Domino's wheels out robot delivery in Germany, Netherlands

Dive Brief:

Instead of looking to the skies, Domino's customers in Germany and the Netherlands should look down for grounded, wheeled drones, who are set to start delivering pizzas for the brand, according to Bloomberg. The Starship Technologies bots being leveraged for the endeavor can carry anywhere from one to eight pizzas, pending their size, the company said.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd., the world’s largest franchise license for the brand, has also formed a Domino's Robotic Unit to handle the project and help deliver pizza to customers within a one-mile radius of locations in select German and Dutch cities.
The pizza chain had already tested air-based drone delivery in Australia and New Zealand in 2016, successfully delivering its first pie via the technology in November.

Dive Insight:

Autonomous drone delivery is a concept being pressed hard by a number of companies, most notably Amazon with its years-long effort to get Prime Air off the ground. Convenience store 7-Eleven is another brand rolling with the idea, and in December food delivery service Just Eat used a Starship robot to make what it called the first-ever drone delivery of a meal in the U.K.

Following successful tests with Just Eat, Starship has partnered with a number of brands including Postmates, DoorDash, Hermes Parcel Delivery Service, Swiss Post and obviously Domino's for operations across the U.S., U.K., Germany, Switzerland and Estonia, Bloomberg said.

Domino's continued experimentation in the space and now the launch of a full-fledged division dedicated to robotics delivery shows how the technology is playing a significant part in the brand's thinking about the future of its operations.

While many businesses are excited about aerial drone delivery for its potential to open up omnichannel and shipping opportunities, FAA regulations stateside have stymied any sort of wide rollout or implementation. Ground-based drones, however, largely skirt restrictions put in place by the agency, and Washington D.C. recently became the first U.S. city to test bot delivery, similarly tapping Starship's devices.