This spring will not only see April showers bringing May flowers, but it will also see the grocery chain Kroger bringing groceries to Houston homes via an autonomous delivery service. In a move that may appear to some like something from a Jetson’s cartoon episode, it’s actually just one of the many futuristic options that are becoming a reality in Texas. Kroger has partnered with Nuro, a robotics company, to launch a self-driving delivery service for grocery needs in the Bayou City this upcoming season.
The autonomous grocery delivery service will be available via two of the supermarket’s Houston stores in four of the city’s zip codes. This follows the pilot of the service in Scottsdale, Arizona, which recently ended, according to a report by USA Today. The success from that pilot was the gleaning of details around the various ways groceries can be delivered safely and conveniently for customers. Yael Cosset, Kroger’s chief digital officer, explained to Retail Insight Network, “Our Arizona pilot program confirmed the flexibility and benefits provided by autonomous vehicles and how much customers are open to more innovative solutions. It’s always been our shared vision to scale this initiative to new markets, using world-changing technology to enable a new type of delivery service for our customers.”
