Domino’s teams up with California start-up Nuro to begin driverless pizza deliveries in US
Domino’s, the world largest pizza company by retail sales, teamed up with California self-driving delivery company Nuro to deliver pizzas in the US.
The driverless delivery service began in Houston, Texas, this week.
Customers who place orders online from participating branches at specific times can choose to have their pizza delivered by Nuro’s R2 robotic vehicle, Domino’s said.
They will receive text messages to update them on the R2’s location and provide them with a personal identification number to retrieve their order.
Dominos said customers can also track the vehicle via GPS.
“We are excited to continue innovating the delivery experience for customers by testing autonomous delivery with Nuro in Houston,” said Dennis Maloney, Domino’s senior vice president and chief innovation officer.
He said there was still so much to learn about the driverless delivery space.
“The growing demand for pizza creates the need for more deliveries, and we look forward to seeing how autonomous delivery can work along with existing delivery experts to better support the customers’ needs,” he said.
The pilot initiative will help Domino’s understand how customers respond to driverless deliveries, how they interact with the robot vehicle and how it affects store operations, the Michigan-based company said.
Founded in 2016, Nuro has brought driverless delivery options to local communities in Texas, Arizona and California.
Its R2 robot is the first self-driving vehicle with regulatory approval from the US Department of Transport.
Nuro’s mission is to improve everyday life through robotics, the company’s co-founder and president Dave Ferguson said.
“For the first time, we are launching real-world autonomous deliveries with R2 and Domino’s,” he said.
“We are 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.”
Many companies are experimenting with robots to deliver food, medicines and other essential items to reduce the scope of human interaction and stem the spread of Covid-19.
San Francisco start-up Starship Technologies last year unveiled its food-delivery boxes on wheels in parts of the US and the UK.