Race for driverless delivery van hots up

Two former Google engineers have announced they have entered the race to create a self-driving delivery van.

Raising $US92 million ($A114 million) from investors, Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu reportedly left the tech giant's self-driving project to work on their dream of realising an autonomous delivery vehicle.

Claimed to be far easier to develop and less complicated to build than a passenger-carrying driverless car, the Nuro van sold to investors is only half as wide as a typical family sedan.

Featuring a configurable load bay that can be set-up to carry lockers, or a heated or cooled load space, Zhu and Ferguson envisage the Nuro will deliver anything from groceries to pizzas and dry cleaning.

So far, the small van has taken just 18 months to develop. Helping the pair cut development corners, the small delivery van has been designed to operate only in urban conditions and not be used on the highway.

That means the van only needs to harness the power of short-range radar and lidar sensors instead of the extra hardware needed for a car to operate at high speed.

Claimed to be in limited service by the end of the year, the Nuro is set to go head-to-head with Toyota, which revealed its E-palette concept at this year's CES show in Las Vegas.

Luckily, for the small Silicon Valley start-up, Nuro might get the upper hand on Toyota. The e-Palette will not enter real-world trials until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

That said, the Japanese-car maker has confirmed Amazon, Uber and Pizza Hut, along with Mazda and a Chinese ride-sharing company, are already backing the e-Palette.