Domino’s Pizza in the United States could soon be delivering via autonomous robots. In a new collaboration with Nuro, the company behind the autonomous Kroger delivery vehicles, Domino’s believes that their pizzas could be arriving autonomously by the end of the year. The partnership between the pizza company and the Silicon Valley start-up will begin later this year, and will initially localise the delivery to a single location.
The Nuro vehicles are capable of reaching up to 40 kilometres per hour and will have to be working around the clock to keep up with even just a fraction of Domino’s three million pizzas delivered globally per day. The launch is scheduled for Houston, where customers will be able to place and track their order through the Domino’s app. Once the vehicle arrives, customers need only enter the pin provided through the app to unlock their compartment within the vehicle and retrieve their pizza.
In a statement released by Domino’s, Kevin Vasconi, Domino’s executive vice president and chief information officer, said, “We are always looking for new ways to innovate and evolve the delivery experience for our customers. Nuro’s vehicles are specially designed to optimise the food delivery experience, which makes them a valuable partner in our autonomous vehicle journey.”
“The opportunity to bring our customers the choice of an unmanned delivery experience, and our operators an additional delivery solution during a busy store rush, is an important part of our autonomous vehicle testing.”
