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UPS will expand its in-building delivery service to 10 more cities
Do you like the thought of UPS delivering packages to your apartment building when you're not home? UPS certainly does. The courier plans to bring its in-building delivery option to 10 more cities starting in mid-2019, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, DC. The concept remains the same as in the existing New York City and San Francisco. If you opt for it, a smart access device from Latch will let the courier enter the building and drop off your goods at a common space like the lobby or mail room -- you shouldn't get that dreaded "failed delivery attempt" notice just because you couldn't take a few hours off work.
UPS will build 'medium-duty' delivery truck for its electric fleet
UPS' quest to electrify its trucks includes both giant semis and smaller last-mile trucks, but not so many of the vehicles in between. It might rectify that solution soon -- the courier company has teamed up with Thor Trucks to build and test a "medium-duty" electric delivery truck. While it's still in the early stages, the machine would use a "lightweight, durable" Thor battery that would enable a range of about 100 miles.
UPS tests entering locked lobbies to deliver packages in NYC
After weeks of rumors, Amazon confirmed last October that it was working on a system to deliver packages while people weren't home. In essence, a smart lock would allow workers entry and record them while they deposited parcels. Despite the concept unnerving all but the most optimistic, the company went ahead and started rolling out the concept in April. Apparently, UPS started quietly toying with the same idea earlier this year by starting a pilot program in New York City to deliver packages while users aren't home.
UPS has new electric trucks that look straight out of a Pixar movie
UPS has revealed sleek new electric trucks that look like they've rolled straight out of Pixar's Cars series. The company revealed it's working with vehicle manufacturer Arrival on a pilot fleet of 35 lightweight electric trucks that look far more futuristic than the standard boxy vehicles. UPS says the trucks have a longer range than other delivery vehicles, reaching around 150 miles on a single charge. As with all electric vehicles, they have zero emissions.
UPS is adding to its fleet of electric delivery trucks
UPS announced today that it will soon deploy 50 electric delivery trucks designed by Workhorse Group Inc. that will cost about the same as traditional, conventionally fueled trucks. They'll have a between-charge range of around 100 miles, will be zero-emission and the first vehicles will be tested in a handful of cities this year. "Electric vehicle technology is rapidly improving with battery, charging and smart grid advances that allow us to specify our delivery vehicles to eliminate emissions, noise and dependence on diesel and gasoline," Carlton Rose, UPS' president of global fleet maintenance and engineering, said in a statement. "With our scale and real-world duty cycles, these new electric trucks will be a quantum leap forward for the purpose-built UPS delivery fleet. The all electric trucks will deliver by day and re-charge overnight."
Tesla's plan to charge electric semis relies on its customers
Customers have been lining up to order some of Tesla's electric big rigs since the Semi debuted in November, but there is one big question: where will they get charged? According to Reuters, at first the rollout will rely on customers like Pepsi and UPS to build on-site "megachargers" and trucks will be restricted to going back and forth on routes that keep them near home base. Representatives for the companies confirmed they're working with Tesla to build in-house charging locations, however, the plan for a Supercharger-like network that could juice up trucks on the road is a bit fuzzier.
UPS is Tesla’s latest electric semi-truck customer
UPS has placed the largest Tesla semi-truck order to date, reserving 125 of the trucks. Since unveiling the electric vehicles last month, Tesla has received quite a few orders from major companies. PepsiCo has ordered 100, Anheuser-Busch ordered 40 and Walmart, DHL and Loblaws have reserved Tesla Semis as well. While not every company that has announced a Tesla Semi order has said how many they've reserved, the total number of trucks ordered to date appears to be in the range of 420.
UPS is trialling electric bike trailers in London
In a bid to lower emissions in the capital and reduce the footprint of its vehicles on the road, global delivery firm UPS has begun trialling a new electric-powered bike trailer on the streets of London. The concept, built as part of the Low Impact City Logistics project, attaches to the back of a pedal cycle and utilises a "net-neutral" technology. This then allows couriers to transport up to 200 kilograms without requiring any additional effort on their part.
UPS is converting diesel trucks to electric for NYC deliveries
UPS is investing more seriously in electric vehicles, testing out new EV delivery vans in California and snagging some of Mitsubishi Fuso's urban trucks coming to NYC. But what about its existing fleet? The shipping company is partnering with New York State's Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to convert up to 1,500 of its old diesel trucks to all-electric systems.
Trump announces program to test drones beyond FAA regulations
President Trump and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program today -- an initiative aimed at exploring expanded use of drones. While the Obama administration began allowing some drone activity to take place in US airspace, a fair amount of restrictions were still applicable. This new program, however, will allow companies and local governments to use drones in ways that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently doesn't allow. That includes "beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights, nighttime operations, and flights over people," as White House advisor Michael Kratsios said today.
American Red Cross is launching a drone disaster-relief program
Starting next week, a drone will hover over Houston, assessing the damage Hurricane Harvey caused and finding areas that need more help. The American Red Cross will conduct the survey in one of the most badly affected areas of the city for a week as part of the first drone disaster-relief program in the US. This week-long pilot period involves the use of a Cyphy drone that's tethered to a generator, so it can operate for lengthy periods of time, and has a 30x zoom camera to provide miles of visibility from 400 feet above ground.
UPS will use VR to train its student delivery drivers
UPS is about to give its student delivery drivers a whole new training setup. Soon the shipping company will teach a new class how to navigate city streets and avoid hazards in a VR simulator using off-the-shelf HTC Vive headsets.
ICYMI: UPS delivery drones and fashion's robo-photo booth
Today on In Case You Missed It: We explore UPS' plans to deploy hordes of delivery drones and the robots are coming to replace fashion photographers — body shaming not included. And just in case you've been too busy to keep an eye on your RSS feed, it's time for TL;DR, where we do the week's reading for you. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
UPS wants UAVs to cover its 'last mile' deliveries
Drone-based deliveries are quickly moving out of the realm of science fiction. Amazon, 7-11 and a host of startups are already toying with the idea. Now, UPS, one of the biggest parcel delivery services on the planet, is testing a system that will drop packages at your door while the driver moves on to the next house.
Lexus' insane LED-covered car, and more in the week that was
Transportation startup Lucid Motors is working on an electric car to rival the Tesla Model S, and it just announced plans to build a $700 million manufacturing facility to bring it to fruition. Meanwhile, Lexus unveiled a mind-blowing car covered with 41,999 LEDs that can change colors at a whim. Could the solution to congested streets lie in subterranean tunnels? That's the idea behind these crazy CarTubes, which could move city traffic underground. Four major cities around the world pledged to ban diesel cars by the year 2025, and UPS just rolled out its very first e-bike delivery vehicle in Portland, Oregon.
US couriers issue strict guidelines for returning your Galaxy Note 7
If you can't walk into your carrier's store to turn in a Galaxy Note 7 in person, you'll have to ask them for Samsung's fire-proof box and wait for it to come in. FedEx and UPS have announced that they won't ship out the phone unless it's inside one of the special containers Samsung has prepared for it. This container is actually comprised of several boxes you'll have to stack like a Russian doll, though the outermost one is lined with ceramic fiber designed to keep potential fires under control. Meanwhile, the US Postal Service will accept your shipment, so long as it's inside hard cardboard or plastic boxes.
Samsung ships fire-proof boxes and gloves to recover Note 7s
If you purchased a Galaxy Note 7 from a US carrier or retailer, you can (and should) return it to a store immediately. If you bought the phone straight from Samsung, though, the process was a little trickier -- some customers complained early on about FedEx and UPS refusing to handle return units out of fears they would blow up. That's why Samsung has adopted an elaborate recall box that allows affected phones to be returned to the company via UPS Ground. It's... sort of a doozy.
UPS testing drones to deliver emergency medical supplies
Remember when Amazon announced Prime Air drone delivery back in 2013? Following the excited hubbub, other services including UPS scrambled to try out competitive airbone services. But then everyone ran into a slew of logistics and regulations issues, which have taken years to untangle. In the past few months, Google was given FAA approval for drone deliveries and Amazon might bypass regulation entirely for its air shipping. But UPS is going in a different direction: Testing UAVs to ferry emergency medical supplies.
Amazon angers FAA by shipping industrial chemicals via UPS
The FAA wants to slap Amazon with a $350,000 fine for suspected violations of the Hazardous Materials regulations. According to the agency, Amazon has been caught shipping volatile, potentially dangerous chemicals without proper care and attention. In this case, the firm handed a gallon container of a drain cleaner to UPS for a flight between Louisville and Boulder. This wasn't any old carton of Drano, however, but a chemical called Amazing Liquid Fire, which looks like the sort of homemade explosive that'd be pulled from shelves the day it went on sale.
Four weeks with Jet (aka 'My month without Amazon')
I placed my very first order on Amazon.com for two very popular albums back on June 20th, 2000. I'd later go on to place about 230 orders, including everything from a mattress (no wait, make that two mattresses; don't ask) and soap -- lots and lots of soap. I loved Amazon so much that at one point I remember saying it was the kind of brand that could do no wrong. But, soon after that second mattress order, my romance with the company began to fall apart, thanks to shoddy logistics and problems with Amazon's renowned two-day Prime shipping.
