Will your next pizza be delivered by an autonomous vehicle?
Domino’s Pizza has teamed up with Nuro, a company focused on creating a occupantless self-driving robot-car, to deliver pizzas in Houston as part of a pilot program testing out the new technology.
“This program will allow us to better understand how customers respond to the deliveries, how they interact with the robot and how it affects store operations,” said Domino’s senior vice president Dennis Maloney in a press release. “The growing demand for great-tasting pizza creates the need for more deliveries, and we look forward to seeing how autonomous delivery can work along with Domino’s existing delivery experts to better support the customers’ needs.”
The new service will be available to customers at certain dates and times who order online from the Woodland Heights Domino’s in Houston. If available, at checkout, the customer will be able to opt-in to have robot delivery vehicle, named R2, bring them their pizza. They can GPS track R2, and will also receive text alerts about the status of their delivery. A code will be sent to the customer via text that they will enter on a touch screen on R2 in order to open its doors and retrieve their pizza.
Robotics company Nuro, says it aims to “accelerate the benefits of robotics for everyday life.” They have created the first “autonomous, occupantless on-road delivery vehicle with a regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation,” according to the press release. In the past, Nuro has also teamed up with other companies like Kroger and Walmart to test their delivery technology.
“Now, for the first time, we’re launching real world, autonomous deliveries with R2 and Domino’s,” said Dave Ferguson, Nuro co-founder and president. “We’re excited to introduce our autonomous delivery bots to a select set of Domino’s customers in Houston. We can’t wait to see what they think.”
