Latest news with #SevenEleven
NHK
19-05-2025
- Business
- NHK
Seven-Eleven Japan starts robot delivery trial on roads
Seven-Eleven Japan says it has launched a trial using delivery robots on public roads. The convenience-store operator believes such a service could eventually help it deal with a worsening labor shortage. Two 7-Eleven stores in Tokyo's Hachioji area are taking part. Customers use an app to send their orders. Unmanned robots then head to the destinations. Sensors and other features detect road bumps and respond to traffic lights. The trial is reportedly the first by a major convenience-store operator in Japan in which robots run on public roads. Permission to do that was granted by the local police. The company hopes that in the future robots rather than humans can make more customer deliveries amid the shortage of workers. Seven-Eleven Japan Touhara Hikaru says, "In either urban or rural areas, we would like this service to be a means of reaching customers who have difficulty shopping." The company plans to call on nearby residents to participate. The firm plans to consider expanding the service to other areas after examining the results.
Japan Times
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Japan Times
Seven-Eleven testing delivery robots in Japan
Amid a serious truck driver shortage, convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan began a trial delivery service using robots on public roads in a western Tokyo suburb on Monday. In the experimental project involving two stores in the city of Hachioji, two robots at each outlet carry items ordered through the 7NOW delivery service app and loaded manually with them. The four-wheeled box-type robots, which can travel up to 6 kph, are designed to run on sidewalks while following traffic lights and dodging obstacles. After conducting the tests until February next year, Seven-Eleven Japan will consider the feasibility of the robot delivery service, which is expected to help the company cope with a driver shortage and better serve older customers who have difficulty going out shopping.
