Uber Eats is now testing autonomous robot delivery

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Uber is partnering with two different companies as a pilot program for autonomous Uber Eats deliveries. The company is working with autonomous vehicle company Motional, as well as sidewalk robot delivery startup, Serve Robotics.

An early look at this news comes from TechCrunch as the company prepares to announce this new program at its Global Product Event on Monday.

This new program offers autonomous deliveries in Los Angeles, California using two different methods. The partnership with Motional is the first time that Uber Eats has partnered with an autonomous vehicle company.

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Interestingly, the Uber Eats partnership represents the first time Motional will work in the delivery space. The company previously focused on robotaxis.

The second method, involving the partnership with Serve Robotics, will use sidewalk delivery robots. This will obviously focus on shorter delivery trips in West Hollywood, while Motional’s autonomous vehicles will handle longer deliveries in Santa Monica.

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Starting out, the two programs will be very limited, only offering deliveries from a few different restaurants. Uber Eats hopes that taking the pilot program slowly will allow it to gain the feedback necessary to give merchants and customers what they want when it’s time to scale the program up.

These pilot programs symbolize a major shift in the Uber Eats status quo. If and when the company can scale these programs up to serve more areas, then Uber Eats would become accessible to many more people around the world.

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