![]() Its aim is to figure out what would be needed in a go-to-market strategy in order to satisfy consumer needs and demands from an autonomous service like this one. That’s how the companies then decided to set up the “ethnographic research” project they’re beginning now, as Marakby describes it. ![]() I think there’s general understanding that autonomous vehicles can enable a lot of things for delivery that will make the whole delivery process easier, simpler and maybe even more user-friendly.” “Ford is developing the autonomous vehicle technology, and Domino’s is actually really focused on the technology aspect of how to improve the delivery business. “The two companies decided to work together a few months ago,” Marakby told me. Their pre-existing relationship led to conversations around the potential for AVs in food delivery. Once ordered, customers will be able to track their delivery’s progress through the Domino’s app.ĭomino’s and Ford have worked together on a number of projects in the past, including in building a way to order pizzas via Ford’s in-car SYNC software and apps platform. “In this case, we’re still trying to understand, and we’re working with partners who understand the consumer and figuring out what we need to do to the vehicle in parallel as we’re developing the tech.” “Usually, in the auto business, you know the customer and you’re planning certain things for the consumer,” Marakby explained. ![]() With AVs, there’s a lot more up in the air. This isn’t something that Ford is necessarily used to – it’s done a lot to improve its cars from a core technology perspective over the years, but it has decades of experience with its own categories of consumer to know what they want to some degree in each successive generation. “The reason we’re doing that is that we’re going to learn things we didn’t know, and we want to have the opportunity from a timing perspective to incorporate these changes into the car, or the interface to the car and the consumer interaction.” “The unique thing is that we’re doing this ethnographic research in parallel to developing the AV tech itself,” Marakby said. ![]() Ford considers the customer and user experience aspects of autonomous driving technology a core part of the overall platform it’s developing, Ford Autonomous and Electric Vehicles VP Sherif Marakby tells me, and it’s using this real-world trial to test its assumptions and help it develop that aspect of the product it hopes to commercialize in just a few years’ time. area, with the ability on the customer end to opt in to receiving a delivery via AV when they’re selected.īoth Ford and Domino’s will be using the test to see how people react to receiving pizzas via self-driving vehicles. The vehicles will be available to randomly selected Domino’s customers who order pizza in the Ann Arbor, Mich. The growing demand for great-tasting pizza creates the need for more deliveries, and we look forward to seeing how autonomous delivery can work along with Domino’s existing delivery experts to better support the customers’ needs.Ford and Domino’s are teaming up on a research trial that will see Ford cars equipped with self-driving tech delivering pizzas to regular consumers, as a way of figuring out how everyday people will react to, and interact with, autonomous service vehicles in the future.įord Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Cars will be used in the test, outfitted with pizza containers created by Domino’s partner Roush Enterprises designed to keep the pizzas warm en route, and to unlock when a customer types in their unique delivery code. This program will allow us to better understand how customers respond to the deliveries, how they interact with the robot and how it affects store operations. “There is still so much for our brand to learn about the autonomous delivery space. “We’re excited to continue innovating the delivery experience for Domino’s customers by testing autonomous delivery with Nuro in Houston,” Dennis Maloney, Domino’s senior vice president and chief innovation officer, said in a statement. Four years later, the company used a self-driving Ford Fusion to deliver pizzas to customers in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2013, the company tested pizza delivery via drones in the United Kingdom, CNN reported. Department of Transportation last year, Domino’s said in its release.ĭomino’s has experimented with autonomous deliveries before. ![]() Nuro’s robot car was the first completely autonomous, human-free on-road delivery vehicle to receive regulatory approval from the U.S. “Customers may also track the vehicle via GPS on their order confirmation page.” “Customers who are selected will receive text alerts, which will update them on R2′s location and provide them with a unique PIN to retrieve their order,” Domino’s said in its news release. ![]()
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