Pizza Hut Canada recently partnered with Serve Robotics on a two-week trial of an autonomous door-to-door delivery service, using Serve’s zero-emissions curbside delivery robots. 

The pilot project, which took place in Vancouver, was set to run until the end of September and could be rolled out to other locations if successful. 

For the trial, customers could use the Pizza Hut app to order food, track the robot’s location and receive a unique pin to retrieve their order from the robot’s secure compartment.

“Serve is excited to partner with Pizza Hut to provide Vancouver customers with the convenience and reliability of zero-emissions robotic delivery,” said Dr. Ali Kashani, Serve Robotics CEO. “This is an important step forward in our efforts to expand our delivery platform to serve more cities and communities.”

Serve’s zero-emission robots use a range of sensors to navigate sidewalks and pedestrians, with a team of remote human engineers capable of controlling the robots from afar.

“This signals an exciting step forward for the future of delivery technology in Canada,” said Manish Dhankher, Pizza Hut Canada director of operations. “We’re confident Vancouverites will not only experience delight in having a robot deliver their food but will also find this complements Pizza Hut’s existing delivery service, allowing us to deliver more food to more people.”

Robotic delivery services are seeing a spike in popularity, with trials of these autonomous systems particularly popular on university campuses, while restaurants seeking to cut back on labor costs and increase delivery speeds are turning to these solutions for residential deliveries.

The latest announcement follows news that Serve Robotics’ delivery robots have been successfully trialed in West Hollywood in collaboration with Uber Eats, while a partnership with autonomous pizza-making company Piestro was announced earlier this summer to create an entirely contactless pizza creation and delivery service.