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global eyes
Making more of a
connection...
Last mile’s assault on batteries
Data analysis is coming off the football pitch and into the stands with an interesting cooperation between a top English soccer team and its technology partner.
Manchester City wants to know
what makes its fans feel alive, so it has been working with Cisco, the team’s technology partner since 2019, to create a “Connected Scarf”.
Using a bio sensor sitting discreetly on the neck, the Connected Scarf captures the body’s bio-signals throughout a match with a view to enabling the football club to “shape more curated, customized experiences in the future.”
The scarf records a range of physiological measures, including heart rate, body temperature, and emotional arousal – providing concrete information to analyse how fans are feeling at different moments in the match.
According to the two organisations, the accessory will bring “fans closer to the game than ever before,” although exactly how this happens is unclear.
Cisco recently completed a pilot program to test the device recording a test group’s data across 120 “moments of interest,” enabling them to analyse how each fan in the room felt.
“Using the data, we’ll be able to understand fans more than ever before,” says Chintan Patel, Chief Technology Officer of Cisco UK and Ireland.
“It provides an opportunity to be more inclusive and learn more about the role sport plays in all our lives.”
Strikes us such technology could be well employed during Orientation Week in Dunedin...
www.mancity.com/club/partners/cisco/ the-connected-scarf
WITH GROWING GLOBAL consumer interest in low emission vehicles, and undertakings to reduce their corporate footprints firmly in place, the world’s largest retailers have been busy testing greener ways of delivering their goods.
In terms of electric delivery vehicles however, it is not so much the choice as much as availability in volume that has proven to be an obstacle.
Media darlings Tesla, Rivian and Faraday for example have all stumbled, even as they edge towards delivery of their commercial-use EV offerings.
As a result, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart has just purchased no less than 4,500 all-electric delivery vehicles with the option to purchase up to 10,000 units from an EV start-up called Canoo.
Beginning with Canoo’s Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), the vehicles will be used to deliver online orders starting in 2023, with a pilot program already underway in the Dallas Fort Worth area to refine and finalise vehicle configuration.
With an estimated production start of Q4 2022, Canoo’s LDV is an American- made commercial EV that’s “optimised for sustainable last mile delivery use cases.”
As with all Canoo vehicles, which range from the LDV to a pickup and lifestyle van style vehicle, the LDV uses the company’s proprietary multi- purpose platform (MPP) architecture that integrates the motors, battery module and other critical driving
components.
The LDV is engineered for high
frequency stop-go deliveries and speedy vehicle to door drop-off, including grocery and food/meal delivery.
The LDV’s interior has been specifically designed for small package delivery and its 120 cubic feet of adaptable cargo space can evolve with customer needs which might lead to
a decreasing per unit investment over time.
Canoo’s electric vehicles will be driven by Walmart associates and used to deliver online orders, from groceries to general merchandise, as well as
the potential to be used for Walmart GoLocal, the retailer’s delivery-as-a- service business.
https://corporate.walmart.com/ www.canoo.com
34 NZHJ | AUGUST 2022
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