From The Verge: Nuro, a leader in autonomous delivery vehicles, is kicking off a new service in California in partnership with 7-Eleven. The company will deliver convenience store products to customers in its autonomous Toyota Prius vehicles, which will include a safety driver behind the wheel, before eventually shifting over to its fully driverless R2 delivery vehicles.
The service will only be available to residents who live in proximity to the 7-Eleven store at 1905 Latham Street in Mountain View, from 8AM–9PM, seven days a week. Customers can order items like pizza, chips, beverages, and household items through 7-Eleven’s “7NOW” delivery app, although age-restricted items, like alcohol and cigarettes, won’t be available.
Orders will be delivered in 30 minutes or less, and customers will have to leave their home to retrieve the items from the delivery vehicle while it’s parked on the street. (The Nuro safety driver will not bring the items to the door, as the company is aiming to simulate a completely human-free delivery process.)
Nuro wouldn’t disclose the number of vehicles it will deploy as part of this early version of its service, nor would it say how soon it plans to shift deliveries to its R2 robots. “Nuro and 7-Eleven will make the joint decision to introduce R2 into the delivery fleet as soon as possible,” a spokesperson said.
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