Uber Eats launched autonomous delivery pilots in Los Angeles on Monday with Motional, an autonomous vehicle company, and Serve Robotics, an Uber spinoff that provides sidewalk delivery from cooler-like robots.
The Motional and Uber Eats deliveries run in Santa Monica using Motional’s all-electric IONIQ 5 vehicles operating autonomously, according to a statement.
Motional teams spent months studying every touchpoint between a restaurant and end customer. Participating merchants receive a notice when the AV arrives, meet the vehicle at a designated pickup spots and place the food order in a special compartment in the back seat. Customers receive an alert when the food arrives and unlock the vehicle door via the Uber Eats app.
Motional’s customers include Kreation, an organic café and juice bar. Serve will focus on shorter trips in West Hollywood, according to an Uber spokesperson who spoke to TechCrunch.
Serve’s cooler-like robots can operate under Level 4 autonomy and will be monitored by a remote operator if needed.
The pilots were mentioned by Uber in a press announcement from its Go Get 2022 event on Monday, along with Uber Travel features to help riders book a ride or flight or restaurant reservations in advance. Riders can also link their Gmail to their Uber accounts.
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