Driverless pizza is on its way to your door
Autonomous cars will begin delivering Domino’s pizzas to Houstonians through a new partnership between the pizza chain and Nuro, a California startup, the companies announced Monday.
Domino’s is rolling out Nuro’s first driverless model this week at its Woodland Heights location on Houston Avenue.
Nuro first ventured into Houston through a partnership with Kroger, which began using its fleet of self-driving Toyota Priuses to make grocery deliveries in 2019. It expanded its delivery in Houston last year with a prescription delivery service through CVS as demand for delivery services soared during the pandemic.
Now, Domino’s customers in the Heights who have prepaid for delivery online will be able to select the driverless option, according to a Domino’s news release. They will then receive a text with a location for the autonomous vehicle, called the R2, and a PIN number to enter into the vehicle’s touchscreen once it arrives. The PIN unlocks the R2’s doors so customers can retrieve their order.
The delivery service will cost the same as Domino’s existing delivery options, the company said. Delivery charges vary from store to store, but are $3.35 per order at the Woodland Heights location.
“We’re excited to continue innovating the delivery experience for Domino’s customers by testing autonomous delivery with Nuro in Houston,” Dennis Maloney, Domino’s senior vice president and chief innovation officer, said in the release. “There is still so
much for our brand to learn about the autonomous delivery space.”
Chipotle Mexican Grill hopped on the Nuro wagon
last month, announcing it would participate in a $500 million funding call Nuro put out late last year. Founded in 2016 by a pair of Google veterans, Nuro previously raised $1 billion from investors, including Silicon Valley venture capital
firm Greylock Partners and Japanese holding conglomerate SoftBank, to make autonomous vehicle deliveries affordable for the mass market.