Domino's Pizza launched a pilot program with autonomous vehicle provider Nuro

Inside AI, 2021/4/14

Domino's Pizza launched a pilot program with autonomous vehicle provider Nuro and will begin deliveries in Houston this week. The deliveries will be made using Nuro's R2 robots, the first fully autonomous on-road delivery vehicle (without a human safety driver) that's received permission to operate in the U.S.

Nuro was founded in 2016 and has raised $1.5B since its inception.

By December 2020, it was testing and making paid deliveries to consumers in Texas and California using its R2 vehicles, which don't have steering wheels or pedals.

Nuro has partnerships with retailers and restaurants such as Krogers, Walmart, and CVS.

Last month, Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung said the fast-food chain would begin making deliveries in Nuro's autonomous vehicles within five years.

However, Domino's is still years or decades away from replacing its delivery fleet with autonomous vehicles.