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Domino's Market Tests A Self-Driving Pizza Delivery Car (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
Someday soon your Domino's Pizza could be delivered to you -- without an actual delivery person. Ford and Domino's are testing out a specially-equipped Ford Fusion that comes not only with self-driving technology but also an oven. It sounds cool but there is a catch -- there's no one to walk the pizza to your front door and ring the bell. That's what Ford and Domino's say they're really testing. "How will customers react to coming outside to get their food?" Domino's president Russell Weiner said in a statement, "We need to make sure the interface is clear and simple."
During the testing phase, an engineer and a driver will be in the car -- but the windows will be heavily tinted so customers can't see them. And both have been instructed not to interact with people at all. Domino's wants to see how well customers deal with coming out and getting their own pie from what is, basically, a pizza ATM built into the car. To get their pizzas, customers will have to enter a number on the touchpad, then a back window will lower, revealing the pizza. Over the next five weeks, randomly selected customers around Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be offered the option of getting their pizza delivered by the hi-tech "driverless" car.
During the testing phase, an engineer and a driver will be in the car -- but the windows will be heavily tinted so customers can't see them. And both have been instructed not to interact with people at all. Domino's wants to see how well customers deal with coming out and getting their own pie from what is, basically, a pizza ATM built into the car. To get their pizzas, customers will have to enter a number on the touchpad, then a back window will lower, revealing the pizza. Over the next five weeks, randomly selected customers around Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be offered the option of getting their pizza delivered by the hi-tech "driverless" car.
Perfect testing ground.
"How will customers react to coming outside to get their food?" Judging by the scary apartment building I delivered to 25 years ago or so, they'll go along with it.
Nowhere in the description does it say it will deliver pizzas one at a time; I would assume it would do multiple deliveries per run for efficiency's sake.
Right now, the pizza comes to my door. I don't need to put shoes on or a coat. This customer experience is worse. Why would I choose it when there are other pizza deliveries that will still deliver to the door.
It would have to be significantly cheaper...
I'm never, ever tipping a robot for service.
So that's $3-5 cheaper already.
If they send a robot, we will lose the opportunity to look at the driver name in the tracking app and get in stalker mode if it sounds even vaguely like a girl name.
lucm, indeed.
People are going to abuse the hell out of this.
Domino's will have your phone number, your credit card number, and a video recording of your misbehavior.
"The Deliverator used to make software. Still does, sometimes. But if life were a mellow elementary school run by well-meaning education Ph.D.s, the Deliverator's report card would say: "Hiro is so bright and creative but needs to work harder on his cooperation skills."
So now he has this other job. No brightness or creativity involvedâ"but no cooperation either. Just a single principle: the Deliverator stands tall, your pie in thirty minutes or you can have it free, shoot the driver, take his car, file a class-action suit. The Deliverator has been working this job for six months, a rich and lengthy tenure by his standards, and has never delivered a pizza in more than twenty-one minutes. " â" Neal Stephenson
Since it has an oven, it seems like the next step should be to load it with with frozen pizzas in the morning and have it cook them on route all day.
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Walmart has shown that many people will put up with a crap product if it seems to save them a few bucks.
I'd just as soon pay a few bucks more and let the kid keep his delivery job.
#DeleteChrome
Since it has an oven, it seems like the next step should be to load it with with frozen pizzas in the morning and have it cook them on route all day.
For even more savings, have the buyer bake their own pizza too.
Seriously, the reason people order pizza is so they won't have to go get it. I'm not going to exchange my robe and slippers for full clothing and walk to the end of the driveway, especially not in bad weather. I'd rather tip someone who does it voluntarily.
They're gonna hafta come up with new plots!!!
franchises stores don't have funds for owned cars no they under pay drivers to use there own. Lot's of them don't have commercial car insurance. As some personal car insurance does not cover pizza / food.
Good way to get in local lock up and makes it sound like there are safety issues and they don't want any one to say something about them.
Multi drop runs?? will they have more then holding area?
Fake orders and robbery setups will this system fall victim to them.
People are going to abuse the hell out of this. They'll put excrement, used condoms, dead rodents, vomit, or god knows what else for the next customer to deal with.
Alright. Now I need to go see if Netflix has Drawn Together. The above brought Spanky Ham's "sausage" pizza prank to mind.
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Sounds racist to me.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Combine the two types of autonomous vehicle for the best of both worlds. An autonomous EV van could be loaded with pizzas and able to launch short-hop delivery drones. It could keep one or more drones out delivering to the door while the rest are being recharged on the EV as their mothership.
This overcomes several issues, notably the lack of delivery to the door in Domino's (test) solution. It also ensures that pizza stays hot without needing a heavily insulated box since the trip by air would be much shorter. What's more, it allows the flying drones to be replaced with short-range wheeled delivery bots as an alternative, perhaps chosen on a house by house basis, which may be cheaper and more reliable, or even necessary in the rain.
