Today, Nuro and one of the world’s most recognizable and beloved brands join forces. Welcome, Walmart — a new partnership that will bring Nuro’s delivery platform to Walmart customers in Houston, TX.

Nuro R1 loaded with Walmart bags for delivery

The way we see it, Walmart has built a decades-long legacy of innovation and disruption, based in a modern reinvention of the supply chain. By the 1990s, Walmart had created supercenters in areas of the country that the big box retail world historically thought impossible. “Everyday low prices” became a mainstay strategy; and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Walmart, moves products to 200 million customers across more than 11,000 stores worldwide. Our team at Nuro feels honored to act as an extension of this modern supply chain, partnering with the world’s largest company by revenue and largest private employer. Together, we are delivering orders from select Houston Walmart stores right to local customers’ homes — in our neighborhood-friendly, self-driving electric vehicles.

Bringing our missions together

The Walmart mission is to help people save money so they can live better. Walmart’s dedication to its customers aligns with Nuro’s mission of accelerating the benefits of robotics for everyday life through improved convenience and delightful experience. We consider delivery to be a natural extension of the shopping experience, and an important way to bring the benefits of the on-demand economy to more people. Both Walmart and Nuro have been working to provide the best delivery experiences to consumers, separately. Now, we’re joining forces in Houston to explore how to make delivery even better.

Walmart has invested heavily in its Grocery Delivery service, making it available to customers across the country. Partnering with Walmart gives Nuro a new opportunity to improve and expand our delivery services for the public, and represents an important moment for us as we continue to expand our reach and serve more customers. As Walmart actively expands its Grocery Delivery footprint, we hope to learn more about what shoppers want from these offerings, improve our services and make customers lives a little better.

Starting small, with room to grow

Nuro’s self-driving technology and fleet will power this pilot with Walmart to provide customers in Houston with another innovative, accessible option for getting the groceries they need day-to-day.

To start, self-driving deliveries will be available to a pilot group of participants who have opted in to try the service, teaching us more about how to best serve those customers. Through the pilot, we’ll gain insights that will enable us to further develop and refine our service, while helping Walmart create the best end-to-end customer experiences.

What’s in store for 2020?

At Nuro, we believe in the power for self-driving technology to support and improve local commerce, and see this technology as a key part of our future. We’re working to expand our footprint in Houston, to maximize the impact of our delivery platform for the community at city-scale. Throughout 2019, we’ve been building toward this objective, and this partnership represents another step forward.

By creating an affordable, neighborhood-friendly, and convenient way for customers to get their deliveries on demand, Walmart and Nuro aim to build a better supply chain together.We’re looking forward to launching our service in the coming weeks, and we can’t wait to learn how we can help improve the shopping experience.

Follow us at @nurobots, learn more at www.nuro.ai, and stay tuned for more in 2020.

Interested in joining our fast-growing team? Check out open positions at www.nuro.ai/careers.