The concept
One aspect of Icona’s Smart City Layered Mobility System is our autonomous Robot Shuttle. The Robot Shuttle consists of a modular mobility pod designed to carry out different functions, such as delivery, passenger transportation and ambulance, all on the same platform. The shuttles can even act as on-street stores for essential goods, continuously topped up by the system. The wheeled autonomous chassis manages the logistics related to long-range transit and can also transport small robots which can help carry out maintenance chores around the city, manage micro-delivery tasks and work as a mobile vending machines.
The modular design allows our Robot Shuttle to carry out different functions on the same platform.
The delivery system of the future
The autonomous buses can easily switch their color-coding to carry out different functions and signal their current task through the displayed color. For example, non-essential items may be collected from the warehouse by the Blue delivery bus. These buses will run continuously on the main road while the smaller robots transported within each bus carry out individual delivery tasks. Essential products may be, instead, handled by red buses. Most of the essential products will therefore be available in these red delivery buses, located in different strategical hotspots around the city. These buses will be topped up regularly with essential products by the blue delivery buses, which will collect the essentials from the logistic hub. These buses will be stationed in tourist, shopping, or entertainment districts, where people could need things immediately and would benefit from having them easily accessible on the street.