Domino’s Nuro Autonomous Delivery Vehicle
Source: Domino’s
Domino’s Pizza’s latest delivery is not a person – it’s a self-driving car.
The restaurant company said Monday that an autonomous car manufactured by Nuro will deliver pizzas in Houston this week as part of a pilot program.
Customers must place a prepaid order on Domino’s website for delivery from Woodland Heights’ chain. If their order falls within certain days and times, they can choose to have Nuro’s R2 robot drop off their pizza. Once the robot arrives, customers will enter a unique PIN on its touch screen to open the doors so they can pick up their pizza.
A Domino’s spokesman said the company did not yet have an end date for the pilot program.
The R2 robot is the first completely autonomous delivery vehicle on the road without any occupants receiving government approval from the US Department of Transportation. Founded by two former members of Google’s self-driving car team, Nuro raised $ 500 million in its final round of financing, which included an investment by Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Over the past decade, Dominoes has invested in technology to make ordering and receiving a pizza faster and easier, thus luring customers away from independent pizzerias and other chains, such as Papa John’s. Driverless pizza delivery has recently been a focal point, though the company is still years – or even decades – away from replacing its entire driver fleet.
In 2019, the company announced its partnership with Nuro. Two years earlier, they had investigated how consumers would react to pizza delivery by a Ford autonomous car.
Domino’s shares have risen 13% in the past year, giving a market value of $ 15.2 billion. The company has benefited from consumers’ desire to deliver during the coronavirus pandemic, but analysts are worried about pizza fatigue in the coming months.