Deliveries of the Future

We asked consumers and drivers about the future of AI driverless and drone delivery. How it might impact the industry and its drivers?

What Will Deliveries of the Future Look Like? Here's What Your Customers Told Us!

We asked consumers and drivers about the future of AI driverless and drone delivery. How it might impact the industry and its drivers?

Key takeaways

• Over 90% of Americans are interested in ordering products from AI driverless and drone delivery services.
• Although 80% of delivery drivers fear losing their job to AI, 90% of them believe AI integration will positively impact the industry.
• Delivery drivers expect smart lockers (59%), self-driving cars/trucks (56%), and sidewalk robots (51%) to be norms of the delivery industry in the next five years. 
• 89% of delivery drivers are interested in a career focused on AI driverless and drone deliveries!

The evolution of delivery

The holidays are coming, and with them, an overload of package deliveries.

Finding new ways for consumers to get their purchases is more important than ever. Could AI driverless vehicles or drone delivery be the answer?

Circuit for Teams surveyed 1,000 Americans on their thoughts about high-tech delivery options. Check out what 700 consumers and 300 drivers thought about the future of transporting goods.

Consumer perceptions

Some large retailers already use driverless technology, but what does this mean for your customer’s expectations?

To find out, we asked consumers and drivers to list what they feel are the pros and cons of driverless delivery.

The consumers and delivery drivers we surveyed believed it’ll lead to faster delivery, less traffic, and more efficiency.

Most American consumers were interested in ordering products by driverless and drone delivery, with 90% saying they look forward to it.

Baby boomers were especially eager to find faster deliveries thanks to these upgrades, while Gen Zers saw less pollution as the top benefit.

As for the drawbacks, technical errors and security or hacking issues were the most feared dangers. Loss of delivery jobs and increased risks for pedestrians and cyclists tied for third place among the perceived cons of driverless delivery. 

Key takeaway: D2C business owners and dispatch managers, get ready to implement driverless delivery; 90% of Americans are ready for it, with older generations eager for faster delivery and Gen Z looking forward to a drop in pollution and emissions.

Delivering trust

After finding out what people think about new delivery methods, we asked Americans who they could trust to deliver their purchases without using human couriers.

Find below how some of the biggest retailers were judged in the court of public opinion.

Amazon was the most trustworthy about driverless and drone deliveries.

55% of drivers and consumers believe Amazon has what it takes to implement the technology safely.

 Walmart (40%) and Google (39%) came in at a distant second and third place.

On the flip side, American consumers’ sentiments about food companies showed a fondness for Walmart. This major retailer had the confidence of 60% of those we surveyed. 

The next most trusted food delivery company, Domino’s, got 40% of the vote. More than three-quarters of respondents would happily get a drone-delivered pizza. They’d even get one air-dropped in the middle of a park (80%)! 

Key takeaway: 90% of Americans trust AI and driverless deliveries, indicating D2C business owners and dispatch managers can seamlessly integrate this new technology without the fear of losing business.

Sentiments from the driver’s seat

Although we’re quite some time away from the full integration of this technology, we asked delivery drivers what they thought about new transportation methods and whether it might impact their careers.

Even though the majority of drivers said they fear losing their jobs to AI, 90% also felt it would ultimately benefit the industry. 

Most delivery drivers polled (89%) would even be interested in changing to a career focused on driverless and drone delivery such as working as a driverless drone dispatcher or technician! Of these workers, those earning more than $40,000 a year were 10% more likely to make this change. 

Plus, they expected creative thinking, emotional intelligence, and empathy to get lost by removing drivers from the delivery supply chain.

After all, it’s a lot more difficult to negotiate with a robot that drops down, delivers its package, and zips away back to its warehouse to grab another payload. Once these are introduced, businesses offering excellent customer service will be more important than ever.

What aspects of driverless delivery will we find the most when they become part of our daily lives first?

Above all else, industry workers thought smart lockers would become the norm in the next five years—for secure, contactless order drop-off and retrieval .

But self-driving vehicles, robots, and drones weren’t far behind what delivery drivers thought ma become commonplace soon — and neither were live updates on the condition of customer packages. 

Key takeaway: Though 80% of delivery drivers worry about losing their jobs to AI, 90% of workers in the industry believe the change will have a positive impact on their industry. With the proper training, D2C business owners and dispatch managers can retain their workforce, even  as technology transforms it. 

Pending order

Whether it’s for faster, more efficient delivery, less traffic, and pollution, or just having a pizza dropped from the heavens, Americans are ready to integrate AI and drone delivery into their everyday lives.

With trust in this emerging technology so high among the public, D2C business owners and dispatch managers can quickly adapt without losing teammates. They can even reach more customers and reduce their companies’ environmental impacts.

Delivery drivers find where the industry is heading and are ready and willing to adapt. It’s up to trusted industry giants to harness those changes for both the consumer and their logistics departments.

The public has shown they’re eager to use the new technology. Now, it’s only a matter of time before the roads and skies are full of robot butlers dropping packages into the hands of passersby.

Methodology 

We surveyed 700 American consumers and 300 American delivery drivers about their perceptions of AI driverless and drone deliveries. The mean age of respondents was 34 years old. Among them, 59% were male, and 41% were female. Respondents comprised the following generational breakdown: 20% Gen Z (1998 - 2004), 48% millennials (1981 - 1997), 20% Gen X (1965 - 1980), and 12% baby boomers (1946 - 1964).

About Circuit for Teams

Minimize failed deliveries and deliver more per driver with the world’s best driver app, paired with a world-class delivery management platform.

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