Walmart Partners With Waymo for Self-Driving Grocery Pickup Pilot
Photo: Mike Mozart
Self-driving cars have been a hot topic in the news lately. As the autonomous world continues to grow, there are mixed feelings about it from consumers and lawmakers across the country. Walmart and Waymo have partnered up to introduce a pilot grocery pickup program in Phoenix, Arizona.
Walmart currently offers a grocery pickup service. With the service, you can order your groceries online, pull into a parking spot, and someone will bring them out to your car. The Phoenix-based pilot program will let riders take the self-driving vehicle to Walmart, pick up their groceries, and bring them home. Riders won’t be charged for the service during its testing stages.
Shopping Around: Tips for buying a used car
“Since the pilot is part of our Grocery Pickup program, personal shoppers pick customers’ orders and bring them right out to the car … in this case a Waymo self-driving car,” said Molly Blakeman, a spokesperson for Walmart. Both companies hope that the process will make grocery shopping simple and more convenient, perks that are high in demand in the modern, technology-focused world.
Walmart is funding the pilot program. Tom Ward, vice president of e-commerce operations at Walmart, explained that the program is helping them learn about the new technology and find ways to improve their customer service tactics.
400 people in the Phoenix area will be able to participate in the pilot program. For now, the program is exclusively in Phoenix, but it’s unclear whether or not it will move to nearby cities in the future.
Vehicle Spotlight: Learn more about the 2018 Buick Envision
News Sources: NPR, Forbes, CNN
The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news. We’re located in the heart of America (Dayton, Ohio) and our goal is to deliver an entertaining and informative perspective on what’s trending in the automotive world. See more articles from The News Wheel.