Domino’s, Nuro partner to bring autonomous pizza deliver to Houston
ANN ARBOR–The Ann Arbor pizza delivery giant Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) announced a partnership with Nuro, a developer of autonomous delivery vehicles based in Mountain View, Calif. to develop autonomous pizza delivery using the custom unmanned vehicle known as the R2 later this year.
Domino’s will use Nuro’s unmanned fleet to serve select Houston Domino’s customers who place orders online. This partnership will expand Nuro’s autonomous delivery operations, which have been running in the Houston metro area since March.
“We are always looking for new ways to innovate and evolve the delivery experience for our customers,” said Kevin Vasconi, Domino’s executive vice president and CIO. “Nuro’s vehicles are specially designed to optimize the food delivery experience, which makes them a valuable partner in our autonomous vehicle journey. The opportunity to bring our customers the choice of an unmanned delivery experience, and our operators an additional delivery solution during a busy store rush, is an important part of our autonomous vehicle testing.”
Select customers who order online from one of Domino’s participating stores will have the opportunity to use Nuro’s autonomous delivery. Once they have opted in, customers can track the vehicle via the Domino’s app and will be provided with a unique PIN code to unlock the compartment to get their pizza.
Said Cosimo Leipold, Nuro’s head of partner relations: “Domino’s delivers millions of pizzas around the world every day, and the company shares our passion for focusing on the customer experience. We see incredible opportunity in offering Nuro’s world-class autonomous technology to Domino’s customers, accelerating our shared mission to transform local commerce.”
Nuro develops and operates a fleet of self-driving vehicles that deliver local goods of all kinds, from dinner to dry cleaning. Led by experts in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and product design, the company began making driverless deliveries to the public in 2018. Nuro has raised more than $1 billion in financing from investors including Softbank and Greylock and shares partnerships with leading brands such as Domino’s and Kroger. More at https://nuro.ai.
Domino’s Pizza has more than 16,100 stores in more than 85 markets, with 2018 revenue of $13.5 billion, including $6.6 billion in the United States and more than $6.9 billion internationally. Its system is comprised of independent franchise owners who accounted for 98 percent of Domino’s stores as of the first quarter of 2019. The company made more than half of all global retail sales in 2018 from digital channels, primarily online ordering and mobile applications. In late 2017, Domino’s began an industry-first test of self-driving vehicle delivery with Ford Motor Co. – and in April 2018, launched Domino’s HotSpots, featuring over 200,000 non-traditional delivery locations including parks, beaches, local landmarks and other unique gathering spots. More at www.dominos.com.