Self-driving grocery delivery gains ground ... in Oklahoma?

The race to commercialize autonomous last-mile delivery is heating up. First grocery giant Kroger's announced it will test driverless delivery using vehicles from Nuro, a self-driving startup founded by two ex-Google engineers. Then, just a couple weeks ago, unsung outlier AutoX, which is run by a man actually called Professor X, leapfrogged the pack by announcing it will soon start real-world L4 autonomous delivery in San Jose. Now Udelv, which boasts the first-ever successful autonomous delivery on public roads, a milestone it passed in January that was covered mostly in the trades, has inked a deal to supply Oklahoma's largest chain of local grocery stores. The deal initially includes 10 customized autonomous delivery vans (ADVs) to fulfill online orders from Oklahoma City metro area stores like Uptown Grocery, Buy For Less, and Smart Saver.