https://www.carscoops.com/2018/08/mercedes-caught-borrowing-dhls-electric-delivery-truck-using-test-track/ Mercedes Caught ‘Borrowing’ DHL’s Electric Delivery Truck, Using It On Test Track August 31, 2018 Michael Gauthier
[images https://images.carscoops.com/2018/08/85f85b31-streetscooter.jpg https://images.carscoops.com/2018/08/9a9277dc-streetscooter-1-768x400.jpg https://images.carscoops.com/2018/08/be2b0b06-streetscooter-3.jpg ] Automakers constantly keep tabs on rivals and their competing products, but Mercedes went to unusual lengths to get a hold of something rather mundane – an electric delivery vehicle. According to Der Spiegel, Deutsche Post DHL and its StreetScooter division made waves when it unveiled their electric delivery truck. The companies wanted to see if there was enough demand to offer the model to other businesses and invited potential customers to drive the truck to see if they were interested. A number of businesses signed up, but one of them raised a red flag. The report says the company billed itself as a nursing service which was looking to see if the electric model would be suitable for transporting patients. This doesn’t sound too unusual, but the company’s mailing address didn’t show up in DHL’s massive database. Curious as to why the company would have lied on its application, DHL alerted engineers and they began tracking the truck using GPS. The truck was headed towards Stuttgart and it ended up at a Daimler facility. A short time later, it was reportedly driven on a test track. DHL was understandably surprised by this development and it wasn’t without irony as the delivery service had asked Daimler to develop an electric delivery vehicle for them a few years earlier. Daimler rebuffed that request, but it appears the automaker was extremely interested in what the company had developed. DHL wasn’t going to put up with Daimler’s snooping, so the head of Streetscooter sent an employee and a couple of lawyers to demand that the automaker return the vehicle. This apparently caught Daimler off guard as members of the company’s development team had reportedly just taken the truck for a spin. After waiting approximately half an hour, the delivery truck was returned with “no excuse, no explanation.” One day later, Daimler reportedly confessed to the trickery and explained that renting out competing vehicles is a “common procedure” in the automotive industry. While that’s certainly true, it’s probably not the smartest idea to give a fake address to a delivery company. [© carscoops.com] + https://www.electricvehiclesresearch.com/articles/15235/autonomous-grocery-delivery-trial Autonomous grocery delivery trial September 03, 2018 AutoX' has launched a grocery delivery Pilot program in California. The grocery delivery and mobile store pilot in San Jose allows users to order and receive fresh produce and other goods, which will be delivered by ... self-driving EVs. Arriving in time for the autumn harvest season, this new amenity will be available to customers in geo-fenced areas near San Jose, with regular expansions every few weeks ... https://idtxs3.imgix.net/si/40000/1B/10.png?w=800 For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
