Colruyt Group Tests Clevon's Unmanned Vehicle in Belgium

After internal testing, the “CLEVON 1” takes to the public road in Londerzeel: Belgium’s longest route without a driver.

Collect&Go, Colruyt Group’s online shopping service, is currently testing the state-of-the-art technology: a vehicle built by the Estonian technology company Clevon that combines remote teleoperation with advanced autopilot functionality. The aim is to find out what such a vehicle can mean for Collect&Go in a rapidly changing e-commerce context. Remotely controlled, the self-driving vehicle will take to public roads for the first time today. In doing so, it will cover a 4-kilometre route, from the distribution centre to Collect&Go’s pick-up point in Londerzeel. This is the longest route ever covered in Belgium by an unmanned vehicle.

Focus on innovation: thorough testing of a special technology

The first test runs of the CLEVON 1 vehicle, a technological “tour de force” developed by the Estonian company Clevon, took place in recent weeks on the parking lot of the distribution centre in Londerzeel. Today follows a test in which the unmanned vehicle makes a delivery to the Collect&Go collection point in Londerzeel. With a journey of about 4 kilometres, that is immediately the longest stretch on public roads in Belgium for a remotely controlled device. Kim Vancauwenberghe, Managing Director of Colruyt Group Smart Technics comments: “In this first phase, we mainly want to test the technology, study what the vehicle is already capable of and see how, together with the local and federal government, we can provide not only safe, but also ecological transport on public roads in an urban environment. The tests not only provide useful insights for the online shopping service Collect&Go. Other formulas in our group are also following the study with great interest.”