The Covid-19 pandemic and technology have forced companies to sharpen their ingenuity … and we have seen an example these days in China when the autonomous food trucks of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) began to operate containers of Self-service food without the need for a delivery person.
The most famous fried chicken can now be obtained at street level and without the need for human contact. A small autonomous vehicle with different servings inside and a large tablet in which the customer can place their order and make the payment safely … and without having to enter any closed space.
The vehicles have been developed by Neelix, which has partnered with KFC to launch these cute mobile restaurants that have attracted a lot of attention in China. The fried chicken giant (which in China is even more giant since hamburgers do not fit much in the Asian food culture) seems that it is not the only fast-food company interested in this type of vehicle since Neolix also has a Deal with Pizza Hut, so we could soon see an ‘Italian’ version of this vending on wheels.
The vehicles are small robot cars with 2.4 cubic meters of space to store products, and commercial restaurant equipment and very appropriate size to circulate the city without becoming an insurmountable obstacle and that, for example, is barely one meter wide. They can move at a maximum of 50 km / h (the concept of fast food should therefore be reconsidered), they have the autonomy to travel 100 km, and can overcome slopes of even 20%. Their perimeter camera and radar systems allow them to detect any obstacle on the road when they move … or a customer who wants to stop them to buy food.
The Neelix had already been used for other purposes previously, also related to the pandemic since they had acted as ‘last mile’ distributors to avoid contact between the dealer and the customer and thus minimize the risks of contagion. But also by governments, such as that of the United Arab Emirates, which has used it as a surveillance robot to comply with the confinement.
