You Can Now Have Your Groceries Or Dry Cleaning Delivered To You By An Autonomous Vehicle

If you’re too lazy to get off the couch and do your own shopping, you’ll root for the fruit (pun intended) of a collaboration between retailing giant Kroger and self-driving car startup Nuro reaches your door.

Starting from August 16, the two companies have introduced a fleet of small autonomous vehicles which can deliver groceries to customers at the touch of a button.

The pilot program is serving a single Fry’s Good and Drug location in Scottsdale, Arizona, and allows customers to choose same- or next-day delivery orders of their groceries. For a delivery fee of $5.95, a self-driving vehicle will make its way to your door.

While Nuro and Kroger are working on a bespoke delivery vehicle that features two compartments which can fit six grocery bags each, this pilot uses specially-equipped Toyota Prius models. The program is catered towards things like groceries and dry cleaning.

“The Priuses share many software and hardware systems with the R1 custom vehicle, so while we complete final certification and testing of the R1, the Prius will begin delivering groceries and help us improve the overall service and customer experience,” a Nuro spokesperson told Tech Crunch.

The two companies view the pilot as a way to accelerate the development of its self-driving vehicle.

“We’re proud to contribute and turn our vision for local commerce into a real, accessible service that residents of Scottsdale can use immediately,” Nuro chief executive Dave Ferguson said.

“Our goal is to save people time, while operating safely and learning how we can further improve the experience.”