Nuro partners with CVS on autonomous prescription deliveries pilot in Texas

American health care company CVS Pharmacy has partnered with US robotics company Nuro to introduce a delivery option where autonomous Prius vehicles deliver online orders within three hours.

Starting in June, this first-of-its-kind partnership has Nuro utilizing its fleet of autonomous vehicles to deliver prescriptions and essentials across three zip codes in Houston, Texas. CVS customers in the pilot area can place prescription orders along with their non-prescription items on CVS.com or via the CVS Mobile Pharmacy app.

If customers select the autonomous delivery option, one of Nuro’s autonomous Prius vehicles will deliver the purchase curbside at the customer’s address within three hours. To ensure the security of their prescriptions, customers will need to confirm their identification to unlock their delivery when Nuro’s autonomous vehicle arrives curbside at their preferred location. During the pilot, deliveries will be free to all CVS Pharmacy customers.

As with all of Nuro’s pilots, the company will begin service with its autonomous Prius fleet to make deliveries, before introducing deliveries with R2, the custom-built delivery bot.

The companies see the project as an important stepping stone toward delivering all kinds of goods, beyond food and groceries. According to them, the pilot is progress towards building a future, where through moving goods instead of people, they can lessen the need for unnecessary trips, save time, and create a safer and more convenient way of getting supplies.