It looks like Uber Eats is taking that next step. It was first announced in December that Uber Eats will work together with the company Motional, a driverless motorization company. Furthermore create a service where autonomous vehicles will deliver food.
I’m sure i’m not the only one envisioning a future where driver-less vehicles are driving around seamlessly, delivering all kinds of goods. A future where you can have your breakfast bagel and steaming hot coffee delivered on your balcony by a drone.
Now they have released two autonomous pilots in Los Angeles to try this out. The first one is with Motional and the second is with Serve Robotics, a robotic sidewalk delivery startup company. Here’s a video of an example of sidewalk delivery.
Deliveries will be from just a few merchants and Serve will execute the short routes. While Motional will be taking care of the longer journeys. The vehicles will not be purely autonomous, for an example it will be controlled by a remote operator when crossing a street.
As a customer you will have the option to have your food delivered by a traceable autonomous vehicle. Once delivered it will unlock with a passcode from either a Motional Car or from a Server ”Robot”.
Very exciting if you ask me. I can’t wait until I’m able to order stuff and it being delivered by a reliable robotic.