Recharging on the mothership overcomes both efficiency and range issues, and allows smaller/cheaper batteries to be used in end-delivery vehicles. This in turn could lead towards the short-hop drones/bots becoming cheap, mass-produced, disposable delivery elements.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel.
If Niel Gaiman can adapt so can they.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Really, so out of all the problems that autonomous vehicle manufacturers face in terms of developing, testing, and deploying their technology, the pizza part is the hard part? Get real. This will die within 18 months (sooner if they're smart).
The amount of uninformed ignorance of how hard a problem this is (not the pizza part) is astounding. It's almost a joke that they think to attach the triviality of the pizza to the problem.
Guess they finally threw in the towel on making a good pizza.
I would mod you up if I hadn't already posted... and if I had points.
But I did not get that result this time around. Nope, it was "Drawn Together is available on DVD only."
Fortunately, watchartoononline has it.
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A 2500 pound vehicle to carry one 1-pound pizza. That's efficient.
The only time physicists use pounds is as a currency unit which would make this an economics question and a vehicle costing 2,500 pounds sounds pretty efficient to me. However, I'm not sure I would want to eat a pizza which cost one pound. Sometimes you can be too efficient.
it sounds like an inexpensive way for a gang of angry Luddites to set up an ambush for a machine. Plus presumably they get pizza.
Nullius in verba
...convoys of armed thugs in stolen vehicles trailing along behind these things, secure in the knowledge that people will be coming out of their houses late at night to pick up a pizza at the curb.
"Landshark Home Raiders" is a catchy name. Or maybe, "Su Casa Es Mi Casa, Inc."
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
There are nuve pizza ovens and breadmakers that make the job easier.
I suppose that making a full automated pizza machine is possible and easier than a self driving veichle.
Or going actually to an Italian restaurant to eat pizzas, oer even ask a these restaurans to delive could and is a better option.
who does it voluntarily.
I know some people love their jobs, and it's their dream career. But no one is a pizza delivery driver voluntarily.
I suppose that making a full automated pizza machine is possible and easier than a self driving veichle.
Obviously it is, because there's a variety of frozen pizza options at your local supermarket which prove it. But on the other hand, that equipment may be too expensive for a pizzeria to purchase and maintain. Self-driving cars are coming to everyone, sooner or later.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
They're hungry. If they weren't, they wouldn't have ordered a pizza. Odds are that they'll walk out to the curb to get it.
On the other hand, they didn't go take the pizza themselves from some take-away (= actually very popular here around at several italian restaurants. much better quality than Domino, btw).
Instead they specifically order that the food be brought to their place.
The reasons that they choose not to go out to a take-away might still apply and be reasons not to get to the car.
e.g.: they live in an upper floor of a stairs-only/no-elevator appartment complex, or the elevator is broken, and they can't walk easily (one leg still in a plaster cast after some accident).
I can see several situations where "you need to walk out to the car" defies the whole idea of getting your food delivered to your door.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Personally I wouldn't eat one if they delivered it with seven virgins on a full moon night.
But for people who like it, cool.
the issue is cost much like there fleet delivery cars that have ovens very few will actually ever be ordered by franchise owners.
Considering I made more than double minimum wage in college delivering pizza, I had no complaints about being a delivery guy.
I've seen what passes for "cuisine" in your country, it's horrible. No one in in Britannia should be slagging others cuisine, with what you people eat.
Are you still a pizza delivery guy? Did you do it for love or did you do it because you needed money?
Sure, can you please add extra toppings to the right side of the pizza.
Why would that be a problem?
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.
are you calling the engineer fat? LOL.
one reason to keep a heavier autonomous vehicle of moderate size is theft. If they used a drone not much bigger than your order, and it sat around waiting for a code to be input to ensure the right person retrieved the order, whats to stop someone from stealing that drone? The drone would be worth more than the pie, even if it were just sold for parts. Theres been a huge uptick in theft lately, to such a degree that even with positive ID of car theft, they are not prosecuting, should the car be recovered later. Insurance companies dont want to pay for lawsuits and the DA office isnt charging the felonies. Its hard to steal a vehicle, even one as small as a SMART car.
The fatal flaw with this plan is that customers end up with Domino's pizza instead of one that is actually good.
That's a pretty stupid argument. Only a very small percent of people do their job because they love it. How many lottery winners go back to work? I know that while I like my job, if I was independently wealthy I'd be gone in a heartbeat.
Given the tips and the hours, there are lots of reasons to love a pizza delivery job if you're a teen who can't work a regular 9-5 shift. Where else can you make double minimum wage after dinner while smoking a lot of weed?
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
If I order from you, and send it by self-driving vehicle with no human, I will not accept it.
