Walmart is planning on delivering groceries autonomously in Houston at some point in 2020.
"Walmart [yesterday] announced a new pilot program that will test autonomous grocery delivery in the Houston market starting next year," report Sarah Perez and Kirsten Korosec.
Walmart will rely on a partnership with Nuro, a robotics company that has been using driverless technology to deliver goods to customers in the Houston suburbs for months.
"The autonomous delivery service will involve R2, Nuro’s custom-built delivery vehicle that carries products only, with no on-board drivers or passengers, as well as autonomous Toyota Priuses that deliver groceries," adds Perez and Korosec.
As noted in the article, this isn't Walmart's first autonomous delivery partnership.
The retailer earlier this year tapped the startup Udelv to test autonomous grocery deliveries in Arizona. This summer, it kicked off a test with Gatik AI, an autonomous vehicle startup to test grocery delivery from Walmart’s main warehouse in Bentonville, Ark. Walmart also launched a pilot with self-driving company Waymo in 2018 to test rides to Walmart for grocery pickup, as well as a test with Ford and Postmates for autonomous grocery delivery.
The article includes more insight into the race to corner the autonomous delivery market.
FULL STORY: Walmart partners with self-driving startup Nuro to test autonomous grocery delivery in Houston
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