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Domino’s Pizza is aiming to use a robot to fulfill its orders for delivery. The restaurant was revealed to be testing its R2 vehicle, a Nuro-made autonomous vehicle that will deliver pizzas to customers.
As per CNBC, the pizza chain will test its delivery robot in Houston this week, and it is hoping for a successful driverless delivery. This will be Domino’s first-ever delivery option that does not involve a person.
How the driverless delivery works
The pizza restaurant chain said on Monday, April 12, that it will begin its pilot program for the R2 self-driving car. Customers who will place their order on Domino’s website will get to see this new robot delivery guy. The transaction is prepaid since it cannot accept payments.
Initially, the driverless car will only be available in Domino Pizza’s Woodland Heights branch. Based on the pilot program, customers who place orders on certain days and times may be lucky to have the option to pick Nuro’s R2 delivery robot to send their pizza, as per CNBC.
When the delivery robot arrives at its destination, customers are asked to input a PIN on the touch screen, and its doors will open. Customers can now get their hot pizza from the compartment. In any case, while it was said that the testing would start this week, Domino’s Pizza’s spokesperson shared that they have not decided on the exact date yet.
The Nuro R2 robot
Nuro’s R2 robot is completely operated without a driver, and it was designed to make on-road deliveries. It has been approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, so it is safe to be tested.
Nuro is a company that was formed by former employees of Google’s self-driving car. At any rate, it was said that Domino’s is investing in this robot technology to make delivery and ordering of pizzas faster and easier.
"We're excited to continue innovating the delivery experience for Domino's customers by testing autonomous delivery with Nuro in Houston," Domino’s senior vice president and chief innovation officer, Dennis Maloney, said in a press release. "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.”
