An Autonomous Vehicle Platform for Parcel Delivery

Due to its affordability, adaptability, and ease of deployment, autonomous freight vehicles are gaining popularity and offering creative solutions for last-mile distribution, transport from the nearest distribution hub to final destination. The design of a small, autonomous vehicle that can operate in both indoor and outdoor settings named “sidewalk robot” is the purpose of this study. The developed vehicle applies modular design. Its steering chassis integrates the ROS2 framework with autonomous algorithms like Cartographer mapping and Navigation2, using odometers, an IMU, LiDAR, and cameras for ambient awareness. The vehicle's navigation abilities based on the real-time map are encouraging. The testing results show the vehicle's promising potential, which provide technological guidance for projects of a similar nature.