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'R2' asks 'R U ready for driverless Domino's delivery, Houston?'

"R2" is Nuro's driverless Domino's pizza delivery vehicle to be tested in Houston this year. (Photo provided)

June 17, 2019

The biggest retail pizza seller has partnered with robotics company, Nuro, to bring autonomous delivery with an unmanned vehicle to Houston later this year for a pilot in the Star Wars-esque sounding "R2" vehicle. Domino's will use Nuro's unmanned fleet to serve select Houston online-ordering customers which will also grow Nuro's autonomous delivery operations, which a news release said have run safely and well in metro Houston since March of this year. 

"We are always looking for new ways to innovate and evolve the delivery experience for our customers," Domino's Executive Vice President and CIO Kevin Vasconi, said in the release. "Nuro's vehicles are specially designed to optimize the food delivery experience, which makes them a valuable partner in our autonomous vehicle journey. The opportunity to bring our customers the choice of an unmanned delivery experience, and our operators an additional delivery solution during a busy store rush, is an important part of our autonomous vehicle testing."

Once select customer at participating Houston Domino's stores have opted in for R2 delivery, they can track the vehicle via the Domino's app. They will also get a special code to unlock the vehicle's compartment that holds their pies or other choices. 

Nuro began making driverless deliveries to the public last year and raised more than $1 billion in financing from investors including Softbank and Greylock. It's also working Kroger groceries currently, aside from the 16,100-store Domino's chain.