ALEX DE STASIO

Role: Lead Industrial Designer

Timeline: Started project Jan 2021 // Launched Oct 2021

Team: 1 Industrial Designer, 1 Design Manager, 1 Product Manager, 4 Mechanical Engineers

The Bolt Delivery Platform was part of Cruise’s foray into autonomous delivery, which introduced a new way to utilize the fleet of AVs. In 2021, Cruise partnered with Walmart to deliver groceries to customers in Scottsdale, AZ. To date, the platform has performed thousands of deliveries, with plans to expand to more cities in the US.

The platform converts Cruise’s autonomous passenger vehicles into customer-facing delivery vehicles. The cargo unit is bolted in place of the rear seats of the car and holds two grocery orders. The key goals of the design were to safely transport medium-large orders (up to 4 cubic feet), while making loading and receiving orders autonomously an effortless, welcoming experience. The team had to consider needs of the customer receiving the order, the loader inserting the order at Walmart, and the tech team that installs and maintains the unit.

The unit holds two orders, but is only accessed by the customer on the curb side (the right side of the vehicle). The unit makes the second order reachable from the curbside using a sliding tray mounted on internal tracks. The user pulls the bin to unload, and a pull handle is available for those with limited reach. Several iterations of this sliding tray were explored before the final design, including a fully automated conveyor belt similar to a grocery checkout counter. Each iteration was tested with real users in Scottsdale.