Domino’s looks more and more like Google or Apple every day, and the company’s latest announcement proves it: The new Domino’s Innovation Garage, which officially opens on Wednesday, August 21, will provide a huge research and testing space for developing cutting-edge technologies, from self-driving vehicles to pizza delivery robots.
Located at Domino’s Farms in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the 33,000-square-foot, two-story building will house 150 team members, collaboration workspaces, meeting rooms and a fully functioning pizza theater.
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“Domino’s Innovation Garage is focused on accelerating Domino’s spirit of creativity and collaboration,” says Kelly Garcia, the chain’s chief technology officer. “As a pizza company with a focus on technology, we want our team members to have a workspace that encourages experimentation and fosters an environment to take risks, test innovations and fail-fast so they can bring their best cutting-edge ideas to life for the brand’s customers and stores.”
Project-based teams will use the pizza theater to develop and test new technologies and innovations, such as ordering kiosks and a carryout tracker, in a store setting. The facility includes a space for testing delivery innovations, including the GPS delivery tracking experience, the customer interface on self-driving delivery vehicles, even pizza delivery robots like Nuro’s R2.
Nuro is a robotics company specializing in autonomous delivery technology.
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Nuro is a robotics company founded by two former Google engineers. Domino’s announced earlier this year that it had partnered with Nuro on a pilot program to test self-driving pizza delivery cars in Houston, Texas, this fall.
The pizza chain has also developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that scans, reviews and grades each freshly baked pizza to determine if it was made correctly.
“Having a hub for our community of smart, creative and dynamic team members to develop our brand and take it to the next level is important for our continued success,” Garcia says. “We’re proud to now have a space dedicated to learning, exploring, testing and launching new ideas in a way that only Domino’s can do.”
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