Wendy’s recently announced quite the innovative development. Through its partnership with the autonomous logistics company Pipedream, Wendy’s is aiming to introduce a robot-powered “underground delivery system” for online food orders. This exciting new system utilizes a series of tunnels through which the robots can quickly deliver a customer’s order to a nearby Instant Pickup portal.
When customers arrive in the parking spaces next to the portal they can communicate with the restaurant crew through the speakers to confirm the order. An autonomous robot will then be sent off through the tunnels to pick up the order from the kitchen and take it to the customer’s parking space. To make sure the food doesn’t get cold or too warm while in transit, Wendy’s has ensured that the system has temperature-controlled delivery technology.
Pipedream is a startup autonomous logistics company based in Silicon Valley. Founded in 2017 by Kevin Ranani and Raymundo Gutierrez, Pipedream focuses on highly-automated systems that help transport goods safely and with precision. They have previously worked on drones, robots, and autonomous delivery vehicles.
Currently this technology is only being tested by Wendy’s in certain pilot locations, but we can look forward to the potential of further development in the near future. With Pipedream as its partner, Wendy’s hopes that its new underground robot delivery system will provide customers with a highly efficient and fast food delivery service.
