The boss of ecommerce grocery and technology business Ocado has said it is investing in research and development into driverless vehicles as it continues to seek new international partnerships.

Speaking at the NRF Big Show in New York yesterday, Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner said his future vision for the business hinged on what he called his “far-out” research and development team, which is looking at driverless delivery vehicles and robots to carry the groceries from those vehicles to the customer.

“We’re obviously innovating all the time. We’re working on really far-out research and development technology and how we can leverage those for our clients,” he said.

“Things like driverless vehicles, for example. What jumps out of that vehicle with the groceries and gives them to the customer? We’ve got people playing in that space.”

Steiner also said he expects Ocado’s Solutions arm to sign new partnerships with international clients, saying “that part of the business will continue to grow”.

Ocado’s most recent new partnership was announced in late November, when it signed a deal with Japanese grocery giant Aeon. It currently has nine partnerships with grocers around the world in France, Sweden, Canada, the US and Australia.

The pureplay grocery founder also committed to continued investment in innovative companies in the food space.

“We’re also investing in things that will tie very closely into what we do – like vertical farming and automated food preparation, because we can see that this whole market is going to keep evolving and we intend to be at the forefront of that.”

Last year Ocado struck a joint-venture deal with vertical farming firm Infinite Acres, acquired a 58% stake in vertical farm operator Jones Food Company and acquired a minority stake in robotic food preparation start-up Karakuri.

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