Retail Tech Weekly: From Autonomous Delivery to High Street Turnarounds

Starship Technologies is redeploying its 1,200-robot US campus fleet to urban grocery markets, a move CEO Ahti Heinla describes as a necessary transition toward higher-value verticals. The company claims its robots can now undercut traditional courier costs by $3-4 per delivery, aiming to solve the margin pressures inherent in last-mile grocery logistics.

Elsewhere on the high street, the former WHSmith business—now rebranded as TG Jones—is fighting to stay afloat. CEO Alex Willson is overseeing a restructuring plan that involves store layout overhauls, the reintroduction of store managers, and a move away from the pricing models previously dictated by the WHSmith fascia. Meanwhile, the integration of automation continues at scale: Tesco has partnered with ICE to deploy cleaning robots across 600 Express stores, and B&R Stores in Nebraska is integrating Simbe’s Tally inventory robots to automate shelf scanning. On the logistics front, Gatik and PepsiCo have launched what they claim is the largest commercial driverless freight deployment in the US, with over 40 trucks currently navigating routes across Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas.