Driverless Delivery Vehicles Now Legal In North Carolina
Lyft recently announced their plan to have self-driving vehicles on the streets of Las Vegas by 2023. Walmart is already using driverless delivery vehicles for its grocery business. Now it…
A Domino’s Pizza self-driving delivery vehicle is shown on July 22, 2021 in Houston, Texas. The company has said that select customers in Houston who make pre-paid delivery orders from its store in Woodland Heights, during certain dates and times, can have their pizza delivered to them by their self-driving Nuro R2 robot. Domino’s pizza has reported that its U.S. same-store sales have increased by 3.5% in its latest quarter of production. CEO Ritch Allison has said that the company will raise wages for employees, in certain markets and positions, at corporate-owned restaurants. Allison also noted that a lack of staffing and equipment shortages have been major hurdles as the company continues to deal with problems tied to the pandemic. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesLyft recently announced their plan to have self-driving vehicles on the streets of Las Vegas by 2023. Walmart is already using driverless delivery vehicles for its grocery business. Now it looks like this technology is coming to North Carolina.
Governor Roy Cooper has signed a bill into law that will make it possible for North Carolinians to someday have food or groceries delivered by driverless vehicles. The new law allows fully autonomous vehicles, known as “neighborhood occupantless vehicles,” to deliver cargo on public streets and highways in the state with a speed limit of 45 mph or less.
According to the News & Observer, Republican Rep. Jason Saine of Lincoln County introduced the bill at the request of lobbyists for Nuro, a California-based manufacturer of autonomous vehicles. Domino’s began using Nuro's R2 model for pizza deliveries in Houston, Texas earlier this year. The R2 travels along pre-programmed routes, using cameras and sensors to avoid pedestrians, pets, and other vehicles.
Nuro also has driverless vehicles on the road in Arizona and California. They're not saying when they might arrive in North Carolina. Florida and Nevada passed similar bills this year as well. The Nuro R2's 400-pound cargo capacity could make it an appealing option for short-staffed businesses in every state. Here's a video of the R2 doing its thing:
