CVS Pharmacy is partnering with Silicon Valley robotics company Nuro to test prescription delivery via self-driving vehicles in the Houston area in June.
Nuro will use a fleet of autonomous Prius vehicles to deliver prescriptions and other essential items to CVS Pharmacy customers who order prescriptions on CVS.com or through the CVS Pharmacy app. Customers in the pilot area near CVS Pharmacy’s Bellaire, TX, location, can choose the autonomous delivery option and add other non-prescription items to their order. Deliveries will be free to all CVS Pharmacy customers.
If a customer selects the autonomous delivery option, one of Nuro’s autonomous vehicles will deliver the prescription curbside to the customer’s address within three hours. To ensure security, customers will need to confirm their identification to unlock their deliveries when the autonomous vehicles arrive curbside at their homes.
“We are seeing an increased demand for prescription delivery,” Ryan Rumbarger, CVS Health senior vice president of store operations, said in a release. “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.”
In Florida, residents of The Villages, one of the country’s largest retirement communities, began receiving prescription deliveries via drones in May thanks to a partnership between UPS and CVS Pharmacy.
And in 2019, a North Carolina retirement community resident became one of the first people in the United States to receive a medical prescription by drone thanks to a partnership between UPS and CVS Health.
