Nuro to Test Autonomous Pizza Delivery with Domino’s

Silicon Valley startup Nuro Inc. and Domino's Pizza Inc. plan to launch a pilot program this autumn that will use self-driving vehicles to deliver pizza orders to customer homes.

Customers who order online from participating Domino's locations in Houston can request a delivery from one of Nuro’s tiny R2 self-driving pods. The companies didn’t indicate the size of the service area or what types of roads the pods will be allowed to drive on.

Customers can track the vehicle’s progress via a smartphone app. They are sent a unique code to open the pizza storage compartment when the vehicle arrives.

Domino’s previously has tested autonomous pizza delivery vehicles with Ford and General Motors. Toyota has conducted similar tests with Pizza Hut.

Last August, Nuro began testing autonomous grocery deliveries with Kroger in Arizona. Those tests involved Nuro’s fully autonomous R1 pods.

Nuro was launched in mid-2016 by Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, both of whom previously worked for Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car program. The startup has raised more than $1 billion in funding.