BrightDrop, the General Motors subsidiary that builds electric commercial delivery trucks and other delivery technology, is expanding into the online grocery business by introducing a new eCart to help expedite grocery orders.
On Monday, the company said it will launch the new temperature-controlled cart called Trace Grocery this year. It will help streamline both order fulfillment and customer pickup for online groceries by eliminating steps in the process.
BrightDrop’s first customer will be grocery-giant Kroger, which will start using the cart in its e-commerce operations this year, a GM news release stated.
BrightDrop spokesman Daniel Roberts declined to provide sales volume estimates. A spokesperson for Kroger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“COVID has driven a dramatic increase in online grocery shopping, and fulfilling these orders profitably has become a major challenge for retailers of all sizes. With the Trace Grocery, we saw an opportunity to help companies like Kroger tackle these challenges head on,” said BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz in a statement.
Katz said BrightDrop developed Trace Grocery after building prototypes, market research and customer pilot programs over the past year. BrightDrop and Kroger completed an initial pilot program with the eCart in Lexington and Versailles, Kentucky. During this pilot, Kroger experienced a noticeable improvement in the customer and associate experience.
Here is how it works: Currently online grocery orders involve many steps within the store to identify, collect and store food before delivering it to customers. Trace Grocery lets employees plug orders directly into the unit. It can move in and out of the store without an employee present. It can be stationed curbside for customer retrieval. Customers provide a digital verification to get access to the cart.
Besides being temperature-controlled to store food items up to four hours, it can move 350 pounds of groceries and it has auto-braking to stop the electric motor that matches an operator’s walking speed up to 3 mph. It has nine compartments to segment items by order, temperature and product type and its flexibility to maneuver inside and outside the store, helps reduce costly staging and infrastructure requirements. GM said it is weatherproof to handle a variety of outdoor conditions.
Full-scale availability of the Trace Grocery is expected in 2024 with advanced customizable capabilities planned for future release.
BrightDrop already has orders for its electric delivery trucks with companies such as FedEx, Merchants Fleet and Walmart. In January, Walmart signed an agreement to reserve 5,000 Zevo 600 trucks — which resemble brown UPS trucks— and Zevo 410, a midsize electric delivery van.
Also in January, FedEx signed an agreement to reserve priority production for 2,000 of the Zevo 600 vans over the next few years. This agreement adds to FedEx’s initial reservation of 500 vans announced last year. Additionally, FedEx plans to add up to 20,000 more BrightDrop vans to its fleets in the future depending on further negotiations.
GM started BrightDrop last year. Besides the two commercial electric delivery vehicles, it offers other technological solutions for the delivery industry such as the EP1, a propulsion-assisted electric pallet to move goods over short distances, including from the delivery truck to a front door. It also offers mobile asset management for the EP1 to allow for location monitoring, battery status and other remote commands.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.