Domino's testing pizza delivery robot in Texas

April 13 (UPI) -- Pizzeria chain Domino's announced it is teaming up with an autonomous vehicle company to offer customers in Houston contact-free delivery via robot.

Domino's said the R2 robot, developed by Nuro, will be delivering pizzas to Houston customers in the Woodland Heights neighborhood who opt-in to the autonomous delivery pilot program.

The robot car, which received regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation last year, will carry pizzas to customer's homes, and the patrons will receive text messages with updates on the delivery status and a PIN to put into the robot's touchscreen to receive the orders.

"There is still so much for our brand to learn about the autonomous delivery space," Dennis Maloney, Domino's senior vice president and chief innovation officer, said in a news release.

"This program will allow us to better understand how customers respond to the deliveries, how they interact with the robot and how it affects store operations."

Domino's previously experimented with a self-driving Ford Fusion hybrid delivery vehicle in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 2017 and delivery via drone in Britain in 2013.