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Kroger Begins Autonomous Grocery Deliveries (adweek.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the meals-on-wheels dept.

Kroger is launching its unmanned grocery delivery service in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company first announced the pilot with robotics company Nuro in June, and since August, "they have tested an autonomous fleet of 'a handful of' Priuses with safety drivers just in case someone needed to intervene," reports Adweek. "Together, they have completed nearly 1,000 deliveries in Scottsdale." From the report: Now, Kroger is adding two R1 unmanned vehicles to its fleet, which Nuro designed to transport goods on public roads without passengers and marks the first deployment of its technology for the general public. (The Priuses will continue to have safety drivers.) To start, deliveries are available from a single store in the "Kroger Family," the Fry's Food Store at 7770 East McDowell Road. A Kroger rep said customers who live within the store's zip code -- 85257 -- will have access to the service. Customers place orders online or via the Fry's app. An announcement said same- and next-day delivery is available. All orders have a $5.95 fee, but there is no minimum for order total.

20 comments

  1. by placeing an ordering all Liability is on the or by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 0, Troll

    by placing an ordering all Liability is on the ordering placer.

    Kroger, Fry's Food Store, Nuro, Toyota, and there contractors and employees are not response for any
    legal action
    court case
    Criminal changes
    lawsuit
    traffic tickets
    parking tickets

    that in may occur during any deliveries.

  2. Re: by placeing an ordering all Liability is on th by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I only order hot foods

  3. Re: by placeing an ordering all Liability is on th by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why I'm ordering nothing but bleach and ammonia.

  4. But remember folks by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    we're 20 years out from self driving cars. Maybe 40. Heck, It'll never happen.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:But remember folks by Luthair · · Score: 1

      If it needs a person behind the wheel its glorified cruise control.

    2. Re:But remember folks by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 1

      If it needs a person behind the wheel its glorified cruise control.

      At the very least, you definitely shouldn't call it self-driving until there are absolutely no safety concerns at all about the vehicle being out on the public roads, heading to its destination, with no person anywhere in or on it, not even in the trunk.

      Otherwise, you'll have idiots who will think that this means they don't actually have to be paying attention (or at least something vaguely resembling sober) because their magic car will safely (and magically) take them to where they need to be. And we won't have people magically thinking that the wrecks resulting from this stupidity either will magically not happen, or have no damage to people because the car will magically turn itself into unicorn farts and pixie dust before impact can happen.

      If enough damage is caused by idiots expecting their car to do more than it's actually capable of, the tech itself might end up not being road-legal--which could also make the tech no longer worth the resources to develop it, ensuring it'll never happen.

  5. Paywall alert by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Got a link without a pay wall?

  6. Re:by placeing an ordering all Liability is on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you having a stroke?

  7. Re:by placeing an ordering all Liability is on the by slack_justyb · · Score: 3, Informative

    Okay I went through every link presented on this page, saw nothing that says anything like that. So I'm going to ask for a source here to back that claim up. I'm not, not believing you, but that's pretty outrageous and I'd like that outrage to well founded.

  8. So: Kroger Begins Autonomous Grocery Deliveries by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 2

    Get a (very?) smart fridge. It automatically orders milk, meat, veggies, and such for you and Kroger delivers. (Now they need to add an additional fee to place it in the fridge. Electronic door lock, too) When it expires, the fridge orders more. The stock computer in the other room trades when it can make a profit.

    ASS U ME ing it can make a large enough profit for electrical power and internet (WiFi / 4G) connection for all devices, then we can finally outsource all them people living in houses and move them all elsewhere.

    What a clean and tidy and shiny world it'll be! I'm looking forward to seeing it all!

    Oh, wait....

    --
    If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    1. Re:So: Kroger Begins Autonomous Grocery Deliveries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      do you want skynet? This is how you get skynet.

  9. Photo looks too trusting by John.Banister · · Score: 2

    When I see the open vehicle in the photo, what immediately comes to mind is someone removing everyone's groceries, filling the space up with all their trash, and sending the vehicle on its way. Possibly first they might have to register a bogus account at a real address.

    I imagine a more realistic delivery vehicle would, on scanning the proper QR code for the order that corresponds to the delivery address, excrete filled bags of groceries. It could have an arm of hooks that lowers until it's not supporting any grocery weight and rotates to disengage the bags. Then, the vehicle drives from over the top of the delivery spot.

    1. Re:Photo looks too trusting by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      These driverless cars have drivers in them which handle all that (plus the driving part if it is too tricky).

    2. Re:Photo looks too trusting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you look at the picture, there appears to be no space for a driver and the front windshield seems to be entirely blacked out bar for a small strip at the bottom.

    3. Re:Photo looks too trusting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Possibly first they might have to register a bogus account at a real address.

      Oh no, we will never be able to figure out who did it!

    4. Re:Photo looks too trusting by internerdj · · Score: 1

      It looks to have multiple compartments. I'd imagine if it made multiple stops in a trip that you'd only have access to your order. Camera's are cheap and necessary for an autonomous vehicle, I'd imagine you wouldn't get away with it for very long.

  10. Misleading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they have safety drivers, they are not 'unmanned', and there is zero mention of how frequently said safety drivers were doing the driving. I call marketing bullshit on this one. There has been so much money wasted on this farce called 'autonomous driving' I think investors are desperate to try to save their asses. Usually this kind of hype signals a death spiral.

  11. Finally! It has arrived! by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Finally autonomous driving is here!

    "The Priuses will continue to have safety drivers."

    Oh ok. Carry on.

  12. "Safety drivers" by DrXym · · Score: 1

    I.e. the actual drivers. The people who are supposed to extricate the dumb car's ass when it does something really dumb, which will be often. Let's hope the drivers are not fiddling on their phones when their attention is critical at all times.