Self-driving cars in a Arizona city are starting to deliver groceries to local residents without the help of human drivers.
On Tuesday, supermarket chain Kroger announced it was launching the first-ever unmanned delivery service in Scottsdale, Arizona, through autonomous vehicles from Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup.
To deliver the groceries, Kroger is relying on Nuro's R1 custom vehicle, a small self-driving car that's been designed to solely carry goods. Interested customers pay a $5.95 flat fee on deliveries, which can be scheduled on the same-day or next-day.
It isn't clear when Kroger — a company that operates in 35 states — will roll out the delivery service to more locations. But Nuro has plans to bring its self-driving cars to more cities and industries in the near future, the startup said in a blog post.
The supermarket chain is offering the unmanned deliveries to help people save on time. "Kroger customers are looking for new, convenient ways to feed their families and purchase the products they need quickly through services like pickup and delivery," said Yael Cosset, the supermarket chain's chief digital officer, in a statement.
Kroger and Nuro have been testing the unmanned delivery service in Arizona since August. Initially, the deliveries were done through a Toyoto Prius fleet outfitted with the startup's self-driving technology before the companies began piloting the service with the R1 vehicles.
So far, Nuro has helped Kroger complete nearly one thousand unmanned deliveries through the public pilot. However, the R1 vehicles themselves aren't particularly fast. To ensure safety, they only operate at or below 25 miles per hour.
For now, the unmanned delivery service has been made avaliable through Kroger's Fry's Food Store brand at a single location. Customers can place the orders 7 days a week though the frysfoods.com website or via the chain's mobile app.
The unmanned delivery service arrives as competition in the supermarket industry has been heating up. Amazon last year bought Whole Foods, and has been using the acquisition to help it offer 2-hour grocery deliveries in certain markets.
Unfortunately, Kroger's unmanned delivery service does have at least one limitation: it requires the customer to meet the R1 vehicle outside and pull the groceries out. So you'll have to be around to make sure you can receive your delivery.