Pizza Hut Partners With Toyota To Develop Self-Driving Delivery Vehicles

Pizza Hut Partners With Toyota To Develop Self-Driving Delivery Vehicles
Pizza Hut Partners With Toyota To Develop Self-Driving Delivery Vehicles

The way pizzas are delivered, and perhaps made may soon change, after Pizza Hut and Toyota announced a global partnership to explore the future of pizza delivery using self-driving vehicles.

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On Monday, Toyota unveiled designs of a self-driving concept vehicle called the e-Palette at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Pizza Hut is among the founding members of a new “mobility service business alliance” that also includes Amazon, Didi, Mazda and Uber.

Toyota said it plans to begin testing the e-Palette vehicle concept in several regions, including the United States, as early as 2020.

For their part, Pizza Hut envisions the e-Palette as a major future component of its delivery business. And given the flexibility of the e-Palette’s design, the brand also envisions the vehicle serving as a mobile kitchen in areas of the world where such an experience would weave with consumer demand.

Along with working together on future self-driving delivery solutions, the companies also plan to begin working on ways to improve Pizza Hut’s existing delivery infrastructure. Starting in early 2018, Pizza Hut and Toyota will jointly test dual communication technology in Pizza Hut delivery vehicles to capture data on driver patterns and behaviors. The data will be analyzed and used to help improve performance for both companies, optimize the safety of delivery, as well as enhance delivery operations.

Image – Pizza Hut/Toyota