It weighs 190kg, stands at 1185mm tall, and has cameras to catch any potential pizza snatchers in the act. In addition, Domino's CEO Don Meji says the DRU is completely safe. "One of our inspirations for DRU is safety — it seems pretty crazy to us that we use one-and-a-half tonne vehicles to deliver a few hundred grams of pizza,” he said.
DRU will be appearing over the next six months, but it will take around two years for the robot to be ready for roads. “He’s able to stop and sense and won’t hit things, but [it] needs to be more foolproof," said Meji. "For example, he’s not currently aware of how big he is on top which can be a problem when he spins.”The DRU won't be taking delivery driver jobs for now though, as it won't be allowed on highways. It can also currently only deliver an "average size" pizza, so if you're feeling particularly hungry you'll have to make do with a human driver for a while.
The DRU will have its work cut out for it, as last year Domino's unveiled a purpose-built pizza delivery vehicle. Matt Porter is a freelance writer based in London. Make sure to visit what he thinks is the best website in the world, but is actually just his Twitter page.