Kroger Deliveries Hit the Road in Nuro Bots

Nuro’s R1 robot vans have made their first deliveries as part of a partnership with The Kroger Co. to test driverless delivery vehicles.

The companies announced a deal earlier this year to deploy a fleet of the self-driving delivery vans in the Scottsdale, Ariz., market. The companies have executed about 1,000 deliveries with self-driving Toyota Prius vehicles, but the R1 vans—designed to make deliveries as a part of a mission to “transform local commerce”—is the signature product of the two-year-old company.

A video posted by Nuro shows several families receiving their first deliveries from the R1, which are assembled at a local Fry’s store.

“While this first unmanned service represents the culmination of many years of work, it also represents another beginning,” said Dave Ferguson, Nuro’s co-founder, in a blog post. “For this may be the first, but it will be followed by many more: more vehicles, more cities and more services. Together with others in the industry, we will usher in new ways to provide transportation, and more time, to everyone.”

Self-driving cars, along with robotics for assembling orders, are rapidly expanding as the industry seeks cost-efficient ways to fulfill a growing demand for online grocery shopping. Another robotic delivery van firm, Udelv, earlier this year announced partnerships with food retailers Buy for Less and Farmstead set to begin next year.

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Walmart, in the meantime, said it would test driverless delivery, including agreements with Waymo and a recent deal with Ford and Postmates in Miami.