AVs to bring the Grocery Store to You

By the end of 2018, you may have groceries at your doorstep without a driver. Kroger is working with Nuro, a company started by former Waymo employees, to develop a self-driving delivery vehicle for groceries. Kroger already delivers groceries in many markets it serves, so this would a service that would allow the company to no longer send out drivers. This may be evidence of some of the first jobs lost due to AVs, but depending on the demand for this service it could be just the start of adding more jobs (people selecting and bagging the groceries for the AV delivery).

While the second model, being worked on by Robomart, in development is a mobile grocery store. Robomart would bring the store to you. Based on the public images of the vehicle in development, this vehicle would primarily stock fresh fruit and vegetables. They are counting on people’s hesitation to allow others to select fresh fruits and vegetables.

Like the Domino’s Pizza AV delivery pilot project, these uses of AVs are likely to be coming soon to all types of goods and services that currently have brick and mortar presence in our lives.