Rivr’s dog-like robots join Veho vans to solve ‘last-100-yards’ parcel delivery in Austin

Most delivery automation stops at the curb. But for Veho and Zurich-based robotics startup Rivr, the real challenge — and opportunity — lies in those final 100 yards from van to doorstep. In a pilot program launching Tuesday in Austin, Rivr’s four-wheeled, stair-climbing delivery robot, which CEO and founder Marko Bjelonic describes as “a dog on rollerskates,” will ferry packages from Veho’s vans directly to customers’ front doors. The companies are starting small, they told TechCrunch exclusively. Just one highly supervised robot will work daily, making five-to-six-hour runs over the span of a couple of weeks throughout Austin. But both companies see it as a critical step towards solving a unique slice of the end-to-end autonomous delivery journey. Bjelonic says in last-mile delivery, “robotics makes an impact by actually solving these very challenging problems that are actually quite easy for humans, but hard for robots. And we see [Rivr] as a differentiator, almost as the next ev ... Read full article.