SAN FRANCISCO — Domino’s Pizza Inc. and Nuro Inc., a Silicon Valley startup, said on Monday they are going to launch robotic pizza supply in Houston this week, searching for to capitalize on rising on-line orders brought on by the pandemic.

Nuro, based by two former Google engineers in 2016, raised $940 million from the SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund and lately secured an undisclosed quantity of fairness funding from Woven Capital, the mobility funding affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp.

With a small, low-speed automobile to hold packages as an alternative of individuals, the robotic firm has been pulling forward of different autonomous startups in gaining regulatory approvals for on-road automobile deployment.

The supply service will start at a Domino’s outlet in Houston, increasing to “many shoppers in lots of places” as a part of a long-term partnership, stated Cosimo Leipold, Nuro’s head of associate relations.

“It’s typically troublesome for giant corporations to rent sufficient drivers to fill their supply demand,” he stated in an emailed assertion to Reuters.

Leipold stated Nuro, which has partnered with retailers Kroger Co., Walmart Inc. and CVS Well being Corp. to ship groceries and prescriptions, stated its weekly deliveries practically tripled within the first three months of the pandemic.

Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. metropolis, has one of many nation’s highest highway fatality charges. “Houston’s roadways create difficult situations for our know-how to work with.”

In 2019, Nuro and Domino’s stated they anticipated to launch robotic pizza supply late that yr. “Nuro and Domino’s have taken a measured strategy to prioritize a easy and protected deployment,” Leipold stated.

Nuro obtained U.S. regulatory approval final yr to start out the unmanned supply service.