American multinational e-commerce company Amazon has halted the test of its automated delivery robot called “Amazon Scout” after it failed to meet customers’ needs.
The company which began the testing of its delivery robot in 2019, disclosed that due to the halt of its delivery robot, Amazon will offer new positions to 400 people who worked on the project.
Following the company’s plan to stop the test of its “Amazon Scout”, a spokesperson at the company said, “During our Scout limited field test, we worked to create a unique delivery experience, but learned through feedback that there were aspects of the program that weren’t meeting customers’ needs,” Alisa Carroll, an Amazon spokesperson, told members of the media.
“As a result, we are ending our field tests and reorienting the program. We are working with employees during this transition, matching them to open roles that best fit their experience and skills.”
However, the spokesperson further disclosed the e-commerce company isn’t totally abandoning the idea of an autonomous robot, rather it will continue to look into the technology, though the vast majority of workers will be reassigned to other programs.
Amazon Scout was officially unveiled in 2019, following the e-commerce giant’s acquisition of robotics firm Dispatch two years prior.
In August 2019, the robots started delivering packages to customers in Irvine California on a test basis, with human monitors. The package is put inside the robot and driven to the customer who opens it and collects the package.
At the time of launch, the company touted the program as a method for continuing deliveries amid COVID shutdowns, though the operation still required the presence of “Scout Ambassadors” humans tasked with making sure nothing went wrong.
Due to the recent global inflation ravaging economies, the scrapping of Amazon Scout is the latest in a series of cost-cutting maneuvers for Amazon, which has experienced slowing sales growth in 2022.
