New York Post

THE PIZZA GUY'S NOW A 'PIEBORG'

Domino's rolls out robot delivery

- By CHRIS PEREZ

The robots are coming — with pizza.

Starting this summer, Domino’s will be using a fleet of autonomous robots to make deliveries in parts of Germany and the Netherland­s.

The driverless devices will travel on six wheels at a pace of 4 mph, dropping off piping-hot pizzas within a one-mile radius of each store, the company says.

“With our growth plans over the next five to 10 years, we simply won’t have enough delivery drivers if we do not look to add to our fleet through initiative­s such as this,” Domino’s CEO Don Meij said.

“Robotic delivery units will complement our existing delivery methods, including cars, scooters and e-bikes.”

Domino’s is teaming up with Starship Technologi­es to bring the robots to select German and Dutch cities, although it’s unclear exactly where. Tech-Crunch reports that Hamburg is one of the locations.

“We’re shared in our vision with Domino’s to constantly improve convenienc­e for the customer.” said Starship CEO Ahti Heinla. “Not only is Domino’s pizza delicious, but the perfect topping is giving back the luxury of time and control to the customer, and our robots are best placed to offer this.”

Domino’s says customers who want to have their pizza delivered by a robot will have to specifical­ly ask for the option.

The company has already begun scrapping drivers in New Zealand in favor of a pizza-delivery drone, which can make dropoffs in less than five minutes.

The decision to do away with humans and roll in robots left many social-media users with a bad taste in their mouths on Wednesday.

“This is how Skynet took over,” joked one tweeter, in a reference to thehe “Terminator” films.

“First it was email . . . then turning your pizza rolls into weapons of mass destructio­n.”

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