FUTURITY SYSTEMS

Autonomous delivery complements, and could ultimately replace, human delivery services, which themselves are growing rapidly. A 2016 report by McKinsey predicted that nonrobotic same-day and instant delivery will reach 25% of the market by 2025, but ultimately more than 80% of deliveries will be autonomous. Delivery services are a substitute for in-person store visits, so conventional retail, grocery, and restaurants are all threatened by the rise of roaming robots, as are carmakers (no shopping means one less reason to own a car). Delivery and logistics companies, carmakers, as well as retailers themselves, have taken notice, and started a slew of partnerships and acquisitions. Postmates Serve and Amazon Scout are the company's own developments, and in 2019, Walmart filed twice as many drone patents as Amazon.