• Nuro, an autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV) startup, has partnered with convenience store operator 7-Eleven to pilot a commercial autonomous delivery service in Mountain View, California. This marks the first autonomous commercial delivery service in California.

• Initially, Nuro will utilize Toyota Prius vehicles retrofitted with its autonomous software, which will include a safety driver. The company plans to deploy its driverless “R2” ADV model eventually; however, the timeline of the plans is not disclosed.

• Selected 7-Eleven customers can order select food and household items 7-Eleven’s delivery app; after which, the items will be delivered within 30 minutes.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: This partnership marks Nuro’s first commercial deployment in California, upon receiving the approval from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to start driverless commercial deliveries a year ago — the first to receive the permit. Furthermore, the news comes just one month after the company raised USD 600 million in a Series D funding round, partially to ramp up commercial operations. Google Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise, incumbents in the ADV space, also received permission to start driverless commercial deliveries in the state in September. Although neither party has started delivery operations as yet, Waymo has announced plans to commence operations early next year.</ul>