It’s begun – as of Fall 2019, you might see an unmanned vehicle resembling a giant pill bug on wheels driving down your street. Domino’s recently announced that it will partner with Silicon Valley start-up robotics company, Nuro, to deliver pizzas to customers. However, this new delivery approach will be limited to online orders placed in Houston, Texas for now. Consider this the company’s test drive.
The Nuro vehicle has a narrow frame, only about half the width of a typical car, and half the weight of a typical car as well. This allows the vehicle to navigate around obstructions and gives it a few additional feet of safety buffer to avoid collisions if someone pulls out of a driveway suddenly or steps out from in between parked cars.
Consumers will be able to track their driverless vehicle via the Domino’s app; once the vehicle arrives at the delivery location, consumers will be able to use a PIN code provided by Domino’s to unlock the vehicle’s compartment and get their pizza. Domino’s Executive Vice President, Kevin Vasconi, said, “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.” This is likely just the beginning. We are sure to see many more autonomous food delivery services popping up all over the country and around the world.