(WBBM Newsradio) — Domino’s is giving driverless delivery a test run in Houston. Beginning this week, some customers who place a prepaid order online at a particular Domino's location can opt to have their pizza transported by an experimental R2 robot developed by the tech firm Nuro.
Customers who are selected for the new experience will get a personal identification number and receive text alerts updating them on the R2's location, or they can track the vehicle via GPS online. When the vehicle arrives, the customer enters the PIN on the bot’s touch screen and receives the order.
“There’s a giant bet being made here,” analyst Paul Hochman, president of Humongous Media, said Monday.
He said pizza delivery generates $2 billion in the United States each year.
The Domino’s announcement comes as a variety of companies, including Amazon, are developing new automation and artificial intelligence systems to make delivery of goods more efficient.
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