Self-driving technology is making its way to our hearts in vintage fashion, through the stomach.
Domino's is at it again, as their Australian division has showcased the delivery robot of the future. They have taken it a step further, and have had the Australian Department of Transportation approve the public trials of the project developed by Marathon Robotics.
Residents of Brisbane, Australia, will get the chance to order pizza that will be delivered to their driveway by means of this robot.
The four-wheel smart pizza cart took eight months to develop, and it uses GPS and lasers to find its way to customers. It can reach speeds of up to 18 km/h (12 MPH), and it also has cameras to make sure its tasty cargo gets delivered and is not stolen before it reaches the customers.
The creators of the pizza delivery robot have fitted it with locked compartments that can only be opened with a passcode, to make sure only the client can access the cargo space. The password is provided to the customer upon ordering.
According to Lifehacker, the DRU unit weighs about 190 kilograms (418 lbs, pizza not included), so it is not in danger of being grabbed by an average human and left without its cargo. The IP cameras we already mentioned will help its owners figure out who tried to steal their delivery robot, so it would be a dumb idea to tamper with this device.
Delivery boys and girls of the world should not be scared of the $22,000 machine, as it will only deliver in areas close to the Domino's center it is assigned. Traditional delivery personnel will still handle any delivery that is not nearby. However, public trials of this technology reveal that there will be a time when we will get our orders delivered to us by robots, as people will take less risky jobs.
After all, delivery can be dangerous, even though it is the first job for many youngsters who have to start working somewhere. As the technological limits of this robot prove, it will take many years until self-driving robots end up handling deliveries, but it is an interesting use of technology. After all, who does not like pizza?
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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