Domino's Begins Testing Driverless AV Delivery From Houston Store

Select customers in Houston can have a Domino’s pizza delivered by autonomous vehicle beginning this week, said the pizza chain Monday. The Domino’s location in Woodland Heights is testing pizza delivery on certain days and times via Nuro’s R2 robot vehicle to customers who choose that option. To use the service, customers place a prepaid order and choose delivery by R2. They will get text alerts with updates on the robot’s location and a PIN to retrieve the order. They can also track the vehicle by GPS on the order page. When it arrives, customers key in the PIN on the bot’s touch screen, and the door opens to give access to the pizza box, Domino’s said. "There is still so much for our brand to learn about the autonomous delivery space,” said Dennis Maloney, Domino’s chief innovation officer. The Houston program will allow the company to understand how customers respond to the deliveries, “how they interact with the robot and how it affects store operations,” he said. Nuro says R2 is the first fully autonomous, occupantless on-road delivery vehicle with regulatory approval by the Department of Transportation. Domino's didn't respond to questions.