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BrightDrop, a GM subsidiary that works on electric commercial vehicles, has unveiled the Trace Grocery, a temperature-controlled grocery cart designed to help customers with online orders. The automaker teamed up with America’s largest supermarket chain, Kroger, to design the car.
The Trace Grocery is built on the BrightDrop Trace platform, which was originally intended for last mile deliveries. It is an eCart that can help supermarket workers to easily move up to 350 lbs (159 kg) of food thanks to its drive assist technology.
The eCart not only helps move the groceries, but also keeps them from getting away thanks to the automatic braking function, which keeps the cart at a constant speed of 5 km/h, regardless of the slope.
Also Read: Kroger and Nuro Launch Autonomous Grocery Delivery Service
The Trace Grocery has nine compartments to hold food and each can be temperature controlled to ensure ice stays frozen without damaging your greens. It is also weather resistant so it can be used outdoors.
That will be particularly useful, as BrightDrop envisions the Trace Grocery being filled by store clerks and then placed on the curb to wait for a customer to pick up their groceries. This means that customers can pick up their groceries when it suits them best.
Before BrightDrop unveiled the eCart, BrightDrop partnered with Kroger and completed a pilot program in Lexington and Versailles, Kentucky. The program was so successful that the grocer is now BrightDrop’s first customer and will start receiving production units later this year.
“COVID has led to 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 meet these challenges,” said BrightDrop President and CEO Travis Katz. “As online shopping continues to grow, BrightDrop is committed to developing innovative solutions to help our customers keep pace. The Trace Grocery is a perfect example of that.”
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