Nuro Partners with CVS on Autonomous Prescription Deliveries
The last few months have caused us all to revisit how we plan our days, make our livings, stock our kitchens, educate our children, and get the items we need.
How we acquire essential goods like toilet paper, cough medicine, soap, and food has taken on greater significance. At the same time, with nearly one in every two Americans, there’s a critical part of the daily routine that hasn’t changed: needing prescription medication.
That’s why today, we’re proud to announce that Nuro has joined forces with one of the nation’s most respected names in healthcare: CVS Pharmacy. Starting in June, this first-of-its-kind partnership brings Nuro into the health space — our third delivery vertical — as we utilize our fleet of autonomous vehicles to deliver prescriptions and essentials across three zip codes in Houston, Texas.
Why pharmacy, and why now?
Today, more than ever, we believe autonomous delivery can improve people’s everyday lives.
Maintaining our health and safety has never felt so critical. It has become increasingly important for people — from senior citizens to adults to children — to be able to safely access prescriptions and other things they need without needing to leave their homes.
Over 76% of people in the United States live within five miles of a CVS Pharmacy today. Every day, CVS serves 4.5 million customers across the country. That’s more people than the entire population of Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest city. Together with CVS, we can have a greater impact for even more people.
Additionally, CVS has been at the forefront of delivery innovation; it was the first company to make prescription home-delivery a nationwide option in 2018. They’re dedicated to integrating new digital options for their customers and have continually invested in delivery. That investment is even more critical now, as more Americans opt for home delivery over store visits, and we believe Nuro will provide security, ease, and peace of mind for those who need prescriptions delivered directly to them at home.
How it works
To begin, CVS customers in the Houston pilot area can place prescription orders along with their non-prescription items on CVS.com or via the CVS Mobile Pharmacy app. If they select the autonomous delivery option, one of Nuro’s autonomous Prius vehicles will deliver the purchase curbside at the customer’s address within three hours. To ensure the security of their prescriptions, customers will need to confirm their identification to unlock their delivery when Nuro’s autonomous vehicle arrives curbside at their preferred location. During the pilot, deliveries will be free to all CVS Pharmacy customers.
As with all our pilots, we will begin service with our autonomous Prius fleet to make deliveries, before introducing deliveries with R2, our custom-built delivery bot.
Grateful for today and excited for tomorrow
Today marks a milestone as we begin our partnership with CVS, and enter into a new vertical of delivering prescriptions, medications, and other essential items.
We see this moment as an important stepping stone toward delivering all kinds of goods, beyond food and groceries. It is progress towards building a future, where through moving goods instead of people, we can lessen the need for unnecessary trips, save time, and create a safer and more convenient way of getting the things we need. We hope that by using our electric bots to deliver things now, we can pave the way for a healthier and better future for all.
