Do you ever wordlessly close the door on the pizza delivery guy after pondering how much better the world would be if you didn't need to engage in that awkward small talk?
Well for a start, stop being so damn miserable. However, you might want to read on because Domino's Pizza has teamed up with robotics company Nuro to bring us autonomous pizza deliveries - and they could be with us later this year.
Pizzas will be delivered using the custom unmanned vehicle known as the R2, and Domino's is set to roll out the plan when serving select customers in Houston, Texas, who place orders online.
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Kevin Vasconi, Domino's executive vice president and chief information officer, said: "We are always looking for new ways to innovate and evolve the delivery experience for our customers.
"Nuro's vehicles are specially designed to optimise the food delivery experience, which makes them a valuable partner in our autonomous vehicle journey.
"The opportunity to bring our customers the choice of an unmanned delivery experience, and our operators an additional delivery solution during a busy store rush, is an important part of our autonomous vehicle testing."
Customers who opt to have their pizza delivered without a driver can track the vehicle via the Domino's app and will be provided with a unique PIN code to unlock the vehicle's compartment so they can get their pizza.
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Nuro's head of partner relations, Cosimo Leipold, said: "We are excited to expand our autonomous delivery service in Houston with Domino's delivery.
"Domino's delivers millions of pizzas around the world every day, and the company shares our passion for focusing on the customer experience.
"We see incredible opportunity in offering Nuro's world-class autonomous technology to Domino's customers, accelerating our shared mission to transform local commerce."
Robotics company Nuro develops and operates a fleet of self-driving vehicles that deliver local goods of all kinds, from dinner to dry cleaning (and soon enough, pizza).
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Nuro's service helps merchants deliver goods to customers quickly, affordably, and safely. Led by world-renowned experts in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and product design, the company began making driverless deliveries to the public in 2018.
But when can we expect this weird delivery method to hit the UK? Well, Rhiannon Berriman, a spokesperson for Domino's UK told Daily Star online:"We're all about extraordinary delivery, having used golf buggies, penny farthings and even our very own DomiCopter to delight our pizza fans with freshly made piping hot food.
"We'll be scrutinising how our friends in the US get on - watch this space!"
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Food, News, Pizza, Domino's