feels, functionality, and design of the electric delivery vans. The electric delivery vans' design comes with a central display screen and a digital instrument cluster. The central display screen is equipped with Amazon's logistics management, delivery, and routing technology.
Through this, drivers would just have to concentrate on driving since the need for additional mapping and navigation devices is now eliminated. Moreover, Rivian integrated Amazon Alexa on the electric delivery vans that offer voice assistant technology through simple voice commands. Alexa would make sorting of packages and cargo more convenient, with drivers no longer required to consult handheld devices or enter commands manually.
Amazon invested $440 million to Rivian for the development of the electric delivery fleet. The electric vehicle startup is developing the delivery vans on its plant in Normal in Illinois. Amazon's electric delivery vans would be available in three size options.
Additionally, they would pack several battery sizes so they could be optimized for particular delivery routes. The electric delivery vans are equipped with a wide range of security features to ensure the safety not only of the packages but also of the drivers and the people and vehicles around. Among the safety features include advanced safety technology.
Amazon's electric delivery vans come with front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and automated emergency braking. Additionally, the electric delivery fleet is equipped with a lane keep assist, traffic design recognition, and a pedestrian warning system. Moreover, it comes with an automatic warning system that sends alerts when it detects distracted driving behavior.
Aside from the electric delivery fleet for Amazon, the electric vehicle startup Rivian is also working on its own set of electric vehicles. The company would soon release its all-electric pickup truck Rivian R1T and the all-electric crossover Rivian R1S.
