Pizza Hut Leaps Into The Future With Driverless Delivery Vehicles

The leading pizza franchise giant partners with Toyota to deliver pizzas in driverless vehicles.

As early as 2020, the streets of major UK cities can look like scenes straight out of the Bladerunner films with Pizza Hut driverless delivery vehicles silently and inconspicuously whizzing pizzas to its customers at home. Pizza Hut and Toyota recently announced their global partnership to push forward driverless pizza delivery vehicles for as soon as 2020. In a venture that will radically disrupt the way pizzas are made and delivered, executives at Pizza Hut and a subsidiary of Louiseville-based Yum Brands revealed that in addition to working together on autonomous delivery solutions, the companies will immediately begin to work on improving existing driver and delivery systems.

A recent Pizza Hut post on Twitter went viral – the company posted a photo of recently what appeared to be a toaster on wheels with its red logo on the side, announcing: "Introducing the first Pizza Hut fully autonomous delivery concept vehicle. Excited for our future with @Toyota."

President of Pizza Hut US released a statement saying how the company was excited to work with Toyota to “define the pizza delivery experience of the future.”

The pizza franchise giant has been taking huge steps toward the future by pushing technology to improve the accuracy and reliability of its deliveries, forging new mobility service business partnerships with companies like Uber and Amazon.

Pizza Hut’s new partnership with Toyota is not only a leap into the future, it is a game-changer. The two companies will soon be testing dual communication technology in delivery vehicles that captures data on driver patterns and behaviours.

Whilst Toyota’s self-driving concept vehicle called e-Palette awaits approvals from federal and state regulators for use on roadways, Pizza Hut is reeling in the future with new delivery algorithms, a voice command home automation system called Alexa, a pizza tracker that includes text messaging and a rewards loyalty programme.

Pizza Hut’s new driverless e-Palette vehicles will also serve as mobile kitchens. When asked on Twitter about putting drivers out of work, the pizza franchise giant said the concept could generate jobs for employees who would ride along in the driverless vehicles and ensure better customer service as the food reaches its destinations.