Domino's is now using a robot to deliver pizza in Houston

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Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Domino's launches autonomous delivery in Houston
The way you get your pizza is changing! Here's how Domino's Pizza's autonomous deliver car works.

HOUSTON, Texas -- The days of people delivering pizza may end sooner than you think.

Domino's Pizza has announced the launch of autonomous pizza delivery.

But wait - it's only in Houston, Texas, for now.

The pizza chain has partnered up with Nuro, a robotics company, to offer some of its Houston customers the option to choose to have their pizza delivered by a robot.

The Nuro R-2 robot is a completely autonomous on-road vehicle.

This means, there will not be a delivery driver to greet you at the door with your order.

Instead, the robot will drive the order to the address and customers will receive a pin to retrieve their order when it has arrived.

"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 hot Domino's order," Domino's explained.

The option is available for customers who order from the Woodland Heights location in Houston.

"We're excited to continue innovating the delivery experience for Domino's customers by testing autonomous delivery with Nuro in Houston," said Dennis Maloney, Domino's senior vice president and chief innovation officer. "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. The growing demand for great-tasting pizza creates the need for more deliveries, and we look forward to seeing how autonomous delivery can work along with Domino's existing delivery experts to better support the customers' needs."