Walmart Testing Grocery Pickup via Self-Driving Cars

Walmart Inc. is launching a pilot with Waymo to provide customers with lifts to and from the mass merchandiser in self-driving cars to pick up items ordered online. The test is slated for the Phoenix area, and limited only to the approximately 400 participants in Waymo’s early-rider program.

According to a blog post by Waymo, the pilot “gives early riders savings on groceries each week when they are ordered on Walmart.com. While orders are being prepared at the store, Waymo vehicles will transport the rider to and from Walmart to collect their groceries.”

“While giving customers a unique experience with amazing technology, we’re learning how we can make Walmart Online Grocery Pickup even more convenient,” noted Tom Ward, VP-digital operations at Walmart US, in his own blog post. “Waymo’s experience, industry-leading technology and mission on safety is helping us enter this space in the right way.”

Mountain View, Calif.-based Waymo, once Google’s self-driving car project, is currently a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart topped Progressive Grocer's 2018 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.