On-demand restaurant delivery service DoorDash has entered a partnership to test food and grocery deliveries using Cruise Automation’s driverless vehicles.
DoorDash will use Cruise autonomous vehicles to test deliveries from its merchants to customers. The pilot will initially focus on the San Francisco market, starting this year.
Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said: “Delivery is a significant opportunity for Cruise as we prepare to commercialise our autonomous vehicle technology and transform transportation.
“Partnering with DoorDash will provide us with critical learnings as we further our mission to deliver technology that makes people’s lives better and more convenient.”
In the pilot programme, DoorDash will deliver ready-made restaurant meals to select customers through Cruise autonomous vehicles.
The pilot programme will also focus on exploring grocery fulfilment services through autonomous vehicles from certain grocers.
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said: “We are excited to partner with Cruise to develop our expertise in the autonomous vehicle delivery space.
“We see autonomous vehicles playing a major role in the future of delivery as consumer behaviours continue to shift online, and we are confident Cruise’s leading technology will help us scale to meet growing consumer demand.”
In addition, the two companies will focus on evaluating and developing safety, operational, and other learnings gained from the pilot programme.
