This electric, self-driving delivery robot can bring pizza to your door

If you're looking to get a pizza delivered in downtown Vancouver, your delivery person might not be a person at all.

That's because pizza delivery robots are being tested in the city as part of a pilot project with Pizza Hut and Serve Robotics.

"It works just like any other order you've placed," said Ali Kashani, the CEO of Serve Robotics.

"If you're between the proximity of the restaurant, in this case, the one on Robson Street, and a robot is available, it may be the one assigned to you," he explained.

The two bots, named Raja and Hugo, are the first of their kind in the city, but the project launched a few years ago in the U.S.

According to Kashani, his bots have made more than 25,000 deliveries – and he hopes the project will be a success in Canada as well.

Kashani, who received his PhD at UBC, said the bots are better for the environment as they release less CO2 emissions than vehicles.

"It's a lot safer than cars for pedestrians, and for bikers and everybody else,'' he said. "Also, you don't have to tip."

He also said the bots are not meant to replace human delivery people, but rather bridge the labour shortage gap.

"These robots would do the more tedious deliveries where you make less money," Kashani said.

For now, the bots only travel about 500 metres in Vancouver, but they have the capability of traveling several kilometres.

Kashani said he isn't worried about someone stealing his bots, even with the city's history of theft, especially since no one has stolen one in the U.S.

"It's different than bikes and scooters because you can't really do much with it, so there's no market for it. People can't use it personally," he said.

You could be seeing more of them in the near future as the company is looking to expand beyond the pilot project.