Domino’s pizza, renowned around the world for their pizza and pizza delivery model has teamed up with Ford to deliver pizza using an autonomous vehicle. It isn’t the first time which Domino’s has come up with unique ways to deliver pizza, such as drones and other methods.
In this scenario, it will be a month-long test where a Ford Fusion will be used to deliver the pizza. The Fusion will be equipped with all of the full bells and whistle for it to be able to drive autonomously. Of course, during the test, there will be a driver there to ensure that the system works well and doesn’t cause any harm to other users on the road.
The test scenario will look at how customers react to a situation where they need to pickup their pizza from the car itself since it is lacking a delivery person who normally would ring the doorbell to inform the customer that their pizza is here. Still, in this case, they will measure how long the customer will take to react when they receive the information that their pizza has arrived as well as how long they will take to collect the pizza from the car.
“As delivery experts, we’ve been watching the development of self-driving vehicles with great interest as we believe transportation is undergoing fundamental, dramatic change,” said Patrick Doyle, Domino’s president, and CEO. “We pride ourselves on being technology leaders and are excited to help lead research into how self-driving vehicles may play a role in the future of pizza delivery. This is the first step in an ongoing process of testing that we plan to undertake with Ford.”
“As we increase our understanding of the business opportunity for self-driving vehicles to support the movement of people and goods, we’re pleased to have Domino’s join us in this important part of the development process,” said Sherif Marakby, Ford vice president, Autonomous, and Electric Vehicles. “As a company focused on the customer experience, Domino’s shares our vision for a future enabled by smart vehicles in a smart environment that enhance people’s lives.”
