Logistics

Range Energy makes truck trailers, with a clever connection to any standard tractor cab, loaded with electric powertrains to turn any semi into an efficient hybrid. They also let you push entire trailers around by hand at the depot in "shopping cart mode."

Early humanoid robots probably won't be able to do much that Fraunhofer's self-balancing evoBOT can't do much faster, and its new autonomous, omnidirectional O³dyn pallet jack looks like another slam dunk for logistics and warehousing.

Carrying up to 96 small USPS packages in its internal cargo bay, the new Cento needs nothing more than two parking spaces for takeoff, landing and automatic unloading. MightyFly is working with the FAA to expand its long-range flight authorization.

The means of carriage needn't be the means of locomotion, says Node Air, and logistics for passengers and cargo will work better with detachable pods that can connect to air or ground vehicles as needed. It's teamed up with JetX to pursue its vision.

A lot less technologically optimistic than the Hyperloop-TT Hyperport project, Cargo Sous Terrain looks considerably more likely to happen, with its first 10-stop, 70-km (43-mile) series of underground tunnels scheduled to begin taking cargo in 2031.

Back in January, Elroy Air showed off a pre-production version of an autonomous cargo drone capable of carrying 500-lb loads over 300 miles, and we've now learned FedEx plans to soon put these capabilities to the test.

San Francisco's Elroy Air has revealed its pre-production Chaparral C1, an autonomous VTOL lift & cruise cargo drone running on a hybrid-electric system that allows it to transport loads up to 500 lb over distances up to 300 miles.

Earlier in the year, TuSimple sent one of its autonomous trucks on a 900-mile journey from Arizona to Texas, though human drivers took the wheel for the first and last parts. Now a semi-truck has completed an 80-mile trip on public roads on its own.

General Motors new spin-off BrightDrop has completed its first delivery less than twelve months after it was launched. The company's EV600s have been handed off to FedEx, who will put them to work along its growing charging network in California.

Alphabet-owned Waymo is looking to gain a strong foothold in the nascent autonomous freight industry, today announcing plans to build a dedicated hub for its self-driving trucks in the state of Texas.

After agreeing to build 10,000 electric delivery vans for UPS last year, UK startup Arrival has today revealed specs and images for its latest all-electric van, ahead of trials on public roads "with key customers" this (northern) summer.

The German Aerospace Center has revealed a working prototype of a multi-use urban mobility and logistics vehicle called U-Shift, which is made up of an electric U-shaped base platform that's used to ferry around various pod modules.