Uber today said it launched pilot food delivery services with autonomous vehicles in two California cities, and said it was adding electric vehicle charging stations into its global driver app.
Uber Technologies on Monday said it launched pilot food delivery services with autonomous vehicles in two California cities, and said it was adding electric vehicle charging stations into its global driver app.
The announcements are part of Uber's annual product event, where the ride-hail and food delivery company showcases the latest updates to its app.
Uber announced one food delivery service using autonomous cars, and a separate pilot using sidewalk robots. Both services are available to Uber Eats users in Santa Monica and West Hollywood in California, and consumers will have the ability to opt out of the program.
The autonomous car pilot is in collaboration with Motional, the self-driving joint venture of Hyundai Motor and Apt iv PLC, and was initially announced in December. It launched on Monday, Uber and Motional said.
Uber said the sidewalk robots are provided by Serve Robotics, a spin-off of delivery company Postmates, which Uber acquired in 2020.
The vehicles in both services are actively monitored by human operators, Uber said, adding that it will be some time before this technology is operated at scale.
Self-driving companies have repeatedly pushed out timelines to provide truly driverless trips at scale, with only a few limited fully autonomous program available across the US.
Uber on Monday also said it was launching a map of electric vehicle charging stations in its driver app in the US this summer, and later worldwide, in an effort to promote drivers switching to a battery-powered vehicle.
Uber, which aims to have only electric vehicles on its platform in the United States, Canada and Europe by 2030, said charging was one of drivers' biggest obstacles to switching to EVs.
The company also said it was launching an option this summer to rent party and coach buses, and passenger vans through its US app in collaboration with rental service US Coach ways.
Both Uber and Motional see a big opportunity to add autonomous delivery options for on-demand services like Uber Eats as a safer and more cost-efficient way to fulfill customers orders, especially in urban areas.
To prepare for the commercial launch and eventual expansion of the service, the two companies said they have spent months studying every touchpoint between the restaurant and end-customer, so the entire process is seamless. The companies have also conducted extensive testing in the Los Angeles area before launching the autonomous food delivery pilot.
Participating Uber Eats restaurants will receive a notification when the self-driving Hyundai ION IQ 5 comes to pick up a customer's food order. Once the vehicle arrives at a designated pick-up location, the restaurant places the order in a specially-designed compartment in the backseat of the electric SUV that keeps the food hot or cold while in transit. The vehicle then drives autonomously to the customer's location.
Uber sees autonomous vehicles playing a long-term role on its platform, including ones that will eventually carry passengers.
Motional and Uber will learn from the pilot and take feedback from customers in order to jointly develop an automated delivery model that can quickly scale to other major cities in the U.S.
The goal of the pilot is to create the groundwork for future commercial partnerships between Motional and Uber.
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