Domino's and Starship launch EU pilot program for autonomous robots
Starship Technologies and Domino’s Pizza announced a European pilot program for pizza deliveries using autonomous robots.
Under the program, Starship robots will start delivering pizzas within a one mile radius around Domino’s stores in selected German and Dutch cities, within the next two months. The launch follows Domino’s Australian trials using the DRU ground-based robot, and DRU Drone by Flirtey trials in New Zealand, a world-first.
Don Meij, Domino’s Group CEO and Managing Director, said the partnership between the Company and Starship Technologies was an important next step in bringing robot pizza deliveries to reality.
“We are a global company and we are eager to progress innovative technology in all of the countries in which we operate – we are very excited to be partnering with Starship as it brings regular deliveries by robot one step closer to commercial operations."
“Robotic delivery units will complement our existing delivery methods, including cars, scooters and e-bikes, ensuring our customers can get the hottest, freshest-made pizza delivered directly to them, wherever they are. With our growth plans over the next five to 10 years, we simply won’t have enough delivery drivers if we do not look to add to our fleet through initiatives such as this."
Ahti Heinla, Starship Technologies CEO said: “We’re shared in our vision with Domino’s to constantly improve convenience for the customer. Not only is Domino’s pizza delicious, but the perfect topping is giving back the luxury of time and control to the customer, and our robots are best placed to offer this.”
Starship recently announced $17.2 million (€16.5 mil.) in seed funding, led by Mercedes-Benz Vans. The funding accelerates the development of pilot programs in Europe and the US.
