GM’s Cruise, Walmart Team Up for Driverless Delivery

Walmart Inc. is about to team up with Cruise, the self-driving car unit majority-owned by General Motors Co., to experiment with delivering customer orders using driverless vehicles.

Cruise’s robot-piloted cars will ferry orders to customers’ homes from a Walmart store in Scottsdale, Ariz., starting early 2021, Tom Ward, the retailer’s senior vice president of customer product, said in a Nov. 10 blog post.

The pilot program — which may be expanded — marks a big step for both companies. Walmart is fighting for market share with rival retail giant Amazon.com Inc., which recently bought self-driving vehicle startup Zoox Inc. For GM’s Cruise unit, the partnership provides a pathway into potentially lucrative delivery services distinct from its primary focus on ridesharing robotaxis.