Domino’s and Ford will test self-driving pizza delivery cars
Domino’s and Ford will test self-driving pizza delivery
cars
But the car won’t be driving itself
by Amar Toor and Tamara Warren Aug 29, 2017, 12:01am EDT
Ford and Domino’s Pizza are teaming up to test
self-driving pizza delivery cars in Michigan, as part of an effort to better
understand how customers respond to and interact with autonomous vehicles.
In the coming weeks, randomly selected Domino’s customers
in Ann Arbor, Michigan will have the option to accept pizza deliveries from a
Ford Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle. But the car won’t be driving
itself.
Each car will be driven by a Ford safety engineer, with
other researchers onboard, who will zero in on the last 50 feet of the customer
experience.
Sherif Marakby, Vice President of Ford Autonomous
Vehicles and Electrification, described the project as ethnographic research in
an interview with The Verge. “We don’t want to wait until we get everything
done on the tech and remove the driver. We’re trying to start doing the
research. We still are working on the technology, because it’s not ready to be
put on public streets,” he said. “It’s simulating that the vehicle is in
autonomous mode.”
Those who participate in the test can track their order
through a Domino’s app and will receive a unique code that matches the last
four digits of their phone number to be used to unlock the so-called Heatwave Compartment
— a container that keeps pizzas warm in the back of the car. Information will
be communicated through screens and speakers on the exterior of the cars.
“We’re interested to learn what people think about this
type of delivery,” Russell Weiner, president of Domino’s USA, said in a
statement. “The majority of our questions are about the last 50 feet of the
delivery experience.”
Areas of focus include how willing are people to come
outside to pick up their orders, the way they approach the car, and how they
interact with the screen outside of the vehicle to get the food.
Marakby said this is the first of multiple partnership
between Ford and other companies as part of efforts to ramp up autonomous
vehicle testing. “The key thing is that our development is going to benefit
from these partnerships,” Marakby said. “We will incorporate changes when we
launch at scale in 2021, whether it’s perishable or non-perishable deliveries.”
Ford, like many other carmakers, has invested heavily in
autonomous technology, with an eye toward bringing self-driving cars to market
by 2021. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to invest $1 billion in
Argo AI, an artificial intelligence startup.
“The human aspect is the most significant piece here. We
know we can create technology, but it has to be based on the human element of
how we’re using the AVs,” Marakby said.
Domino’s has experimented with different (and sometimes
gimmicky) delivery technologies, as well, including a Siri-like digital
assistant that can receive orders and a fleet of delivery robots.
Comments
Post a Comment