AI-powered robotic vehicles might transport food boxes to disaster and conflict zones, thereby saving the lives of aid workers by as early as next year.
According to the United Nations, there are now more violent conflicts than ever before, which has led to an increase in attacks on humanitarian workers. The fighting in Sudan cost the U.N. agency for food assistance, WFP, three employees earlier this year.
“Sometimes it’s too dangerous to send in a driver or WFP staff. So using that technology could actually be a step change,” Bernhard Kowatsch, head of the WFP’s innovation department said.
Kowatsch was arguing for the use of AI to assist achieve U.N. global goals like eradicating hunger while addressing a conference held in Geneva by the International Telecommunication Union.
The amphibious vehicles have a capacity of 1-2 tonnes of food apiece. Between 2012 and 2016, while aid workers were battling to get to besieged areas of Aleppo, Syria, they were initially conceptualised, according to Kowatsch.
According to him, air drops were expensive and necessitated big spaces that weren’t easily accessible in that region of Syria.
About 50 of the cars are now in use by the UN organisation in South Sudan, but drivers are still needed.
