Domino’s Pizza and Ford are pairing up to test the automated delivery of pizzas in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The idea is for both companies to learn how customers react to, and interact with, autonomous service vehicles in the future.
During the trial, Ford Fusion Hybrid autonomous vehicles will be used and will be integrated with pizza containers from Domino’s partner Roush Enterprises to keep the pizza warm.
Those randomly selected to participate in the trial will be able to track their order via the app, and will also will receive a unique code to unlock the Heatwave Compartment. The code itself will match the last four digits of the participant’s phone number.
“We believe self-driving technology can play a significant role in helping grow the market for restaurant delivery,” said Sherif Marakby, Ford’s executive in charge of self-driving technology. He argues that this is “one way that we’ll build demand and scale for our autonomous vehicle business, in addition to people movement such as ride hailing.”
Russel Weiner, president of Domino’s USA, added that the company is interested in this type of delivery method.
The vehicle itself is not fully self-driving as each car will have a Ford safety engineer, however it will feature self-driving sensors.
