Autonomous Robotics Startup Nuro to Deliver Prescriptions for CVS Pharmacy

Wall Street learned this week that Nuro, the autonomous robotics startup, will test prescription delivery in Houston through a partnership with CVS Pharmacy.

The pilot, which will use a fleet of the startup’s autonomous Toyota Prius vehicles and transition to using its custom-built R2 delivery bots, is expected to start in June.

The CVS partnership marks Nuro’s expansion beyond groceries and into healthcare. The pilot program centers on a CVS Pharmacy in Bellaire, Texas and will serve customers across three ZIP codes. Customers who place prescription orders via CVS’ website or pharmacy app will be given the option to choose an autonomous delivery option and will also be able add other non-prescription items to their order.
Once the autonomous vehicle arrives, customers will need to confirm their identification to unlock their delivery. Deliveries will be free of charge for CVS Pharmacy customers.

“We are seeing an increased demand for prescription delivery,” said Ryan Rumbarger, senior vice president of store operations at CVS Health. “We want to give our customers more choice in how they can quickly access the medications they need when it’s not convenient for them to visit one of our pharmacy locations.”

It was last December that Walmart announced a pilot program to test autonomous grocery delivery in the Houston market using Nuro’s autonomous vehicles. Under the pilot, Nuro’s vehicles deliver Walmart online grocery orders to a select group of customers who opt into the service in Houston.

Nuro has raised more than $1 billion from SoftBank Vision Fund, Greylock and other investors.