Of course, this just demonstrates how STOOOPID you are. If Dominos, and similar businesses do this, then what jobs are folks going to have to make money to order?
Henry Ford, Sr., decided to pay the employees on the assembly line enough so that they could buy what they built in a couple of years. You like that idea... but assume other companies will pick up for what you REFUSE to do.
Screw you. I do not suffer fools gladly, and this , most definitely, defines you as fools.
So I have to come out to the car that's parked somewhere nearby to pick up my pizza? What's next? Do I have to come down to the shop where they make it and pick it up there?
There is something wrong with a society that is focused on ways to eliminate people from being part of it. I don't know how to solve that issue...
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
Really? Frozen pizzas are configured with default toppings; low probability that they could carry *every* permutation of desired frozen pizzas. So add in a robotic refrigerator for the fresh toppings that someone *may* want added to their pizza (after thawing, before cooking). Plus, there needs to be a robotic, on-demand topping-distribution method that works properly for every possible topping kept on hand (or robot claw). So now you have a freezer, a robotic pizza oven and a robotic refrigerator in the same back seat to fight it out, environmentally (HVAC) speaking. I see no difficulties at all. /s
Only a very small percent of people do their job because they love it.
So? That doesn't change the argument at all. Only a very small percent of people go to work voluntarily which was my original point. The pizza guy isn't "voluntarily" dredging through the rain and snow. He's doing it because if he didn't he'd not get paid and THAT is the only reason he's currently in your driveway.
Just because you love a job, doesn't mean you do it voluntarily. You just admitted that yourself.
... why wouldn't you just wear the robe and slippers out to the driveway?
Snow, rain and fisher cats.
I really dont give a shit. Im really not pro choice, Im definitely not anti-abortion. Im a libertarian and dont really give a shit what someone does or doesnt do to themselves. All I really ask is that I don't have to pay for someone else's mistake. If someone needs a suction DNC for heath reasons/complications, or because they got raped, sure. I don't even mind paying for Plan-B or that shot that works the first 12 weeks because its relatively inexpensive. Outpatient surgery with anesthesia and a medical staff in an operating room because someone was not responsible enough to take the pill and/or use Plan-B, or even get the shot after they found out they were pregnant, should probably have to pay for that mistake. This can run into several thousand dollars. If I get drunk and trash a few tables in a bar, I would be expected to pay for that mistake. I dont see how this is different. By most 'pro choice' groups, they would most likely put me on a list for anti-abortion too. The truth is I just dont give a shit and never question legality, only who needs to foot the bill for their circumstances. "You made your bed, now lie in it" used to be an expression at one point in time. Erasing any and all consequences, including financial, really doesn't prevent them from being more careful the next time. But one thing I won't do, as a libertarian, is make business choices of who I pay based on whatever personal beliefs they have. Its their damn right to be anti-abortion as much as its my right to be 'dont give a shit'. As long as they sell me a reasonable product at a reasonable price, and arent putting dead fetus' on the damn pizza, why should I care? If you use this same metric to hold EVERYONE accountable for any sort of ethics you disagree with you'll find that not only would you not buy service from anyone, you probably wouldn't work for anyone either. There hasn't been a single candidate for ANY political office in the last 50 years that has not been some sort of son-of-a-bitch in one fashion or another. If you've cast a vote, by your own account, your a hypocrite.
By the way the link you provided says FALSE, that they dont contribute to that group, only the founder has. Guess what? I eat unbreaded chicken patties from chick-fil-a too! Why? did I mention I really dont give a shit? If you're going to cite a reference wouldn't it make sense that you cite one that supports your argument instead of contradicting it?
stealing the car would be more difficult due to size/weight. the drone would be easier. You could conceivably get the delivery vehicle down to 500lb ( not much more than those motorized wheelchairs) and make them just big enough to be difficult to put into a vehicle/truck/etc. A drone big enough to avoid the same thing probably becomes a safety issue with the rotating propeller.
Well. Maybe not EVERY configuration possible. :)
but there has to be an 80/20 rule that's applicable here.
1. Frozen pie goes into oven
2, Pepperoni, or one or more of 4 toppings, gets added to the pie.
-- Pie spins and toppings (pepperoni, mushroom) get dropped. OR
-- Toppings are dropped on one half of the pie
Obviously not ALL permutations are possible but I'm sure a large portion of the most common ones could be.
I'm a pizza snob so I wouldn't partake in this. But, if someone is already a Dominos type of guy, then I can see a pepperoni / mushroom / extra cheese pie being made on the way to their house.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
"... customers finding ways to bypass the payment step."
Free pizza for hackers?
"The big problem is probably going to be that the technology to navigate a target rich environment without hitting anything/anybody doesn't exist and is probably going to be way harder to develop than most folks think."
That seems correct to me. The technology of self-driving vehicles seems to me to be far from ready for common use.