Automotive

Domino's picks ultimate pizza delivery vehicle

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The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept
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Pizza delivery usually depends on the delivery person’s own transport, but that may change in the near future. Domino’s Pizza and crowd-source automaker Local Motors have announced the winner in their "Ultimate Delivery Vehicle" contest, which aims at creating a dedicated, high-tech pizza van. After a six-week competition with over 200 entries. the winner of the initial design phase was Anej Kostrevic of Slovenia, who was awarded the US$10,000 prize first prize for his Domino's Pack delivery vehicle.

The Domino’s Pack is a specialized van based on small urban vehicles like the smart car. It has a high profile and a short wheelbase with sliding side doors, an integrated rearview camera and a fog light. It also has auxiliary side lights to illuminate the surrounding area, which those of us who have delivered pizzas at night in rural areas will appreciate.

The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept

The engines that Kostrevic selected for the Domino’s Pack are the Fiat TwinAir two-cylinder and the Ford IL Ecoboost three-cylinder, so the van is designed for fuel economy and low emissions rather than speed or performance.

What the Domino’s Pack is designed for is delivering pizzas and advertising the Domino’s brand with a lighted display covering the entire rear door. Inside, there are large sliding shelves for carrying dozens of pizzas in heater bags, a refrigerated drawer holding nine two-liter soda bottles, compartments for other items and a removable sliding side drawer. Next to the driver there’s a large-screen LCD display mounted on an articulated arm that provides customer location and navigation information.

The Domino's Pack delivery vehicle concept

According to Local Motors, the next phase of the project is the Packaging competition. This is scheduled to begin tomorrow, when the Domino’s Pack concept is crowd-sourced to bring the concept closer to production standard. This will be followed by other competition phases over the next six months to design the interior, surfacing and rendering. Local Motors said that it expects this process to be ten times faster than conventional automotive designing.

Whether Domino’s will actually use this vehicle remains to be seen, but for the moment, it will give many a delivery person sitting their rusted-out Cortina a ray of hope.

The video below provides more details on the Ultimate Delivery Vehicle competition.

Source: Local Motors via NextCars

View gallery - 10 images
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6 comments
John Parkes
I have wondered when this would happen. I was a pizza delivery person for a few years...25 years ago...i remember the insane driving and close calls i had, how i destroyed my vehicle for the job, regardless of how hard and often safety was touted by the company. The tip trumps company policy, drivers who follow the rules don't make tips...it was as simple as that, and for those tips we risked the lives of everyone around us to be fast and on time. These little urban vehicles should reduce the risks to the public by being well lit, neon signs on wheels. Basically a gas powered golf cart, a much saner idea and a safer one. As for the economy, i'm sure they get tremendous fuel economy, letting the company insure them ensures any damage they do cause will be covered, and it will slow them down...back in my day GPS was for ships and military vehicles, not pizza guys...cell phones were the size of a briefcase and way beyond the means of a pizza driver. GPS and cell phones should eliminate the need for speed and cold pizza's.
Synchro
Putting the 1.0 EcoBoost in this would be insane. In its least powerful incarnation it puts out 100bhp, which for a small, light vehicle like this is total overkill - bear in mind that this engine is to be used in the 2013 Ford Mondeo, a much bigger, heavier car.
The 875cc Fiat TwinAir is more like it, but it's still quite a powerful engine (85bhp) for a small utility vehicle like this.
Pulsar
Why re-invent what is already available on the market? Just take a Renault Twizy, a light and electrical vehicle, and adapt it. There is already a project in Paris where it has been adapted as a tiny firetruck aiming at intervening very quickly before anyone else to bring first aid... Possibilities are quite endless!
bergamot69
Agree with Pulsar- the Twizy would be an ideal vehicle- and much safer than a moped.
Gregg Eshelman
A Twizy as a first response vehicle, hmmm? Look up the 1973 AMC-Hurst Gremlin "Highway Rescue System One".
One was in first response use in a southeastern US county until the required equipment exceeded its carrying capacity. The department removed its water tank and pump not long after putting it into service because it didn't hold enough water to do much good against even small fires.
Why only carrying capacity for nine 2 liter bottles, and why so much pizza capacity? My sister has been a Dominos driver since 1989 in a metro area and only has to take that many pizzas when taking large orders to places like businesses, hospitals and schools. Most of the runs are single customer orders out and back to the store.
BTW, La Cosa Nostra Pizza's Deliverator vehicles laugh at this Dominos pack concept. ;) (See Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash".)
John Huszar
I was impressed by the design and ingenuity of this vehicle, that is until I read it was going to be an ICE powered vehicle, and not an EV?! Electric power is Perfect for this vehicle. Lots of short trips, plug it in during deliveries. Also Dominos participated in the selection of the winner and yet its unclear if they will buy any of the vehicles? Why bother?