Domino's and Nuro, are launching autonomous pizza delivery in Houston. The service will be available for select customers who place a prepaid order on the company's website and on certain days and times. Customers can choose to have their pizza delivered by Nuro's R2 robot. Nuro's R2 is the first completely autonomous, occupantless on-road delivery vehicle with a regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Here's how it works: select customers who place a prepaid website order from the participating Domino's store can opt to have their order delivered by R2. Customers who are selected will receive text alerts, which will update them on R2's location and provide them with a unique PIN to retrieve their order. Customers may also track the vehicle via GPS on their order confirmation page. Once R2 arrives, customers will be prompted to enter their PIN on the bot's touchscreen. R2's doors will then gently open upward, revealing the customer's order.
Once R2 arrives, customers will be prompted to enter their PIN on the bot's touchscreen.
Dennis Maloney, Domino's senior vice president and chief innovation officer said, "There is still so much for our brand to learn about the autonomous delivery space. This program will allow us to better understand how customers respond to the deliveries, how they interact with the robot and how it affects store operations."
We are certainly moving towards a future where autonomous vehicles are being used for deliveries at ones doortstep. In fact, even Amazon and many other e-commerce platforms are working towards taking the autonomous route as well.
