6 Comments

I hope to see those Domino's robots in Toronto!

Expand full comment

I would love to see them navigate the wild sidewalks of Yonge St

Expand full comment

Do the delivery charges increase with cost of technology to enable this? Curious to know more about the infrastructure for maintenance and road side assistance programs. And accessibility…if someone isn’t physically able to make it to the street to unlock the car…does that population have to pay more for a human driver (i.e. won’t that option always be needed if only to a lesser extent)?

Expand full comment

Those are GREAT questions and considerations.

The testing that’s currently being done will uncover a lot of gaps that will need to be addressed before these can fully replace human drivers. I think Domino’s is only testing the R2 with one store in one neighbourhood to understand the maintenance aspect and if that can be scaled across all its stores.

As for accessibility, that’s where I see the smaller delivery bots (from Starship and Kiwibot) providing more flexibility than Nuro’s R2 since they’re tailored to driving on sidewalks and can potentially deliver right to your doorstep.

I’ll keep a close eye on what comes out of the testing that’s happening and provide updates in a future Year 2049 edition!

Expand full comment

Loved this episode too. Great insight and supporting links.

Also it expanded my perspective - I was aware of the cost motive but had not before focussed on the carbon foot print nor the contactless delivery parts

Great clip of the human delivery guy - all too true!

Expand full comment

Thanks Clive!

Expand full comment