People are the missing pizza the puzzle

When we talk about driverless cars, the constraints usually revolve around the technology being used.

Will cars made by different manufacturers communicate seamlessly?

How do they behave when faced with moral dilemmas?

Can they be hacked?

Nonetheless, tests are still taking place around the world, as various industries prepare for the driverless revolution.

In America, Domino’s and Ford have teamed up for an initiative that will see them experimenting with driverless deliveries.

Curiously, the test isn’t to see whether the cars will work — both parties have total confidence in the tech.

The test is about something far more unpredictable.

Humans.

Will customers be happy to receive robotic deliveries?

Not because they don’t trust the driverless vehicles, but because they’ll have to leave their homes and walk to the kerb to collect the food from the empty car.

Russell Weiner, the president of Domino’s USA, said: “We’re interested to learn what people think about this type of delivery.

“The majority of our questions are about the last 50 feet of the delivery experience… how will customers react to coming outside to get their food?

“We need to understand if a customer’s experience is different if the car is parked in the driveway versus next to the kerb.”

For us, there’s little benefit to driverless deliveries.

These are issues that will have to be tackled before the concept is widely embraced.

If not having a driver means business costs reduce and products are cheaper, the slight saving passed on to the customer is unlikely to be enough to offset the inconvenience of pausing WrestleMania, putting on your shoes and walking to wherever the delivery car is.

And remember, not everyone has a drive right outside their front door.

Some homes are set well away from the road.

Some customers will live in high-rise flats. Some customers will be elderly. Others disabled.

These are issues that will have to be tackled before the concept is widely embraced.

In these early stages, the Ford/Domino’s experimental self-driving car is being controlled by a human safety engineer (or, in other words, a driver).

The car also contains researchers who will take notes on how customers respond to the novelty.

Would you be happy with driverless pizza deliveries?

Originally published at https://www.dlgdigital.co.uk.