Kentucky Fried Chicken is trialing driverless food trucks in the city of Shanghai, in collaboration with Chinese autonomous company Neolix. Since there is no human contact between food supplier and customers, the model seems well-adapted to pandemic times.
The mini-vehicles appeared in November 2020 without notice, full of food. Customers quickly learned to point their smartphone’s camera at a QR code on the vehicle’s menu display. A side door then clicks open for the customer to take their order.
The vehicles carry a 5G logo, however research on the Neolix site shows that the vehicles also employ LiDAR, cameras and both millimeter-wave and ultrasonic-wave radar to reach their curbside destinations. The company states that its vehicles support Level 4 autonomous driving. It is not known whether they move by day or night.
