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Kroger tests grocery delivery using self-driving cars in Phoenix
Posted: August 17th, 2018, 9:47 am
by Brian Lutz
https://komonews.com/news/tech/kroger-r ... 08-16-2018
Sounds gimmicky, but I suspect we'll be seeing more of this over time.
Re: Kroger tests grocery delivery using self-driving cars in Phoenix
Posted: March 15th, 2019, 7:44 am
by rwsandiego
According to
the Phoenix Business Journal the pilot ends 3/20 and moves to Houston.
Re: Kroger tests grocery delivery using self-driving cars in Phoenix
Posted: March 16th, 2019, 11:30 pm
by storewanderer
I am confused why they are pulling the service from Phoenix and moving it to Houston. I guess that is why it is called a "pilot" because it isn't ongoing. But if people were using the service in Phoenix, why take it away from them?
Re: Kroger tests grocery delivery using self-driving cars in Phoenix
Posted: March 16th, 2019, 11:44 pm
by jamcool
They still have grocery delivery in Phoenix, thru Instacart
Re: Kroger tests grocery delivery using self-driving cars in Phoenix
Posted: March 17th, 2019, 10:19 am
by rwsandiego
storewanderer wrote: ↑March 16th, 2019, 11:30 pm
I am confused why they are pulling the service from Phoenix and moving it to Houston. I guess that is why it is called a "pilot" because it isn't ongoing. But if people were using the service in Phoenix, why take it away from them?
They are probably moving, rather than expanding, the pilot because there is a limited number of driverless delivery vehicles and they are expensive to produce.
In my industry (retail banking) we will expand a pilot when it is relatively easy to acquire additional pilot devices. For example, we piloted a new type of ATM. The device was in production and in use at other institutions, so when we decided to test the device at a different branch in a different market we simply ordered an additional unit and had it installed. When we piloted a new type of multi-function printer/scanner, the manufacturer had made fewer than 25 of them. They had 15 in their lab and we had 5 in a lab and 5 in branches within a 10-mile radius of our technology center. We decided to test the devices in a different market and so we moved the 5 printers to branches in a different city because we couldn't acquire additional units.
I'm interested i seeing what zip code Kroger chooses in Houston. The area around the Fry's at 7770 E. McDowell Road is in a semi-suburban area. It would have been interesting to see the results at, say, 20th and Highland in the Biltmore district or at 7th Avenue and Camelback, both of which are located in more densely-populated and more heavily-trafficked areas.