#DominosPizza

If you’ve ever tried to order a pizza while you’re at the beach or enjoying a nice afternoon at the park, you’ll know the hassle of trying to find a nearby address to have it delivered. Domino’s may have a solution, as the United States’ largest pizza chain is rolling out a new “anywhere” delivery service this summer.

It has begun. Ford is finally ready to launch another batch of its faux-autonomous Domino’s pizza delivery vehicles to assess how people will interact with a self-driving vehicle. False autonomy has become a bit of a gimmick with Ford, but a necessary one. Last year, it disguised a man as a seat to assess how people would respond to a vehicle that only communicated using lights. Now it’s running with a similar strategy in a deal with the famous pizza chain, adding Postmates for good measure.

While the information gleaned from the endeavor is less important, the fact that Ford is already actively working with business partners on autonomous applications is what really matters. It’s laying the groundwork for future business opportunities.

However, if you’re worried that Ford’s pretend self-driving vehicles are a sign that it’s losing the race toward the self-driving car, don’t. In addition to the Domino’s car, the automaker is also launching blue-and-white research vehicles equipped with new self-driving hardware and software technology from Argo AI.

If you’re going to a party to watch the big game this Sunday, there’s a good chance pizza will be on the menu.

According to the good folks at the National Restaurant Association, Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for the pizza industry. Pizza Hut will sell at least 2 million pies and Domino’s expects to sell over 12 million slices.

Why are we talking about pizza at a car publication? Well, since game watchers will be too busy, erm, watching the game, they’ll likely have their pizzas delivered. If that pizza comes from your local Domino’s, it’ll be delivered by this: the Domino’s DXP.

I know some of you are getting tired of hearing about Eugene’s eccentricities. But where else can you order up a genuine Curbside Classic to deliver your pizza? That is, as an alternative to bicycle delivery, which is also on tap (oops, sorry). Well, Dominos does claim to be the Pizza Delivery Experts, and if you call the River Road store and ask for Josh to deliver your Cheesybread and Cinnastix, you’ll have a chance to check out his haulin’ 1971 Galaxie 500. Who knows, for the right price, he might even deliver long distance. Just be generous with your tip, because his beast is lucky to break single digits in the mileage department, the way he drives. Which is undoubtedly a lot gentler than I drove the exact same car when I was his age.