Walmart Inc. and General Motors Co. subsidiary Cruise LLC have agreed to partner on a self-driving delivery service in Scottsdale, Arizona, it was announced today.

In April, Walmart launched its “Express Delivery” service, which is now available in more than 2,800 stores. The company has said that during the Covid-19 pandemic it saw an increase in people using delivery services. Walmart is currently partnering with a number of startups for drone and self-driving vehicle delivery services and also has similar programs with Ford Motor Co. and Alphabet Inc.-owned Waymo.

The pilot with Cruise is different in that all its vehicles are electric and powered with renewable energy, something that Walmart said will help it reach its zero-emissions target by 2040.

“As part of the pilot, which begins early next year, customers can place an order from their local store and have it delivered, contact-free, via one of Cruise’s all-electric self-driving cars,” the company said in a blog post. “Technology that has the potential to not only save customers time and money but also is helpful to the planet is technology we want to learn more about.”

This year a handful of companies slowed down testing of their self-driving driving vehicles due to concerns over the pandemic. With future concerns over social distancing measures, some experts believe food delivery, not people delivery, will be the focus for many companies right now.

One of the startups currently partnering with Walmart is Nuro Inc., a California-based outfit that raised $500 million this week. Its flagship self-driving delivery vehicle doesn’t have a steering wheel or any seats for passengers but is fitted with a cargo bay that can hold 400 pounds of goods.

Cruise, which is largely owned by GM, has for a few years now been testing its self-driving vehicles in Phoenix and San Francisco. Last year, the company partnered with DoorDash Inc. in an effort to test robotic food deliveries. Earlier this year, its vehicles were released from their temporary hibernation to deliver food from food banks to low-income residents living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Photo: Walmart