Domino's and Ford to test self-driving pizza delivery in U.S.
- 7 years ago
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN — Ford and Domino's are launching a research trial using self-driving Ford cars to deliver pizzas to regular customers in Michigan.
The trial will be using Ford Fusion Hybrid Autonomous cars fitted with heatwave compartments that are designed to keep the pizzas warm en route.
Random customers in Ann Arbor will be given the option to choose the self-driving pizza delivery. They have to walk out to the parked car and retrieve their pizza from the compartment using a unique code.
As part of the trial, the car will still be manually driven by a Ford engineer with researchers from both companies who hope to investigate customers' reactions to this delivery service. All personnel will exit the car before the customer reaches the vehicle.
"The majority of our questions are about the last 50 feet of the delivery experience. For instance, how will customers react to coming outside to get their food? We need to make sure the interface is clear and simple. We need to understand if a customer's experience is different if the car is parked in the driveway versus next to the curb. All of our testing research is focused on our goal to someday make deliveries with self-driving vehicles as seamless and customer-friendly as possible," Russell Weiner, president of Domino's USA said in a press release.
Domino's has tested its Domino's Robotic Unit in Australia and New Zealand last year. The company announced earlier this year that the robots will be used to deliver pizzas to customers in Germany and the Netherlands.
The trial will be using Ford Fusion Hybrid Autonomous cars fitted with heatwave compartments that are designed to keep the pizzas warm en route.
Random customers in Ann Arbor will be given the option to choose the self-driving pizza delivery. They have to walk out to the parked car and retrieve their pizza from the compartment using a unique code.
As part of the trial, the car will still be manually driven by a Ford engineer with researchers from both companies who hope to investigate customers' reactions to this delivery service. All personnel will exit the car before the customer reaches the vehicle.
"The majority of our questions are about the last 50 feet of the delivery experience. For instance, how will customers react to coming outside to get their food? We need to make sure the interface is clear and simple. We need to understand if a customer's experience is different if the car is parked in the driveway versus next to the curb. All of our testing research is focused on our goal to someday make deliveries with self-driving vehicles as seamless and customer-friendly as possible," Russell Weiner, president of Domino's USA said in a press release.
Domino's has tested its Domino's Robotic Unit in Australia and New Zealand last year. The company announced earlier this year that the robots will be used to deliver pizzas to customers in Germany and the Netherlands.