Kroger Begins Autonomous Grocery Deliveries

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.

by placeing an ordering all Liability is on the or

[Joe_Dragon]

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.

Re:by placeing an ordering all Liability is on the

[slack_justyb]

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.

But remember folks

[rsilvergun]

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

Re:

[Luthair]

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

Re:

[Cinnamon Beige]

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'

So: Kroger Begins Autonomous Grocery Deliveries

[grep -v '.*' *]

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....

Photo looks too trusting

[John.Banister]

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.

Re:

[110010001000]

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

Re:

[internerdj]

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.

Finally! It has arrived!

[110010001000]

Finally autonomous driving is here!

"The Priuses will continue to have safety drivers."

Oh ok. Carry on.

"Safety drivers"

[DrXym]

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.