HOUSTON – Can you imagine a world where you don’t have to leave your home to shop for groceries?
A robotics company, Nuro, thought that it might be a great idea to save people time. This autonomous grocery delivery service is available in Houston.
“They are unmanned vehicles. They have no passengers, no drivers and they will be on the road doing deliveries," said Nuro Product Operations Manager Sola Lawal said.
Nuro believes in the power of automation.
“They decided that moving goods and really taking over people’s errands was a really good place to start," Lawal said.
Kroger, the largest grocery retailer, and Nuro have operated the first-of-its-kind self-driving grocery delivery service in Scottsdale, servicing a single zip code with an autonomous fleet. The pilot phase in Scottsdale ended in March of 2019.
Houston’s pilot phase launched in March. The concept is pretty simple, the company said. Nuro is available in 6 zip codes within Houston: 77007, 77005,
77035, 77025, 77401, and 77096.
“If you were to open up the Kroger website or [Kroger] app, then you can place the order, choose the time you want the order delivered, and if you’re in our zone, then one of our vehicles would be loaded up with your order, and it would drive over to you," Lawal said.
Customers may see the autonomous vehicles on neighborhood roads.
“We don’t go on freeways, we don’t go on high-speed roads—we really try and stay out of the way—but you may see them in neighborhoods pretty often,” Lawal said.
In the coming months, Nuro will roll out our service with Walmart and Domino’s with its second-generation vehicle, R2.
The South Post Oak Road location will service zip codes 77401 and 77096. While the Buffalo Speedway location will service zip codes 77005 and 77025. Nuro is currently operating from three Kroger locations: the South Post Oak Road, Buffalo Speedway and Studemont Kroger stores. The Studemont Kroger store will service zipcodes 77005 and 77035.
The service will cost $5.95 compared to traditional Kroger delivery of $11.95.