7-Eleven, Nuro team up to bring autonomous delivery service to California

The service will deliver pizza, chips, beverages, household items and more in 30 minutes or less

7-Eleven and Nuro are teaming up to pilot an autonomous delivery service in Mountain View, California.

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The convenience chain's customers will be able to take advantage of the service through the 7NOW delivery app from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for no additional charge. Customers will be able to order pizza, chips, beverages, household items and more. Age-restricted items, such as alcohol, tobacco products and lottery tickets, will not be available. 

Introduced in late 2017, the 7NOW delivery app is available nationwide and offers real-time tracking of customer orders, which are typically delivered in 30 minutes or less. Customers can download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store or track their order on 7NOW.com

7-Eleven customers will be able to take advantage of the autonomous delivery service through the 7NOW delivery app from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for no additional charge.  (Nuro)

Nuro, which received a deployment permit in December from California's Department of Motor Vehicle for the service, will kick it off using its autonomous Priuses. Though the Priuses will have a safety driver behind the wheel, customers will have to meet Nuro's vehicles outside to pick up orders themselves. 

The autonomous delivery service will shift from Nuro's autonomous Priuses to its R2 robot, which is designed to transport products and goods without any occupants in the vehicle (Nuro)

The service will shift to R2, Nuro's autonomous, custom built robots designed to transport products and goods without any occupants in the vehicle, at a later date. 

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A Nuro spokesperson declined to disclose how many vehicles will be used for the service or when the transition to R2 will take place. 

"Nuro and 7-Eleven will make the joint decision to introduce R2 into the delivery fleet as soon as possible," the spokesperson added.

In November, Nuro raised $600 million in fresh funding, bringing its total valuation to approximately $8.6 billion, up from $5 billion previously. 

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The company previously teamed up with Domino's to test its autonomous delivery service in Houston, Texas, and partnered with CVS to deliver customer prescriptions. It also rolled out driverless delivery trucks in Arizona in 2018 as part of a collaboration with Kroger. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
DPZ DOMINO'S PIZZA INC. 471.28 -2.27 -0.48%
CVS CVS HEALTH CORP. 69.63 -0.12 -0.17%
KR THE KROGER CO. 56.93 +0.36 +0.64%

Other retailers that have announced testing of self-driving technology in recent weeks include UPS and Walmart.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
UPS UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC. 145.36 +2.59 +1.81%
WMT WALMART INC. 60.14 +0.61 +1.02%

According to 7-Eleven Chief Digital Officer Raghu Mahadevan, the company's first foray into autonomous delivery was in 2016, when it became the first U.S. retailer to make a delivery by drone to a customer's house.