Photo: Domino’s
In April, the pizza company Domino’s and self-driving delivery company Nuro launched autonomous pizza delivery in Houston, Texas. Select customers who place a prepaid online order on certain days and times from Domino’s in Woodland Heights can choose to have their pizza delivered by Nuro’s R2 autonomous, occupantless on-road delivery vehicle.
Customers selected for the service receive text alerts, which update them on R2’s location and provide them with a unique PIN to retrieve their order. Once R2 arrives, customers are prompted to enter their PIN on a touchscreen, opening its doors.
In February 2020, Nuro became the first autonomous vehicle developer to be given exemptions by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for testing on public roads without the need to have controls for human operators. Unlike many other autonomous vehicle companies, Nuro engineered its self-driving road vehicles to transport goods instead of people.
There’s no set timetable for how quickly Domino’s and Nuro will evaluate their testing or expand the service.
Nuro is also carrying out trials and pilot deliveries with several other companies, including restaurant chain Chipotle, Kroger grocery stores, CVS pharmacies, Walmart and FedEx.