We’ve been hearing about autonomous delivery programs, whether it’s a ride-sharing program or groceries brought to your door. Only now are we hearing about self-driving technology taking on one of the most classic forms of delivery: pizza.

Domino's Pizza is partnering with self-driving car company Nuro to use their R2 self-driving car model for fully autonomous pizza delivery.

Don’t get too excited, this new delivery option is only available at a single location based in Houston, Texas, and only during certain periods of time. But if you are in the right time and place, you’ll have the option to request a Nuro R2 pizza delivery when ordering online. If they are accepted (the car isn’t already out, for example), the customer will receive a notification regarding the delivery, along with a PIN code they can use to unlock the vehicle upon arrival.

In all fairness, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Nuro’s R2 is the only self-driving car to receive permission by the US Department of Transportation to operate without a human driver present. Additionally, they announced plans back in 2019 to partner with various businesses for exactly this purpose. They’re the same brand and model that Kroger is using for their self-driving grocery delivery, for example.

There’s a lot of potential here. Pizza delivery driver is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, sitting above firefighter supervisor and below ironworker. Granted, we have feeling this is influenced by deliveries to high crime rate areas, where we’re assuming a company wouldn’t go sending their expensive self-driving cars to these areas.

Here’s what I’m imagining: Amazon deliveries. The autonomous car would leave the warehouse with one of those robot dogs, which is carrying the delivery. Upon arrival, the dog would hop out with the package, carry it to the door, and return to the vehicle for return. In theory, This would remove the need for Amazon drivers (whether that's a good or a bad thing). Though I suppose it would also be less efficient, meaning packages take longer.

But if this was always about profitability, we’d just stick with cheap human labor (which Amazon is doing).