GPS World

Tag: delivery services

  • Domino’s delivers with Nuro and GNSS

    Domino’s delivers with Nuro and GNSS

    Photo: Domino's
    Photo: Domino’s

    In April, the pizza company Domino’s and self-driving delivery company Nuro launched autonomous pizza delivery in Houston, Texas. Select customers who place a prepaid online order on certain days and times from Domino’s in Woodland Heights can choose to have their pizza delivered by Nuro’s R2 autonomous, occupantless on-road delivery vehicle.

    Customers selected for the service receive text alerts, which update them on R2’s location and provide them with a unique PIN to retrieve their order. Once R2 arrives, customers are prompted to enter their PIN on a touchscreen, opening its doors.

    In February 2020, Nuro became the first autonomous vehicle developer to be given exemptions by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for testing on public roads without the need to have controls for human operators. Unlike many other autonomous vehicle companies, Nuro engineered its self-driving road vehicles to transport goods instead of people.

    There’s no set timetable for how quickly Domino’s and Nuro will evaluate their testing or expand the service.

    Nuro is also carrying out trials and pilot deliveries with several other companies, including restaurant chain Chipotle, Kroger grocery stores, CVS pharmacies, Walmart and FedEx.

  • Esri and RouteSmart Help Postal Carriers Reduce Operating Costs

    Esri and RouteSmart Technologies, Inc., are collaborating to help postal organizations deliver packages reliably, efficiently, and accurately. The companies provide comprehensive dynamic routing solutions based on Esri’s ArcGIS platform.

    National postal and global and regional parcel delivery services, including Whistl, Posti, and Swiss Post, are among the customers that leverage these routing solutions. Most customers have experienced cost savings of 15 percent, on average, through reduced working hours, mileage, and new vehicle acquisition. Customers also report growth opportunities through opening new lines of distribution business to support the burgeoning e-commerce delivery segment.

    “By integrating location-based analysis with a postal organization’s traditional business systems, such as sorting machines and address management systems, we are solving territory planning and route management challenges these organizations are facing,” said Chris Walz, vice president of sales and marketing for RouteSmart Technologies. “With our help, they can align to the new realities of postal and parcel distribution economics brought on through the growth of e-commerce shipping volumes and declining letter volumes.”

    Esri and RouteSmart will share how they are helping postal organizations continue to be drivers of innovation in transportation and operational efficiencies at the European Post and Parcel Services Conference in Vienna, Austria, March 24–26.

    “One of the biggest upcoming challenges for the postal industry will be the adoption of fully automated vehicles for deliveries,” Hall said. “With our partner RouteSmart, we provide a path for migration with the help of advanced location intelligence, optimization, and analysis tools.”