Pizza Hut is attempting to enter both the tech and auto industry all at once… and we’re a bit concerned. The pizza chain announced this week that it plans to put a pizza-making robot/delivery truck hybrid on the road in an effort to change the pizza delivery game. And it’s exactly what it sounds like — as the truck drives to your house, robots will assemble your pizza in the back. This sounds fake.
The new delivery system, called the Tundra PIE Pro, according to The Verge, was unveiled at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association Show (SEMA), which kicked off on Tuesday, October 30th, in Las Vegas. Pizza Hut teamed up with Toyota to bring their high-tech dream into reality. As FoodBeast reports, the truck itself is zero-emission and runs on a hydrogen fuel electric cell that powers both the truck engine and the oven.
In the truck bed, the robots will reportedly take a “raw” pizza from the fridge and throw in the oven. They’ll bake the pie for about six to seven minutes, cut it up, place it in a box, and get it ready for you to to grab as soon as the truck pulls up to the curb.
We swear this is how the real-life version of I, Robot will start. First, they deliver our pizzas. Next, they’ll try to terminate the human race.
Pizza Hut put an automated pizza kitchen in the back of a pickup truck: https://t.co/R3VJNNyeoq pic.twitter.com/Pi0hv2pHWO
— Food & Wine (@foodandwine) October 31, 2018
Being skeptical and downright frightened of the possibility of a robot takeover, we have a few questions. Firstly, what happens if it’s raining outside? Will the robots short-circuit? Will there be a Popemobile-like glass case that protects the robots from the elements?
Secondly, how can the Hut guarantee that one’s food would not be stolen by birds or squirrels? Again, we suggest a Popemobile-like dome.
And thirdly, isn’t anyone else afraid of a robot apocalypse? Pizza Hut, you’re just egging them on!
The Tundra PIE Pro is a pickup truck that makes Pizza Hut on the go https://t.co/RUiN47va40 pic.twitter.com/TVySXsqpIv
— The Verge (@verge) October 31, 2018
Luckily for those of us who live in fear, the truck that appeared at SEMA was only a prototype, and Pizza Hut didn’t give any insight into if/when these Tundras would actually be put on the road.
Yes, of course this new tech would positively change the way we get our pizza delivered forever. However, we hope that the Hut really thinks about how they could be setting up a future humans-versus-robots war come 2035.
