Starship Technologies, a supplier of autonomous robotics technology, has secured permission from Greenwich Council to trial self-driving delivery robots.

The Estonia-based startup – set up by two of Skype’s co-founders, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis – has just opened a London office in the area. It aims to revolutionise the logistics sector and cut the cost of delivering goods – by as much as 15 times per shipment – using a fleet of autonomous, lightweight robots for the last-mile, local delivery of items such as groceries.

Its six-wheeled robots generate zero carbon emissions and move around without human input for most of the time – but they are monitored by human controllers, who can take the reins if they need to.

Greenwich – which has already signed up to allow autonomous cars to be tested on its streets as part of a wider government-backed scheme – will allow the robots to use pavements like pedestrians, travelling at slow speeds.

“The trial complements the work undertaken by the Royal Borough of Greenwich on smart city innovation – work that we believe will be significant for all cities in the futures,” said Greenwich Council leader Denise Hyland.

“I am delighted that The Royal Borough of Greenwich has been chosen as the first location in the UK to trial this revolutionary delivery system, and that Starship Technologies has chosen to base their UK offices in Greenwich. This technology has the potential to transform the local delivery of goods and groceries,” she added.