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Uber Eats Set to Deploy 2,000 More Delivery Robots Into the Wild

Accepted submission by janrinok at 2023-05-31 15:49:58
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https://gizmodo.com/uber-eats-delivery-robots-food-delivery-1850490600 [gizmodo.com]

Your next food delivery could make its way to you via a robot. Uber Eats is set to release 2,000 delivery robots into the wild through an expansion of the company's deal with Serve Robotics.

Serve Robotics is an independent company which spun out from Uber in 2021 following the company's acquisition of Postmates the year prior. Uber Eats announced that it would begin testing autonomous delivery using Serve Robotics models in West Hollywood last May, and this new update is an expansion of that deal. According to TechCrunch, Serve Robotics will be expanding its Los Angeles pilot program to several markets in the United States, where up to 2,000 of its autonomous robots will prowl around to delivery orders.

"This partnership is a major step towards mass commercialization of robotics for autonomous delivery, and it is a testament to the success of our partnership," said Serve Robotics CEO Dr. Kashani, in a news release. "We are excited to continue our work with Uber to bring this innovative technology to more cities across the country."

Serve Robotics and Uber Eats are reportedly happy with the Los Angeles pilot program, where several dozen robots have serviced upwards of 200 restaurants in the area. The bots serve customers from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and the company claims that robot deliveries have grown more than 30% month-over-month. TechCrunch reports that the partnership between Uber Eats and Serve Robotics is expected to last at least through 2026.

Serve Robotics began testing autonomous delivery last summer in West Hollywood, and the company's robots are so tenacious at efficient delivery that one even crashed a crime scene involving a shooting at a high school. The scene at Hollywood High School last year could certainly be called dystopian: Officers were directing the crowd, which included parents with children at the school, across the street as the robot rolled through the cluster of officers. Serve Robotics told Gizmodo at the time that this incident was the error of a human supervisor trying to reroute the robot around a blockage.


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