Uber Eats hits go on autonomous deliveries

It will become one of the first delivery companies to trial robotic delivery. 

Robo-drop 

Robotic delivery has been on the cards for a while – and now it seems set to become a reality. Uber Eats is teaming up with robotics brainboxes, Serve and Motional, to trial two robotic delivery pilots. Operating in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, this will be a big first for the food delivery company – and we’re excited.  

Freaked out? Don’t worry – these robots aren’t getting let loose on the public at large, so you won’t need to worry about any empty cars roaming the roads near you. Uber Eats will always have human safety operators on board, so if something goes wrong, these vehicles still have a manual override. Phew.  

Holding the cards 

Uber Eats has said that it’ll be looking to buddy up with more autonomous firms in the future. It’s already worked with Aurora in freight, and as a pretty high-profile investor in Aurora, you might have thought that deal was already sealed. Instead, Uber Eats is keeping its cards close to its chest and has opted for Motional on this one.  

Motional has made its name putting together ‘robotaxis’ for the likes of Lyft and Via. So if Motional’s autonomous vehicles are good enough to drive passengers from A to B, they’re surely good enough to send a Big Mac, too.  

We’ll be seeing a lot more robotic delivery in the future, so we’re keeping a keen eye on this one to see what Uber Eats’ vision for the new world of food delivery looks like.