Toyota And Pizza Hut Annonces Self-Driving Delivery Van At CES 2018
For decades, the pizza delivery guy has been a part of American culture with many Americans themselves having done the same job at one point in their lives. However, this is about to change with Pizza Hut spearheading the development of self-driving pizza delivery vans.
The pizza chain recently unveiled its plans to team up with Toyota to develop the world's first self-driving pizza van at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. At the event, Toyota unveiled designs of the self-driving concept vehicle called e-Palette which could potentially have pizzas delivered in autonomous vehicles in the near future.
"Today, you have to travel to the stores," Toyota president Akio Toyoda said at the event. "In the future with e-Palette, the store will come to you."
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The vehicle will be electric and fully autonomous with a low floor and open interior space allowing it to fulfill a number of different purposes. According to Toyota, the vehicle can be completely reconfigured in less than 24 hours, according to Toyota and will range in size from 13 to 23 feet, big enough to accommodate small stores.
Although the vehicle is contained in the drawing board for now, Toyoda said that the company plans to unveil the technology at the 2020 Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo. Tests in the US and other areas are expected to begin in the same year to which it will partner with Pizza Hut, Amazon, and ridesharing giants Didi and Uber.
Toyota also says it is prepared to invest $1 billion in the development of the self-driving technology needed to power the e-Palette. With the self-driving market estimated to be worth $7 trillion by 2050, a $1 billion investment in its development isn't entirely surprising.
Fellow automaker Ford recently announced a similar initiative for Domino's Pizza using a specially-equipped Ford Fusion. The companies are currently holding preliminary testing for the process at Mcity, a simulated city environment on the campus of the University of Michigan.
